WYZBYCIE SIĘ PRYWATNEJ WŁASNOŚCI – TEORIA I PRAKTYKA W NAJWCZEŚNIEJSZYCH MONASTYCZNYCH WSPÓLNOTACH Z KRĘGU AUGUSTYNA
DISPOSAL OF PRIVATE PROPERTY – THEOR Y AND PRACTICE IN THE EARLIEST AUGUSTINIAN MONASTIC COMMUNITIES

Summary/Abstract: According to the theory present in both the prescriptive and hagiographical writings concerned with the functioning of the earliest monastic communities in Africa, a prerequisite and a necessary condition imposed on any member of a monastic community was to dispose of all his private property and belongings. The authors promoting this rule primarily referred to two New Testament texts (Matth. 19:12; Acts 4:32–25). The apostolic community of Jerusalem described in the Acts became even the model for Augustine’s monasticism (Praeceptum, Vita Augustini, Sermo 356). Furthermore, Augustine, taking advantage of his rhetorical mastery, tried to prove the superiority of common over private property in his preaching (Enarratio in Ps. 131, 5–7). However, the disposing of private belongings was an ambiguous practice in the everyday life of the communities established by the bishop of Hippo and entailed a whole range of restrictions of legal or social nature. The ambiguity concerned even Augustine himself. The extant sources do not clearly and unambiguously specify what he actually did with his family estate. The rather apologetic Sermon 356 depicts a whole collection of clergymen residing with Augustine in the bishop’s abode who could be reasonably suspected of having failed to dispose of their property on joining the monastery. The main part of the paper focuses, therefore, on a case study of those monks’ situation. Its aim is to explain why and how the monastic theory related to property issues clearly clashed with the actual monastic practice in the earliest Augustinian communities.

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