TERMÉSZETELLENES HALÁL, TERMÉSZETES GYÁSZ: AUGUSTINUS, A SZÍR RUFINUS ÉS ÓRIGENÉS HEIDL GYÖRGY ABSTRACT Unnatural Death, Natural Mourning: Augustine, Rufnus of Syria, and Origen Te source of the Augustinian theology of the unnaturalness of death, which has been fundamental to the later development of Western theology, is to be found in the Pelagian controversy. Pelagius and the so-called “Pelagians”, such as Caelesti- us, Rufnus the Syrian, and Julian of Eclanum, argued for the naturalness of death because they believed that death was not a punishment for Adam’s sin, which was passed on to his descendants along with sin, but an inherent property of the body- soul human being given in creation. According to them, Adam’s sin only harmed Adam, it did not corrupt human nature, and it did not limit man’s ability to choose between good and evil. Te knowledge of death leads to a virtuous life and dis- courages evil doing, but even if it does not, it is good because it puts an end to the misdeeds of the sinner. On this point, Augustine consistently opposed the Pelagian tradition, and to some extent Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. One reason for this is Augustine’s anthropology, which was deeply determined by his Origenian interpre- tation of key verses in the book of Genesis and which he was never able or willing to truly reconsider. He saw a radical diference between the original and the actual state of man, regarded bodily death as a punishment for sin, which, like Origen, he based on his interpretation of Gen 3,21 tunica pellicea, and, like Origen, justifed the ecclesiastical practice of infant baptism on the basis of the universality of the sinful state. Augustine did not copy Origen, but accepted the fundamental theses of the Alexandrian master, which he could never really abandon, but was forced to modify them somewhat in the course of the theological debates. In this way, he developed the doctrinal system which was later to be called “Augustinianism” afer his name. Te other reason is the exceptional psychological and pastoral sensitivity that characterized Augustine and his desire to closely link the concepts of love of neighbor and love of God. https://doi.org/10.55193/RS.2022.2.51