Partykularność i powszechność. Przyczynki do teologii kościoła partykularnego w świetle polemiki św. Augustyna z donatystami

Abstract

Particular Church theology reveals itself especially in the context of St. Augustine’s polemics with the Donatists. The bishop of Hippo underlines the fact that these heretical communities are characterized by particularism, whose essential feature is the separation from the Church and the concentration of the followers around their leader. In this way, the Donatists cease to be the Church, and become members of the party, the particle (pars) separated from the whole. For St. Augustine, the main argument against the Donatists is the universality of the Church. There is only one universal Church, although it consists of numerous churches throughout the world. These Christian communities, to be the Church, must be joined together by bonds of faith, hope, love, or sacraments. Love given by the Holy Spirit, that binds all members of the Church and makes them one, plays special role. The bishop of Hippo, comparing the Church to God’s building, teaches that love joints the Christians with their foundation – the rock on which the Church is built. This rock is Peter, who embodies and represents the whole Church, but above all this rock is Christ, from which Peter – the rock – draws its durability. Particular Church, being the united community of one faith and one love, built on the rock of Christ and Peter, and maintaining its distinctiveness, is always a part of the universal Church. Being the part of the universal Church, the particular Church also participates in its nature. Being not only open and related to the Church, but also equally universal, it is its essence. Therefore, a particular Church is a part which, by participating in the universal Church, is not just its component. It remains the Church itself, but always and only as a particle united with the whole.