Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Augustine in the light of the Philokalia
I read Augustine in college at SJC around 1968. A few years after graduation I read through large portions of the Philokalia and when you examine Augustine in that light of Greek Orthodox monasticism then Augustine appears to be what Greek monastics would call "planamenos" (the Russians call it "prelest") and this word comes from the same root as "planet" meaning "wandering" , i.e. Augustine is wandering in a deranged spiritual deception of egocentric emotionalism. Certainly Augustine was a gifted writer and a brilliant mind and certainly people like Augustine and Aquinas and Luther shaped Western thought but the Greeks see Augustine as a heretic for good reason and Augustine provided plenty of fuel for Luther's Reformation.
