/ 
A homily of Meister Eckhart preached in the Academy of Paris on the Feast of day of Saint Augustine («Vas auri solidum»)
Abstract
This article is devoted to the study of a little known homily of Meister Eckhart («Vas auri solidum») which he preached on Saint Augustine’s feast day in Paris. Before including the translation of this discourse, the author discusses the specific nature of the so-called academic homily. Preaching a homily was regarded as one of the obligations of a university professor of the time and this task was regulated according to strict guidelines and requirements. Such a homily possessed a specific structure. The author explains its main requirement. This type of homily was meant to explain and interpret a chosen text taken from Holy Scripture. Meister Eckhart actually planned to compose an extended three-part work combining elements of philosophy and theology which was to be known as his Opus tripartitum. One of its parts was to be a collection of model homilies (Opus sermonus). He began this work but did not finish it. Although we today possess only a few sketches and outlines of the Latin homilies of Meister Eckhart, which themselves are characterised by their lack of structure, they provide an excellent understanding of the mind of their author as well as rare insight into the place of Saint Augustine as a master of scholastic thought. In addition, this homily provides the only indication of the place of birth of the renowned mediaeval author. After an in-depth study of the text of the homily, the author concludes that Meister Eckhart borrowed his outline and system of classification from the School of Chartres and especially from Clarembald of Arras, an interpreter of Boethius. Using these sources, Eckhart formulated his idea of the two ways of knowing God: the way of ethics (Augustine) and the way of metaphysics (Aristotle, Dionysius the Areopagite and Boethius)
Keywords
Meister Eckhart, Saint Augustine, sermon, scholastics, Clarembald of Arras, Aristotle, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Boethius
References
1. Albrecht E. 1978. Zur Herkunft Meister Echharts. Amtsblatt der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche in Thuringen, no. 31, pp. 28-34.
2. Chenu M.-D. La theologie comme science au XIIIe siecle. Paris, 1957.
3. Concetto M. Fisica della creazione: la cosmologia di Clarembaldo di Arras; testo, traduzione e commento. Catania, 1998
4. Denifle H. 1889. Die Heimat Meister Eckharts. Archiv fur Litteratur- und Kirchengeschichte, no. 5, pp. 358-365.
5. Fortin J. R. Clarembald of Arras as a Boethian commentator. Kirksville, 1995
6. George D. B., Fortin J. R. (eds.) The Boethian commentaries of Clarembald of Arras. South Bend (IN), 2002.
7. Haring N. The Life and Works of Clarembald of Arras: a Twelfth-Century Master of the School of Chartres. Toronto, 1965
8. Hor’kov M. L. Majster Jekhart: Vvedenie v fi losofi ju velikogo rejnskogo mistika (Meister Eckhart. Introduction to the Philosophy of the Great Rhenish Mystic). Мoscow, 2003.
9. Jansen W. (ed.) Der Кommentar des Clarenbaldus von Arras zu Boethius De Trinitate. Ein Werk aus der Schule von Chartres im 12-Jahrhundert. Frankfurt am Main, 19752.
10. Koch J. 1959. Kritische Studien zum Leben Meister Eckharts. Tl. 1. Archivum fratrum Praedicatorum, no. 29, pp. 5-51.
11. Koch J. 1960. Kritische Studien zum Leben Meister Eckharts. Tl. 2. Archivum fratrum Praedicatorum, no. 30, pp. 5-62.
12. Koch J. Kleine Studien. Rome, 1973.
13. Koch J., Weiss K., Fischer H. et al. (eds.) Meister Eckhart. Die deutschen und lateinischen Werke. Die lateinischen Werke. Stuttgart, 1956-2006. Bd. 1-5.
14. Kurdziałek M. 1979. Mistrz Eckhart i jego Paryskie kazanie na dzien Sw. Augustyna. Roczniki Filozofi czne, no. 27, pp. 173-174.
15. Kurdziałek M. 1980. Eckhart, der Scholastiker. Philosophische und theologische Traditionen, aus denen er kommt. Die pantheistischen Traditionen der Eckhartschen Mystik. Freiheit und Gelassenheit. Meister Eckhart heute, pp. 60-74.
16. Largier N. (ed.) Meister Eckhart. Werke. Frankfurt am Main, 2008.
17. Little A. G., Pelster F. Oxford Theology and Theologians c.a. D. 1282-1302. Oxford, 1934.
18. Magister Eckhard. Quaestiones et sermo Parisienses. Bonnae, 1931.
19. Peiper R. (ed.) Liber contra Eutychen et Nestorium. Leipzig, 1871.
20. Wulf M. de. 1935. Le pantheisme Chartrain. Aus der Geisteswelt des Mittelalters. Studien und Texte Martin Grabmann zur Vollendung des 60. Lebensjahres von Freunden und Schulern gewidmet, pp. 282-288.