AUGUSTINE'S CRITIQUE OF ORIGEN'S UNDERSTANDING OF MERCY

The author of the article confronts reflections on mercy of the two great writers of the early Church - Origen, i.e., Origenists and Augustine. These are two theological-dogmatic reflections on cosmology, anthropology, and eschatology that were written in the time span of two hundred years. For this task the author will utilise Origen's work Principles and Augustine's work The City of God. By articulating theological reflections of these two giants of theological thought, the author has tried to contribute to the task of the Church to proclaim God's mercy that is obviously present from the creation of the world and will be present until its end. The article constitutes a whole that consists of six parts and these parts are entitled according to six hypotheses of Origenists, including Augustine's six responses. In the introductory part the author will familiarise the reader with the fact that the issue of eternal reward and eternal punishment has always been relevant for human life and, therefore, it is still relevant today. The author is primarily guided by the way Augustine points out hypotheses of "merciful Origenists" and how he replies to these hypotheses. The hypotheses are the following: mercy with temporal punishment, mercy without temporal punishment, mercy towards those who have been washed by Christs' baptism, mercy towards Catholics, mercy towards those who persist in the Catholic Church, and mercy towards those who are merciful.