Home | Works of Augustine | His writings | Rule - 01 | Rule - 02 ID 0834 Rule - 02 Augustine gives his Rule of life The Rule of Augustine is one of the oldest monastic rules in the Church.   It is short on regulations and ascetic advice because Augustine focused on getting right the foundation of community life, accepting that the details would subsequently be worked out if the essential pattern was securely in place.   At its core is the description found in the Acts of the Apostles 4:32, "The whole group of believers was of one mind and one heart. No one claimed any of his possessions as his own, but everything was held in common."                      Upon this passage from the New Testament, the Rule of Augustine established that the community must live in harmony, "being of one mind and heart on the way to God."   The most fundamental message of the Rule is this: Love -- love of God, love of neighbour -- is the centre of Christian life.   Christians thus come together in vowed community life to establish and enjoy a real and common life of living that is centred on God and striving for God.   Every member's spiritual talents and material goods are to be shared in humility, which is a necessary condition for love.   Augustine was less interested in external regulations than in inner transformation: seven times the Rule invites the reader to move from external action to interior conversion.   The essence of the Rule is to value community life over seeking for oneself. For this reason,   * All members are to share what they have, and are to receive only according to their need.   * All work is to be accomplished for the common good of all.   * All members are to exercise mutual care and vigilance over one another.   * The sick are to be a special object of care in the community.                * Any one who offends another is expected to ask for pardon and receive forgiveness as soon as possible.   * Prayer at fixed times is essential.   Central to these principles is overcoming the human tendency to favour one's own ego, which Augustine saw as a major obstacle to achieving unity among members and to living the Christian message.   By their love for one another, by their ability to live together in harmony, the members of a religious community embody the truth of the teachings of Christ. They make his love present to others.   The oldest of its kind in the Western world, the Rule has been chosen by the Augustinians and by more than a hundred other religious orders and societies as the pattern for their daily lives.   (Continued on the next page.) ID0834 << Previous    Next >> Rule - 02  His book list  Finding Augustine  His writings chart - 01  His writing method  Augustine published - 01  Beautiful and Apt  Earliest writings - 01  Dialogues - 01  On the teacher - 01  On holy virginity  On the good of marriage  On the work of monks  On the good of widowhood  On true religion  Eighty-three Questions - 01  Enarrationes in Psalmos  City of God: introduction  On Christian Doctrine - 01  On the Trinity - 01  Confessions: introduction  Teaching Unlearned - 01  Rule - 01    Rule - 02 Rule - 03  On the Epistle of John  On the Gospel of John  Enchridion - 01  Retractions - 01  His Sermons - 01  His letters  His writings: links

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