Observations placeholder
St. Augustine witnesses the destruction in 396, of Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey
Identifier
028760
Type of Spiritual Experience
None
Background
A description of the experience
Source: Albert Barnes, Minor Prophets I (Michigan: Baker Books, 1985), 414. Augustine doesn't give a date, but 16th century ecclesiastical historian Cesare Baronius said it was 396. It isn't known how he reached this conclusion.
St. Augustine witnesses the destruction in 396, of Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey
"At the beginning of the night as the world was being darkened, a fiery cloud was seen from the East, small at first then, as it approached the city, gradually enlarging, until it hung terribly over the whole city. All fled to the Church; the place did not hold the people. But after that great tribulation, when God had accredited His word, the cloud began to diminish and at last disappeared.
The people, freed from fear for a while, again heard that they must migrate, because the whole city would be destroyed on the next Sabbath. The whole people left the city with the Emperor; no one remained in his house.
The city was saved. "What shall we say?" adds Augustine. "Was this the anger of God, or rather His mercy?"