St. Augustine’s friend Alypius

I have been reading on and off the book by the ancient theologian St. Augustine of Milan, titled Confessions, where Augustine goes through his life up to his conversion and discusses with the reader (God) what went wrong with his life, his thought process at the time, and how God divinely orchestrated it all for his salvation and God's glory.

God's Sanctification of Alypius

Personally I was struck by one particular tale that he tells of his friend and sometimes pupil Alypius. Now they were hometown friends, separated by age but close in friendship, with Augustine already being a teacher of rhetoric when Alypius was still a pupil of law. Both of them at the time were Manichees, a Christian heretical sect, Augustine considered them not saved yet. Both were from Carthage, and both had moved to Milan for advancement in their careers. Alypius had inherited, by nurturing of his family, a wild obsession for Gladiator fights and circus games. He struggled on and off about this obsession for many years. The fights and games were all kinds of gory and dehumanizing spectacles, including major bets on winners, and it was common entertainment for the Romans. Not on purpose, but on “accident” Alypius attended one of Augustine lectures where he used the circus games as an example to ram home a point that to be those people who attended were "captivated by this folly.” To the credit of Alypius’ character, he took the example to heart, thinking it was used specifically to persuade him of his folly, and he subsequently went away and,

"With strict self-control he gave his mind a shaking, and all the filth of the circus games dropped away from him, and he stopped going to them" (VI. vii)

Now Augustine confesses to God that his example was merely sarcastic and was not even remotely aimed at convincing his friend of his errors in life, for he had already given up on that beforehand. Yet he also notes that it is said in Proverbs 9:8 “Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.” God did use this lecture, though not meant at all to be a rebuttal, to change the habits of one of his Children, so that he may be sanctified before God and prepared for the challenges that lay before him.

God prepares Alypius

Another tale told by Augustine shows how God laid a specific event out to prepare Alypius for his work. While a student in Carthage, he was out in the forum thinking about a speech he had to give. Another student carried a hatchet and attempted to take down the grates that covered the shop of a silversmith. The silversmith heard the sounds of hatching and send his assistants to grab the would-be robber. The robber heard the approaching men and ran, leaving his hatchet behind. Alypius, just coming onto the scene, finds the hatch and picks it up, wondering why it is there (This already sounds ridiculous, but it gets better). The assistants discover him with the hatchet, grabbed him, and brought him to the crowd outside to declare that they caught the thief red-handed. Now on the way to court a prominent public architect, nominally in charge of the forum, notices him being dragged by the crowd. He recognizes him from mutual meetings with a certain Senator and pulls him away and hears the story from both sides. Recognizing the problem, the architect leads the crowd to the house of the robber, in front of which one of their slaves sat. The architect asks the slave boy to identify the household insignia on the hatchet, with the slave boy promptly does. Realizing that the robber is in the house and not Alypius, the crowd lets him go and calls for judges to try the real robber. Augustine credits God with giving,

"[Alypius], the future dispenser of your word and examiner of many arbitration in your Church went away with increased experience and wisdom. (VI. ix)

Proof of Character

The last story Augustine recounts is when Alypius joins the government in Rome, where he became a Treasury official. There was a powerful senator at the time, who by bribes or subdued by terror kept many under him. He wanted to use his influence to obtain something that was unlawful for him to have. Alypius resisted, denied the bribe, and refused to budge even when threatened. The judge (not the judges of laws today, but more like government technocrats), Alypius boss, who wanted to refuse that senator but was afraid to publicly, said that if Alypius denied it then he was powerless to stop him (clearly shrinking his responsibility). But Augustine states that if forced to Alypius would have resigned rather than be forced to break the law. He stated that:

"...everyone was amazed at so exceptional a character who nether wished to have as a friend nor feared to have as his enemy a powerful person ... who had innumerable methods of either benefiting or injuring people." (VI. x)

The last point from Augustine. Alypius was permitted to make copies of scrolls at discounted rates because he was a government official. Being a lover of reading, he was tempted to get books copied by government scribes so that he could take them home and read for his pleasure, which was apparently a common practice for peers. He felt, however, that his integrity would demand him not to use his position in such a manner. It really seems like a small matter, but as Augustine points to God's word 'he who is faithful in little is faithful also in much' (Luke 16: 11-12).

My takeaways

One quick note, Augustine may quote scripture that does not always reflect the strict text, but often the meaning behind the text. I really admire and appreciate his constant little reminders of your word, not only in his breadth of knowledge but also his ability to apply it to the various issues at hand. Being a teacher of rhetoric seems to help one in both speech and writing.

When reading of Alypius I cannot help but admire a man of such strong character, while also feeling quite ashamed at the state of mine own.

Look at the first story. If I was Alypius, I would feel offended that my friend would call me out in front of his students like that, even though he didn't say my name. Even if I did not get angry at the example, would I honestly take my friends words to heart and change my lifestyle? I fear that I would brush it off as some advice from my friend, but not applicable to me, for whatever rational reason that I could come up with.

In the second story, would I have kept calm and collected at those accusations, or would I have gotten defensive and angry? Would I have noticed the situation as a whole and been able to go away wiser and more experienced, or would I have been bitter and so in the moment with my anger that I wouldn't see the reason I had to endure such an event? I fear the latter.

In the last story, would I have even tried to stop the Senator? Would I accept the bribe, or given way when threatened? Would I have been willing to resign from a job that Alypius so recently acquired? Would I be so troubled by using a government scribe?

I do know this. I have used my departments computer lab for non-departmental uses. I have played games or watched videos on the computers, printed essays and paperwork not related to my major. Are theses similar to the government scribes? Yes and no, you can rationalize both sides of this fairly well. But would I have guarded my integrity to such an extent that I would question myself if I felt these were remotely wrong? I fear I have not. This is why the story of Alypius struck me so, such a strong man of character with a good heart, that even in his life before really finding salvation he was being shaped by God to be sanctified. His story struck me hard, asking me to check if I am alright with the state of my character? Maybe this will be a good time to check yourself as well.