Augustine’s Friend

Augustine’s legacy is well known, but what about his closest friend? Today, Stephen Nichols introduces us to Alypius, a faithful companion who walked alongside Augustine from their days as students to bishops in neighboring towns.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are returning to our good friend Augustine, but we are going to look at Augustine through the eyes of his friend Alypius. Augustine tells us a little bit about Alypius in the Confessions. He writes, “Alypius came from my own town,” that's his hometown of Thagaste. That of course is in Northern Africa, “and his people were one of the leading families. He was younger than I was and had been a student of mine both in our own town, when I first began to teach, and later on at Carthage. He was greatly attached to me because he thought that I was a good and learned man, and I was fond of him because although he was still young, it was quite clear that he had much natural disposition to goodness.”

Well, Alypius was about six years younger than Augustine. Augustine was born in 354, so Alypius was born around 360. He was Augustine’s student, and they went to Carthage to together, and then they went from Carthage to Rome together. Of course, in Rome, Augustine was a teacher and a rhetorician. And from what we understand, Alypius had some kind of government position where he was entrusted with significant money and distributed funds. And so, we learn a little bit about his character, that he's trustworthy, and as Augustine will describe him in the Confessions, he has integrity. Well, Augustine and Alypius left Rome for Milan, and they again were friends. Another friend joined them, Nebridius, who also enters into the story, but it was actually Alypius who was with Augustine in that garden in Milan.

And if you don't know the story of Augustine's conversion, or you might remember it, Augustine thought for sure he heard children playing a game and saying, “Take up and read! Take up and read!” But Augustine couldn't think of any game that would have that line in it, “Take up and read.” I'm not sure I can think of a game that would have that line either. But Augustine had with him his New Testament, and he did, you know, what you're not supposed to do when you open a Bible. You just open it randomly and put your finger on a verse, and that's the verse. Well, that's how God converted Augustine, and Alypius was right at his side. Alypius, too, was converted, and together they were baptized by Ambrose there in the font at the Cathedral of Milan. Shortly after Augustine's conversion, he spent a few months up in the hills just at the foothills of the Alps, and he had some friends with them. And sort of like Paul on the backside of the desert, having to sort of rethink everything he thought he knew now that he was converted, same for Augustine and his friends. And of course, Alypius was there.

They returned to Milan and made the plans to return to Rome. Of course, they get to Ostia, that port city there that served Rome right on the Mediterranean. And at this time, not only does Augustine have his good friend Alypius, but he has his mother, Monica. But when they get to Ostia, she's ill. And Augustine rents rooms, beautiful rooms with a courtyard, and in the courtyard was a garden. And he has fond memories, writes of it, very touchingly, warmly in the Confessions, and there in Ostia, his mother died. Well, Alypius goes with Augustine back to Carthage and then back to Thagaste. They found what would be the first monastery there in that area of North Africa, and then they actually become bishops together. So, Augustine is Bishop of Hippo Regius, and Alypius as bishop in his hometown of Thagaste.

So there's decades of friendship and serving side by side. Augustine liked to quote Cicero's famous line on friendship that it is “agreement with kindliness and affection about things human and divine.” But Augustine would then add “in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is our real peace.” And Augustine and Alypius had that true bond of friendship. In fact, at one point in the Confessions, Augustine says, recalling how God was at work in his life, and recalling how God orchestrated various events in his life to bring Augustine to himself, Augustine says, “And how you also brought Alypius, whom in my heart I regarded as a brother.”

So that is Augustine's friend, Alypius. And I'm Steve Nichols, and thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.