On the Proceedings of Pelagius

Contents

Reading pages: 1–17 · 18–31 · 32–50 · 51–65 · 66

1. 1Augustine tells Aurelius that, now the official proceedings of the synod in Palestine have reached him, he can safely discuss Pelagius's defense.
2. 2The first charge, that no one can be without sin without knowledge of the law, is explained away by Pelagius, and the Greek-speaking bishops accept his answer.
3. 3Augustine distinguishes helps without which a thing cannot be done from helps that are useful but not necessary, and asks which kind knowledge of the law is.
4. 4Even if Pelagius meant the teaching given before baptism, the baptized infants, who are without personal sin yet know nothing, refute his written statement.
5. 5The second charge, that all are governed by their own will, is accepted in Pelagius's explanation, but Augustine shows from Scripture that God governs and leads his children.
6. 6The passage of Wisdom that Pelagius himself cites shows a man praying for understanding rather than trusting his own will.
7. 7The texts Pelagius cites about human choice show that choosing evil is the will's own work, while choosing good requires God's help; the predestined are not left to their own desires.
8. 8The bishops accepted Pelagius's explanation that God helps free choice in choosing good, without examining the wording of his book.
9. 9The charge that all sinners will burn eternally was accepted because Pelagius cited the gospel, and no one pressed him to distinguish those saved through fire.
10. 10The synod approved condemning Origen's view that the damned and the devil will finally be freed, but did not rule on those saved through fire.
11. 11Scripture describes the one judgment in many images; since Pelagius did not say that all sinners burn forever, the bishops rightly approved his statement, though his real view remains unclear.
12. 12Pelagius explained that a Christian should strive not to think evil; Augustine distinguishes evil that merely comes to mind from evil thought with consent.
13. 13The fifth charge, that the kingdom of heaven was promised in the Old Testament, is defended by Pelagius from Daniel and approved.
14. 14Augustine explains two senses of “Old Testament”: strictly, the Sinai covenant of earthly promises; loosely, all the Scriptures before Christ, in which the kingdom of heaven is indeed promised.
15. 15Pelagius's statement was rightly approved in the broad sense of “Old Testament,” though it blurs the apostolic distinction between the covenants.
16. 16The sixth charge: Pelagius affirms that a man can be without sin if he wishes, disowns flattering passages to a widow, and anathematizes their authors “as fools, not as heretics.”
17. 17Without accusers present, the judges could only ask Pelagius to anathematize the views he disowned.
18. 18Augustine explains why the judges did not settle whether the disowned statements were heresy or mere foolishness: every heretic is a fool, but not every fool is a heretic.
19. 19Books to a widow containing the disowned passages had circulated as Pelagius's for four years, so either he lied or they were falsely ascribed to him.
20. 20The grace Pelagius names is ambiguous; the grace Scripture teaches is not nature or knowledge of the law, but the Spirit's help that frees from the body of death (Rom 7).
21. 21Paul in Romans 7 had free choice and knowledge of the law but lacked the strength to do good, so he asked for grace.
22. 22Augustine fears Pelagius's “grace” means only created free choice, as his book On Nature said, and notes that the book's claim that Abel never sinned conflicts with his answer at the synod.
23. 23The next charges were the propositions of Caelestius condemned at Carthage and the Sicilian propositions Augustine had answered in his letter to Hilary.
24. 24Pelagius anathematized the propositions of Caelestius and the Sicilian propositions, and the synod declared his answer sufficient; so these errors stand condemned.
25. 25Augustine recalls his earlier writings and preaching against these errors, especially on infant baptism, and notes that the Eastern bishops acquitted Pelagius only because he condemned them.
26. 26Pelagius changed Caelestius's claim that some were without sin before Christ into the harmless claim that some lived holy lives, which the judges approved.
27. 27The eighth charge, that the church here is without spot or wrinkle, is shown to contradict 1 John 1:8 and the Lord's Prayer.
28. 28Pelagius explained that the church is cleansed in baptism and the Lord wishes her to remain so; the bishops approved this, without ruling on the time of prayer between baptism and the kingdom.
29. 29Caelestius's claim that we do more than the law commands was approved only in the sense that virginity, a gift of God, exceeds commanded marital chastity.
30. 30Pelagius anathematized Caelestius's propositions that grace is not given for individual acts and is given according to merit, so these stand condemned by the synod.
31. 31By anathematizing these propositions, Pelagius has in effect confessed a grace given by the Holy Spirit for each act, distinct from nature and law.
32. 32Paul did have all the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12, so the bishops rightly approved Pelagius's answer; yet not all graces are in any one member, as the image of the body shows.
33. 33Pelagius's phrase that God gives graces to the worthy troubles Augustine, because grace by definition is given freely to the unworthy, not paid as a debt.
34. 34Faith itself, the beginning of every good work, is not merited but given by God's prevenient mercy.
35. 35Paul's crown is paid to his merits, but those merits are themselves God's gifts: victory, running, and keeping the faith are all by grace.
36. 36Paul himself says he was unworthy to be an apostle because he persecuted the church, and that he is what he is by grace, which labored in him.
37. 37Bishop John of Jerusalem reported that at an earlier hearing Pelagius, confronted with Scripture on grace, said he anathematized anyone who says a man can progress in virtue without God's help.
38. 38Pelagius did not contradict John's account, though he could have.
39. 39Pelagius's commentary on Romans treats Rom 9:16 as an objection Paul refutes, so his silent assent to John obliges him to disown or correct it; John's remarks about the absent accusers do not prejudice them.
40. 40Pelagius's claim that Paul was worthy of all graces contradicts both Paul's words and Pelagius's own condemnation of Caelestius's proposition that grace is given according to merit.
41. 41The judges probably overlooked the single word “worthy,” but Pelagius's book On Nature makes Augustine suspect it was chosen deliberately.
42. 42The last charges were further propositions of Caelestius: that only the sinless are sons of God, that ignorance is not sin, that free choice needs no divine help, that victory is ours, and that pardon is earned by penance.
43. 43Pelagius disowns the propositions, rejects them according to the church's judgment, and professes the Trinity of one substance.
44. 44The synod declares Pelagius in catholic communion.
45. 45Augustine wishes Pelagius's salvation but will not rejoice at his acquittal, since those who know his teaching read a defense rather than a confession of past errors.
46. 46Augustine recounts how he came to know of Pelagius and how he at first opposed the errors without naming persons.
47. 47Pelagius's book On Nature, given to Augustine by Timasius and James, showed that he meant by grace only created nature; his anathema on all who “ever held” such views condemns his own former disciples.
48. 48The letter of Timasius and James thanking Augustine for On Nature and Grace, which answered every point of Pelagius's book.
49. 49Had Pelagius confessed his past error he would be welcomed; instead he anathematized his own former disciples, who still hope for his deliverance.
50. 50Augustine hopes Pelagius will take his open naming as a remedy, and notes that letters praising his moral exhortations prove nothing about his doctrine.
51. 51Augustine explains the courteous terms of his short letter to Pelagius, which quietly reminded him that goodness is God's gift.
52. 52The text of Augustine's short letter to Pelagius.
53. 53Augustine's wish that Pelagius “please the Lord” commended grace; no letters of praise will show Pelagius corrected until he renounces what he wrote against grace.
54. 54A letter circulating under Pelagius's name boasts that the synod approved his view that man can “easily” keep the commandments, though “easily” appears nowhere in the proceedings.
55. 55The boast about “ease” contradicts Pelagius's own talk of labor and omits grace; the synod left open whether sinlessness is attainable in this life or only in the resurrection.
56. 56The letter's omission of grace and addition of “ease” cast doubt on the sincerity of Pelagius's confession at the synod.
57. 57Pelagius's own summary of his defense, sent to Augustine, omitted his anathema of Caelestius's propositions, leaving room to think they could still be defended.
58. 58Pelagius's paper also merged his answers and hid that the church had already judged the propositions, so readers might think them still open; he should now oppose them openly.
59. 59Augustine asks Aurelius to circulate the book to refute those who think the Eastern bishops approved Pelagian doctrine, and turns to a summary.
60. 60The synod acquitted Pelagius on two grounds: that he agreed with godly teaching and anathematized its contrary; Augustine will recapitulate both.
61. 61Augustine summarizes the new heresy: it denies God's help in individual acts, calling grace only created nature, the law, and forgiveness of past sins.
62. 62Recapitulation: the points the bishops approved were approved only in Pelagius's explained senses, which leave the heresy itself condemned.
63. 63Recapitulation of the four propositions of Caelestius that Pelagius accepted only in his own explained sense.
64. 64The bishops approved these four points only in their orthodox sense; this is what they meant by saying Pelagius agrees with godly teaching.
65. 65Recapitulation of all the propositions Pelagius anathematized, which the synod thus condemned as contrary to the church's faith.
66. 66Augustine leaves the violence against Jerome's monasteries to the local bishops and closes the book, commending it to Aurelius.