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INTRODUCTION Eastertide has come. Some weeks earlier Augustine had begun to deliver a series of homilies on the Gospel ofJohn, which he intended to expound from its beginning to its end.1 But the scriptural readings for Holy Week and for the Octave of Easter were fixed to some extent and he had to interrupt this major undertaking. Upon what texts would he preach? (2) Now it was also the custom during the Easter Octave to have not only a morning liturgy each day but also an evening one.2 And those newly baptized on the Easter Vigil would attend this evening service, dressed in a white garment and gathered together in a special section apart from the others in attendance .3 It was appropriate that the sermons at this time be especially relevant to the spiritual needs of these neophyte Christians. (3) Augustine chose in this particular year the First Epistle ofJohn. It was short and he expected to complete its exposition within the Octave, a goal which he failed to achieve. But there were other reasons for selecting this Epistle. Augustine I. The 124 Tractates on the Gospel of]ohn are found in FOTe 78, 79, 88, 90, and 92. 2. See S. Poque, "Les lectures liturgiques de I'Octave pascale ;it Hippone d'apres les traites de s. Augustin sur la premiere epitre de s. Jean," RB 74 (1964) 224-28; F. Van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, trans. G. Battershaw and G. Lamb (London, 1961) 345, 381. In the morning the liturgy ofthe word and the eucharistic service were performed; the evening service was devoted primarily to preaching, and so there was time for a longer sermon. This pardy explains how a text completely unrelated to the day's readings could be commented on. There are other examples of the same practice among the Sermones given during Eastertide, e.g., Sermones 240-43 on the resurrection of the body. It should be pointed out also that bishops had much freedom in selecting texts both for dIe liturgy and for dIeir sermons; see, e.g., En in Ps 86.1 (eeL 39.1198) and 138.1 (eeL 40.1990); Sermones 352.1 and 362.1 (PL 39.1549-50 and 1611-12), and Sermones 174 and 176 (PL 38.939-45, 949-53) where he combines 1 Tm 1.15 with variant readings in arguing against the Pelagians. See also Van der Meer, 414-15, and G. Willis, St. Augustine's Lectionary (London, 1962),5-9. 3. See Van der Meer, 379-382. 97 98 TRACTATES ON FIRST JOHN considered it the work of the Apostle John who, he believed, also wrote the fourth Gospel.4 Moreover he saw the central theme of the Epistle to be caritas, Christian love, which he was convinced was the foundation of the Christian life, a theme most appropriate for new Christians and always beneficial for all Christians. And then too, in spite of recent legislation whereby the Roman government had condemned the Donatist schism,5 the Church at Hippo remained split asunder, and Catholic Christians and Donatist Christians hated one another . But love is the cause and the support of unity; love might heal the schism, unify the Church of Hippo, and purify the hearts of all its Christians. Augustine, therefore, ortEaster Sunday gave the first of these Ten Tractates on the First Epistle ofJohn to the Parthians (In Epistolam Ioannis ad Parthos Tractatus Decem). (4) These ten tractates were delivered in Hippo Regius after the Twelfth Tractate on the Gospel ofJohn6 during the Easter Octave of A.D. 407, as La Bonnardiere has convincingly demonstrated .7 Since the liturgical readings were fixed for the Easter 4. Augustine clearly considered John the Apostle the writer of the Gospel, the three Epistles, and the Apocalypse. See Tr in 10 Ep, Prologue, 1.1,6.1, and 8·4; Tr in Ev 13.2, 17.2,25,5,34.9,40.9,41.9,45.15,47.2 and 11,53.12,61.2, 77.3,82.2,84.1,87.2, 101.5 and 6, 103.5, and 124.6. At Tr in 10 Ep 7.5 he refers to I Jn as a canonical epistle. 5. A.·M. La Bonnardiere, Recherches de chronologie augustinienne (Paris, 1965) 22-24, argues that this was done by an imperial law passed in February, A.D. 405, a law referred to in Epistola 93.19 (PL 33.330-31 or FOTC 18.7475 ) which...

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