ČÍSELNÁ SYMBOLIKA 153 RÝB U SV. AUGUSTÍNA

This study analyzes Augustine’s interpretation of the number 153, found in John 21,11. Despite Augustine’s condemnation of those mathematicians who calculated a person’s destiny out of his or her birthday and name, we have to bear in mind the critical passage Gen. ad litteram 2, 17, 37. He immersed himself into the study of figures and numbers in the Bible, and their allegoric interpretation was part of his exegesis. In this we may be able to see not only a proof of his neo-platonian education, which comprised geometry and arithmetics, but also his inclination towards exact science. This paper is an attempt to compile and understand the texts of Augustine in which he interprets the Johannine number 153.