Abstrakt
The paper studies the historic and juridical background of Augustine's Letter 262 addressed to Ecdicia and evaluates the modern exegesis of the Letter, especially regarding the role of women the Late Antiquity. Augustine's reply to a woman regarding her family problems and her idea of Christian perfection illustrates a tension in the Church regarding the ideal of the Christian asceticism in the first half of the 5th century.
Against an individualistic concept of salvation, Augustine proposes the ascetic ideal of striving for the salvation of the Church, forming one body in Christ.