Rejecting explicit animal sacrifice to demons does not amount to true purity if one still clings to … — Augustin d'Hippone

Rejecting explicit animal sacrifice to demons does not amount to true purity if one still clings to superstitious and idolatrous conceptions of God; imagining God as a luminous physical object is spiritual fornication that effectively sacrifices oneself to demons (‘feeds the winds’).

By Augustin d'Hippone, from Les Confessions

Key Arguments

Augustine proudly recalls refusing a soothsayer’s offer to secure his victory in a poetry contest through sacrificial rites: ‘I replied that I hated and abominated those vile mysteries, and that even if the crown were immortal and made of gold, I would not allow a fly to be killed to bring about my success.’
He notes, however, that this refusal was not motivated by true love of God: ‘Yet my rejection of this evil proposition was not motivated by respect for the purity which you enjoin, “God of my heart” (Ps. 72: 26).’
He confesses that he knew nothing of loving the true God and thought of God only as ‘physical objects luminous with light’: ‘I knew nothing about love for you, of whom I had no conception other than of physical objects luminous with light.’
He interprets such imaginings as spiritual adultery and feeding demonic spirits: ‘In sighing after such fictions does not the soul “commit fornication against you” (Ps. 72: 27) and “trust in lies and feed the winds” (Prov. 10: 4)? … I refused sacrifice to daemons on my behalf; yet by adherence to that superstition I sacrificed myself to them.’
He glosses ‘feed the winds’ as nourishing spirits through one’s own errors: ‘What is it to “feed the winds” if not to feed the spirits, that is, by one’s errors to become an object of delight and derision to them?’

Source Quotes

(3) I also recall how, when I had decided to enter for a poetry competition at the theatre, a soothsayer of some sort sent to ask what fee I would give him to ensure victory. But I replied that I hated and abominated those vile mysteries, and that even if the crown were immortal and made of gold, I would not allow a fly to be killed to bring about my success.4 For in his mysteries he would be going to kill animals, and by offering these creatures in honour of daemons, his intention was to gain their support for my winning. Yet my rejection of this evil proposition was not motivated by respect for the purity which you enjoin, ‘God of my heart’ (Ps.

But I replied that I hated and abominated those vile mysteries, and that even if the crown were immortal and made of gold, I would not allow a fly to be killed to bring about my success.4 For in his mysteries he would be going to kill animals, and by offering these creatures in honour of daemons, his intention was to gain their support for my winning. Yet my rejection of this evil proposition was not motivated by respect for the purity which you enjoin, ‘God of my heart’ (Ps. 72: 26). I knew nothing about love for you, of whom I had no conception other than of physical objects luminous with light.

72: 26). I knew nothing about love for you, of whom I had no conception other than of physical objects luminous with light. In sighing after such fictions does not the soul ‘commit fornication against you’ (Ps.

I knew nothing about love for you, of whom I had no conception other than of physical objects luminous with light. In sighing after such fictions does not the soul ‘commit fornication against you’ (Ps. 72: 27) and ‘trust in lies and feed the winds’ (Prov. 10: 4)? I refused sacrifice to daemons on my behalf; yet by adherence to that superstition I sacrificed myself to them.

10: 4)? I refused sacrifice to daemons on my behalf; yet by adherence to that superstition I sacrificed myself to them. What is it to ‘feed the winds’ if not to feed the spirits, that is, by one’s errors to become an object of delight and derision to them? iii (4) On the same ground I did not cease openly to consult those impostors called astrologers, because they offered, so to speak, no sacrifices, and no prayers were addressed to any spirit for the purpose of divining the future.

I refused sacrifice to daemons on my behalf; yet by adherence to that superstition I sacrificed myself to them. What is it to ‘feed the winds’ if not to feed the spirits, that is, by one’s errors to become an object of delight and derision to them? iii (4) On the same ground I did not cease openly to consult those impostors called astrologers, because they offered, so to speak, no sacrifices, and no prayers were addressed to any spirit for the purpose of divining the future. Yet a true Christian piety consistently rejects and condemns this art.

Key Concepts

even if the crown were immortal and made of gold, I would not allow a fly to be killed to bring about my success.
Yet my rejection of this evil proposition was not motivated by respect for the purity which you enjoin, ‘God of my heart’ (Ps. 72: 26).
I knew nothing about love for you, of whom I had no conception other than of physical objects luminous with light.
In sighing after such fictions does not the soul ‘commit fornication against you’ (Ps. 72: 27) and ‘trust in lies and feed the winds’ (Prov. 10: 4)?
I refused sacrifice to daemons on my behalf; yet by adherence to that superstition I sacrificed myself to them.
What is it to ‘feed the winds’ if not to feed the spirits, that is, by one’s errors to become an object of delight and derision to them?

Context

Book IV, section ii (3): Augustine analyzes his refusal of one form of pagan sacrifice while remaining in Manichaean superstition, diagnosing idolatrous conceptions of God as spiritual fornication and self‑sacrifice to demons.