From Monachos.net
This study area consolidates information regarding Pelagius and his thought, and the reactions to it that concerned the Church in the fourth and fifth centuries - often called the 'Pelagian Controversy' or the 'Dispute between Pelagius and Augustine'. The source documents found in this area are collated from the Patristics Master List, and organised together with additional information.
Contents |
A brief introduction to the dispute concerning Pelagius
Pelagius (c. 354 - c. 420 or 440) was an ascetical monk, traditionally in Roman Britain, whose name is given to a controversy surrounding views on grace, free will and the potential for human perfection, which was current in the Christian Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. This dispute was largely occasioned by Pelagius' concern over the teachings of Augustine of Hippo, and the fervour of the latter's reaction to Pelagius' comments.
Little is known of Pelagius himself. The belief that he was born in Britain is widely held, but this may relate simply to his place of birth. He was a monk, and so called by contemporary writers - but monasticism in this period was still relatively new, and it is not known whether he was part of an organised community or a solitary ascetic. In any case he was widely reputed for the rigour of his ascetical life. He went to Rome c. 380, where his fame quickly grew.
An ascetic through and through, Pelagius was vocal in his criticism of moral laxity - especially in the Roman and Christian capital. His criticism encountered a turning point c. 405, when the recently-published Confessions of Augustine came to his attention. It is traditionally said that he heard Augustine's phrase from that work, 'Give me what you command and command what you will', and considered it a summation of a flawed doctrine of grace and free will. His basic criticism was that Augustine was not faithfully representing the Church's ancient tradition, and was proclaiming instead a perception of the human condition that made man into a being under the control of God, rather than acting of his own will in freedom.
It is quite possible that Pelagius considered his criticism of Augustine to be a minor corrective, and as he believed his own view to be nothing other than the traditional position of the Church, he can hardly have anticipated a controversial reaction. But in Augustine he found a vocal critic, and in the interactions between the two men (and more broadly, of their lines of thought and those of their followers) the dispute would take on something of a life of its own. Though Augustine appears to have admired Pelagius' character, the bishop of Hippo's writings became ever more vehement in their criticisms of his views. Augustine's criticisms were soon echoed by similar sentiments in Jerome, who became critical of Pelagius when the latter went to Palestine. Never the less, Pelagius' views were widely held to, especially in Africa.
Several times, Pelagius was brought to trial by his critics, in attempts to see his thought definitively rejected. A council in 415 was called by Bishop John of Jerusalem, but it served simply to pass the question to a Latin council, since Pelagius and all his critics were Latin-speaking. This was side-stepped by the convening of a council later that same year in Lydda (Diosopolis). The council was called by two deposed Western bishops, Heros of Arles and Lazarus of Aix, neither of whom in the end attended its proceedings. But the council went ahead, and Pelagius was questioned in detail by the assembled bishops. The result of the hearing was wholly in Pelagius' favour, with the bishops noting: Now since we have received satisfaction on the points which have come before us touching the monk Pelagius, who has been present; since, too, he gives his consent to the pious doctrines, and even anathematizes everything that is contrary to the Church's faith, we confess him to belong to the communion of the Catholic Church (drawn from the fuller proceedings of the council).
Two local synods were soon held in Africa, both condemning Pelagius and his follower Coelestius, though the accused were conspicuously absent from both. Augustine, who was presumably upset with the verdict of the council at Lydda, appealed to Innocent I of Rome to condemn Pelagius, thus giving papal authority to the condemnation already pronounced by the local councils. Pope Innocent readily complied. Pelagius reacted by asserting that his condemnation was unfounded, he having not been represented at these hearings or to the pope, and himself wrote to Innocent I asserting his orthodoxy. These were received by Pope Zosimas, who had taken up the Roman See following Innocent's death - which apparently took place before Pelagius' letter was received in the city. Pope Zosimas received Pelagius' letter in 417, and found him wholly innocent of any heterodox opinions.
The Pope's recognition of Pelagius' Orthodoxy in 417 was the final straw for Augustine. Horrified that the decisions of the local African councils had not been upheld, but that Pope Zosimas had instead come to the same conclusions about Pelagius as the council in Lydda two years before, Augustine called a council at Carthage in 418, which asserted in dramatic terms the heresy of Pelagius' position and pronounced nine points that he and it felt were essential to traditional Christian teaching. These, together with the council's condemnation of Pelagius, resulted in the latter's effective banishment from Christian Italy.
In all this, the Eastern Church remained largely silent. The council of 415 was in essence an Eastern council, and its proclamation of Pelagius' innocence and Orthodoxy represented the basic Eastern view towards what it considered a largely Western dispute. While certain of Pelagius' positions were regarded as needing qualification or refinement, Augustine's reactions to Pelagius were generally received with much greater suspicion that Pelagius' own positions.
Pelagius wrote several documents during his lifetime; however, we retain very little, and much of our knowledge of his positions comes only through fragments preserved in the writings of Augustine and Jerome - his most vociferous critics.
Writings by or directly concerning Pelagius
- Pelagius' Letters - a collection of correspondence between Pelagius and Augustine of Hippo, Pope Innocent I, and an unnamed presbyter
- Pelagius' On Nature - reconstructed fragments from the text sent by Pelagius to Augustine, which occasioned the latter's On Nature and Grace as a reply. In his original text, Pelagius explores the question of whether humanity could - as a possibility - live from birth to death without sin
- Pelagius' In Defense of the Freedom of the Will - reconstructed fragments of Pelagius' treatise dealing with free will and the grace of God
- Records from the ecclesiastical trial of Pelagius at Lydda, in AD 415 - records of the proceedings of the second and principal trial against Pelagius, at which he was found innocent of the charges of heresy brought against him
- Pelagius' Chapters - reconstructed sentences and contents from the lost book that Pelagius read at his trial at Lydda, and which were responded to there. These fragments drawn from quotations in Augustine and Jerome
- The Anathema written by Pelagius - the anathema Pelagius himself composed c. AD 418, condemning those things that had been charged against him.
Writings by or concerning Coelestius, a follower of Pelagius
- Coelestius' The Defitions (so-called) - a reconstruction, from fragments in Augustine, of the so-called Definitions of Coelestius, on the possibility of life without sin. It was this volume that occasioned Augustine's Concerning Man's Perfection in Righteousness
- Records from Coelestius' trial at Carthage, AD 411/412 - the accusations put against Coelestius, and the portions of his trial at which they were considered in detail
- Fragments of the Unnamed Books of Coelestius - quoted in various sources and read at the council against Pelagius in AD 415
- Coelestius' written statement of belief - the written statement of belief handed to Pope Zosimas by Coelestius in AD 417, on the examination of which the pope found him free from heresy in his belief
Translation, editing, and reconstruction of specific documents in this area indicated on the pages of the documents themselves. The introduction on this page is by M.C. Steenberg.