"Who is the heretic?" About semi-Pelagian disputes. St. Fulgentius of Russia

Contents The meaning of the theology of the blessed one. Augustine and etc. John Cassian for St. Fulgentia The doctrine of foreknowledge and predestination The doctrine of types of grace The relationship between grace and free will in the matter of human salvation Predestination to punishment The doctrine of calling/prevenient grace God does not want salvation for all people Conclusion The era of semi-Pelagian and pre-destinationist disputes in the West is one of the least studied in the Orthodox tradition. They were a natural continuation of the Pelagian theological discourse, the result of which for the orthodox side was the teaching of the blessed. Augustine on grace, original sin and human free will. The Semi-Pelagian disputes were a kind of reflection of the Western church tradition on the teachings of the blessed one. Augustine. Disputes began during the life of the blessed one. Augustine in the 420s and were concentrated mainly among Gallic theologians. The most famous participants were St. John Cassian the Roman († 435), St. Vincent of Lerins († 445), St. Prosper of Aquitaine († 463) 1, Gennadius of Marseilles, Arnobius the Younger, Presbyter Lucidus and St. Faustus of Rhegium († 490) 2. The semi-Pelagian and pre-destinationist disputes ended with the Councils of Arelat and Lyons in the 470s. A new wave of semi-Pelagian disputes was started by Scythian monks led by Archimandrite John Maxentius. They wanted to offer the Pope St. Hormizdu († 523) 3 a special theological formula, with the help of which, in their opinion, the Acacian schism could be healed: “One of the Holy Trinity suffered in the flesh.” Their initiative was also supported by St. Justinian, future emperor. But in Rome they had a disagreement with the papal legate Dioscorus and the Constantinople deacon Victor. The latter opposed the formula which the monks zealously preached. Dioscorus wrote a short treatise against the Scythian monks, in which he used the book of St. Faustus of Rhegius "On Grace". Pope Hormizd leaned towards Dioscorus and Victor and rejected the request of the Scythian monks. In addition to asking for the formula, John Maxentius turned to the pope with a request to condemn the books of St. Fausta, why St. Hormizd also refused, not finding anything worthy of condemnation in Faustus 4 . But the Scythian monks did not stop there and remained to preach their ideas in Rome. Pope Hormizd tried to expel them. Then they turned to the North African bishops for help. In addition to supporting the defense of Christological dogma, in their message they asked the bishops to condemn the books of St. Favsta: “Instructed in the teachings of all the holy fathers, we anathematize Pelagius and Celestius, as well as Julian of Eclans and all their like-minded people. We especially anathematize the books [“On Grace”] by Faustus, Bishop of Gaul, who came from the Lérins Monastery. There is no doubt that he wrote these books against the idea of ​​predestination, and in his text he opposes not only the tradition of all those holy fathers (Blessed Augustine, St. Zosima, Innocent and Celestine of Rome), but even the Apostle himself. He connects the help of grace with the effort already present in man and completely devalues ​​the whole meaning of the grace of Christ, impiously confessing that the ancient saints were not saved by the same grace by which we are saved, as taught by the most blessed Apostle Paul, but that they were saved by their own natural gifts. Scythian monks saw in some expressions St. Favst, directed against unconditional predestination, the rejection of not only unconditionality, but also predestination in general, as such. They were also confused by the saint’s teaching about natural or first grace (prima gratia), which goes to a person by right of birth and with the help of which the Old Testament righteous were saved. How true their suspicions are remains a question. In this work we will devote our attention to something else - consideration of the doctrine of predestination and grace of one of the most prominent teachers of the Western Church, St. Fulgentius of Ruspia († 533) 6. The meaning of the theology of the blessed one. Augustine and etc. John Cassian for St. Fulgentia The saint was born and raised in North Africa. He received a good education and the position of Carthaginian procurator under the Vandal king Geiseric. But, reading the texts of the blj. Augustine, Fulgentius decided to leave secular service for spiritual service. How strongly St. Fulgentius accepted the teachings of Augustine, as can be seen from the conversation that took place between him and Bishop Faustus. Fulgentius turned to the bishop with a request to accept him into the monastery, to which Favst replied: “How can you, who were brought up in a cool life, be content with our poor life, our clothes of repentance, fasting and vigilance?” Young Fulgentius answered: “I cannot, but He who gave me this desire will not refuse me firmness.” 7 Another spiritual authority for St. Fulgentia was St. John Cassian. Inspired by the “Conversations” of the monk, Fulgentius wanted to go to Egypt to visit the places of asceticism of the great desert dwellers, but was dissuaded by Eulalius, Bishop of Syracuse. The firmness of the intention of St. Fulgentius impressed Eulalius so much that he asked Fulgentius to give him a book to read, which aroused such a strong spiritual desire in him 8 . Thus, in the life of St. Fulgentia united love both for the blj. Augustine, and to St. John, which apparently determined his theological teaching, which was practically devoid of the extremes of Augustinianism. St. Philaret of Chernigov († 1866) says that Fulgentius’s teaching on grace and predestination is an adequate interpretation of Augustinianism from the point of view of Orthodox teaching 9 . St. himself Fulgentia St. Philaret calls it “the last luminous reflection of the great Lamp of Augustine” 10. The doctrine of foreknowledge and predestination Let us finally move on to a consideration of the theology of St. Fulgentius and his role in the Semi-Pelagian disputes. St. Fulgentius of Ruspia responded to the request of the Scythian monks and wrote 7 books “Against Faustus”, none of which has survived. In the life of St. Fulgentius says that the work of the saint was created not so much with the aim of refute the teachings of St. Faustus, how much to explain the correct teaching 11. Other books written at the same time were On the Truth of Predestination and Grace, On the Remission of Sins, and To Monim. All of them, to one degree or another, relate to the issue of predestination and grace. In them St. Fulgentius gave Augustinian formulations a new dimension and laid the foundation for the Council of Orange in 529. Let us consider the teaching of St. Fulgentia about predestination. God exists outside of time, so His knowledge extends to the past and future in the same way as to the present. This knowledge of his is called foreknowledge or foreknowledge. In divine foreknowledge, there are not multiple futures, but only one that will actually happen 12. Thus, God's knowledge is not limited by time; for him, the present is no different from the future. And if He makes a decision based on His knowledge, then it can be knowledge of the present, the past, and the future. Therefore, God makes the decision itself as if outside of time. Divine decision is called predestination. “The name of predestination does not express some kind of violence against the human will, a necessity that man cannot resist, but the merciful and just order of the future work of God is called” 13. Thus, predestination concerns only the works of God and, like foreknowledge, expresses the timeless nature of God's decision to carry out these works. Therefore St. Fulgentius says that “the predestination of God is the preparation of His works.” From this definition it follows that neither predestination to good nor predestination to evil in the sense of the necessity of striving of the human will exists. Predestination never violates human free will. For St. Fulgentia God's predestination is always preceded by foreknowledge, according to the words of the Apostle Paul: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined” (Rom. 8:29). Among other things, God’s predestination regarding the salvation or punishment of a person is carried out on the basis of foreknowledge of human merit. For St. Fulgentia is especially important to say “on the basis of merit” and not “on the basis of works”, since in the case of infants there are no good or evil works, but there is either a merit of condemnation (original sin) or a merit of justification received by them in baptism. The will of the children, according to the teachings of St. Fulgentia is not yet free to make a choice. She seems to be asleep, and adults make decisions for the children. Growing up, a person himself begins to choose good or evil and can increase evil merits, rushing to sinful deeds, or he can respond to the call of God’s grace and, together with it and through it, do good deeds: “And salvation is not given first for deeds, just as a condemning sentence for deeds is not imposed on others. But some received the gift of saving grace undeservedly, while others received condemnation for their merits. Some received the merits of condemnation, while others, for the sake of their justification, were freely given the merits of glorification. Some had in themselves what was unpleasant to God, others, striving to please God, received from Him Himself what was pleasing to Him. Consequently, in all those who go to fiery Gehenna, fair severity punishes bad merits. For those who have had bad merit by birthright, the number of such merits increases due to their own vicious will. The exception is children, whose will is not yet capable of choosing the righteous and avoiding the sinful, since at their tender age the mind is still asleep and cannot truly act. But those who have already reached the age of understanding either do not come to faith or retreat from it due to their increasing vicious desires. And whatever the age: infancy or old age, no one deserves an excuse. Despite his unworthiness, man is justified by the goodness of God, so that the wicked may become righteous, so that the enemy of God may become His friend, and so that the guilty may be freed from guilt. And no one will be freed from the power of darkness and will not pass into the Kingdom of the beloved Son of God, unless the Lord of glory, who freely saves and justly condemns, wishes to precede him. The merciful and just God justly punishes the perverted will, which He does not correct in His mercy, because He has found corruption in it, which is not the work of His hands. And He Himself prepares good will for free, gives it freely, He Himself supports it and He Himself perfects it” 14. Thus, God makes a decision to punish a person based on foreknowledge of sinful merits that a person acquires himself, guided by his own will. And the decision about salvation is made on the basis of foreknowledge of good merits, which a person also acquires of his own free will, but this acquisition would be impossible without divine grace. Grace plays a decisive role in human salvation 15 . She is both a source of good will, and gives a person the opportunity to do good deeds, and together with a person she accomplishes these deeds. This grace is given to a person completely undeservedly on his part and is only a gift of divine mercy. Since the action of grace is the action of God, the gifts of grace also relate to His predestination. In connection with this, St. Fulgentius distinguishes three types of divine grace, the giving and action of each of which is predetermined by God. This is calling grace, justifying grace and glorifying grace. The first type of grace is given to every person, because God calls everyone to repentance. Justifying is the grace we receive in the sacrament of baptism. Thus, this type of grace is not given to everyone, since not everyone receives baptism. Finally, the grace of glorification concerns the posthumous rewarding of a person for his good merits. When we talk about predestination to salvation, it is precisely this final grace that is meant 16 . So, God’s predestination concerns not only the gift of retribution, but in general any gift and action of God. Therefore, we can say that God predetermines not only salvation, but also goodness in general. Moreover, such predestination still does not force the will of man, but only states the fact that God will indeed give man his grace in the future. The relationship between grace and free will in the matter of human salvation This naturally raises the question of the relationship between divine grace and human efforts. This question is central to the Semi-Pelagian debate. St. Fulgentius chooses the position of equality of grace and free will in the matter of human salvation: “You say that a person is saved by the grace of God alone, when our opponents say that unless a person strives for himself and works in accordance with his own will, he cannot be saved. Anyone can hold both these opinions and not contradict the truth, if he maintains the correct order of Divine mercy and human will, such that Divine mercy precedes and human will follows it, and the beginning of salvation is granted by Divine mercy alone. In this case, the will of man appears as contributing [to grace] to his own salvation. As a result, the previous Divine grace directs the direction of the human will, which, following the same mercy, rushes towards reward in accordance with the Divine plan. Therefore, since the human will successfully strives and works, it realizes that it has received the gift of striving and working by the grace of God. Thus, she does not remain ungrateful to the mercy through which she received the beginning of salvation, and therefore, through the same mercy, achieves the full reward of eternal salvation. For then the will will be good when it was preceded by the gift of God, and then it will remain good when it is not deprived of His help” 17. According to the teachings of St. Fulgentia divine grace always precedes the human will in good deeds. The human will itself does not have the ability to either maintain goodness or even truly desire goodness. But the Lord provides her with such an opportunity. He offers a person the gift of good will, and a person has the right to accept or reject this gift. If he does not accept the gift of grace, he will not be able to do good and achieve salvation. If he agrees to cooperate with grace, then the grace of God confirms him in this desire, supports him in good deeds and leads him to salvation. At the same time, consent from a person alone is not enough. He will have to work a lot in this field, and only by making the maximum of his own efforts, the source of which is the same grace of God, is he able to achieve the Kingdom of Christ. However, St. Fulgentius places special emphasis on the role of God in human salvation. He is trying to assert the sovereignty of God, His absolute right to give man salvation or not. A person receives the gifts of grace completely undeservedly on his part, so he should not consider the virtues he has in any way to be his own achievement. God is free and immutable in his decisions. If God has predestined someone to salvation or any other gift of His grace, then His decision is unchangeable. In the same way, if He predestined someone to punishment, then nothing can save a person from punishment. This thought of St. Fulgentia comes into some conflict with St. Faustus of Rhegium, who said that if a person, according to his conviction, decides from good to become evil or from evil to good, then the power of predestination cannot prevent him 18. Although here it seems like St. Faustus and Fulgentius talk about different things. St. Faust understands predestination as a necessity that the human will is unable to overcome. For St. Fulgentius such necessity, just as for Faustus, does not exist, and Fulgentius calls predestination any divine decisions that are, indeed, unchangeable and cannot be canceled by human efforts. In his writings, St. Fulgentius places little emphasis on human effort, focusing more on the operation of grace. But the saint provides the necessary reservations so as not to devalue human free will. He says that when someone especially defends the grace of God and says little about free will, or, on the contrary, zealously protects free will, paying less attention to grace, this does not mean that he denies grace or free will with his speech. Here St. Fulgentius chooses a conciliatory position in the debate about grace and free will. One gets the impression that for him the Venerables John Cassian and Vincent of Lerins, who pay great attention to human efforts, do not preach heresy. After all, while defending one, they do not oppose the other. In the same way, those who talk a lot about the grace of God and the free action of God, without denying the role of human will, do nothing forbidden. In the preface to the second book, “On the Truth of Predestination and Grace,” St. Fulgentius says: “We know that in the question of the grace of God and human choice, many do not maintain balance, but they defend one of them in such a way that they try to reject the other. Or, when they hear that someone defends one thing, they think that he [through the defense of one] rejects the other. But the grace of faith does not allow us to renounce either the first or the second, but teaches us to maintain the proper balance, professing both equally. Therefore, in this small book we have tried (fortified by the grace of God, which enlightens and guides human choice) to show the importance of Divine grace and human choice in such a way that, while defending both, we will not reject anything. On the contrary, we intend to show that one of them lacks something that the other has, and that one, by the gift of goodness, reveals the other. We also intend to show why one of them is always seeking healing and from what source healing is given in abundance. For the Creator and Savior of mortals says that it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, and that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And we know what He finds in the sick and what He gives to those who need healing. For He finds human choice (when man has already reached the age of understanding) either completely unaware of his own weakness, or inflated by the disease of harmful knowledge. After all, a person is absolutely confident in the sufficiency of his own efforts, regardless of whether he knows what he should do or not. And either he dies in ignorance, or, without turning to the Doctor, trying to prescribe medicine for himself, he becomes even more engulfed in illness. From the fact that a person is burdened with a serious illness of ignorance or pride, it follows that he can neither seek a doctor himself nor obtain the power of real healing. Therefore, it can be said that a person does not have free will until he is healed by the action of the Divine, because he himself is ready to yield to the disease rather than to the Doctor. But precisely by the fact that a person himself chooses to succumb or not succumb [to illness], he shows that he absolutely has a free choice. Thus free choice exists in both the righteous and the wicked. In the righteous, God the Redeemer supports and guides this choice with His goodness, but in the wicked, God the Avenger leaves it [with His grace] and justly punishes. Thus, in the righteous, free choice adheres to the truth, not only in what needs to be known, but also in what needs to be loved. And in the wicked, undoubtedly, either free will does not know about [divine] commands and does not recognize its sin as sin, or, even when it knows what sin is, having distanced itself from the help of God’s grace, it still believes that it is capable of fulfilling the commands of the Divine will through its own efforts. As a result, free will does not humbly submit to the Divine will, but instead, recognizing evil as good, serves its own delusion. In other words, until free will understands the righteousness of God and ceases to try to establish its own righteousness, it will not submit to the righteousness of God (Rom. 10:3), “for the end of the law is Christ for the righteousness of everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4)” 19. So, St. Fulgentius clearly writes about how the grace of God and human will relate to each other. None of them can be excluded in the matter of human salvation. It is impossible for a person to be saved without the grace of God, or even to truly do good deeds, because without grace there is no way for him to know what real good is. But even without his own will, a person cannot achieve salvation. God will not save anyone by force. Predestination to punishment If God, in addition to predestination to salvation, also has predestination to punishment, then does it not follow from this that God desires the death of his creation and from eternity determines his punishment? No, although God indeed predetermines not only the gift of His grace, but also the punishment for sinners, nevertheless, He does not in any way become an accomplice of human sin and death: “About this death, in which a person died because of his sins, God says: “I do not want the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live” (Eze 33:11). How can one consider that God predestined man to spiritual death when, according to His testimony, He does not want this?! That death for the dying becomes the [result] of the evil path he has chosen, which, due to the fact that it is evil, is not known to God. For it is written: “Do not turn aside to the right or to the left; remove your foot from evil" (Proverbs 4:27). Therefore, He knows those paths that He Himself laid down, and those that He did not lay down, He tramples on, because He does not know them. It is written about this: “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish” (Ps. 1:6). He is the One who knows all things before they become; whose eyes see everywhere both good and evil; and whose face is “against those who do evil, to destroy the memory of them from the earth” (Ps. 33:17). Consequently, He does not know the evil way, not because human deeds escape His eyes, but because He did not put the dying man to death. He rightly handed over [the order of] death to the deceased himself” 20. According to St. Fulgentia death of the human body comes from the fall of Adam, and spiritual death comes from the personal sins of man. God knows no evil, so neither sin nor death are inherent in His plan. In His world no evil can be contained, therefore, so that sin does not reign, He determines punishment for it. Thus, a person himself chooses evil, he himself strives to commit it, and he himself destroys his soul in sins. God, in His goodness and justice, determines the punishment for sinful death, as if showing that this death is not the work of His hands. The reward of salvation and punishment are not equivalent. St. Fulgentius says that in the predestination to salvation there is a prediction and a promise, but in the predestination to punishment there is only a prediction 21. With this division, the saint tries to emphasize the idea that God takes an active part in the salvation of man. Punishment becomes a kind of law that does not allow evil to multiply. God only allows this law to be fulfilled. It seems to us useful in this regard to give the following example. A person reaches out his hand into the fire and gets burned. If by fire we mean sin, then the predetermined punishment for this sin will be a burn. When a person gets burned, he learns to keep his hands away from the fire. This is the providential meaning of predestination to punishment, which not only rewards the sinner according to his deserts, but also teaches him not to sin again 22. So, predestination to punishment exists, since the decision to punish the sinner is made by the Supreme Judge Himself. But this predestination is different from the predestination of the gifts of grace. If in the latter case God wants to give His grace to man and promises his gift, then in the case of punishment God only predicts what consequences await a person for his passion for sin. Doctrine of Calling/Prevenient Grace Earlier we said that St. Fulgentius divides grace into 3 types. Let us dwell in more detail on calling or, in other words, prevenient grace. The grace of God constantly turns to all humanity with a call to repentance: “Why are you proud, earth and ashes? Your heart will be torn out from your lives” (Sir 10:10). For man to return to the [desire of] his heart, the divine word proclaims again and again: “Return, O backsliders, to the heart” (Isaiah 46:8). Truly, “they are flesh, a breath that goes away and does not return” (Ps. 77:39), and a lost sheep cannot itself want to return until the Good Shepherd is the first to find it and Himself brings it back on His shoulders. That is why this Shepherd came to find and save the lost sheep, which cannot find its Shepherd until it itself is found by Him, and it walks before the One who seeks in order to find Him itself. And He would have searched in vain if the sheep He was looking for had not been able to seek a shepherd. But the goodness of the one who seeks the Shepherd gives the sheep the opportunity to desire to find Him. She is sought that she may seek, and she is illuminated that she may believe. God does this in man. The Lord breathes faith into him, so that by the gift of grace human nature can receive the power to believe, the same power that it lost in Adam” 23. This appeal of grace sounded even before the coming of Christ through the commandments of the biblical law. And now the Lord is trying to reach our petrified hearts in various ways: “When He finds in a sinner something for which fair punishment should follow, then in His mercy He offers him the gift of justification, through which the deserved punishment can be canceled. And in every sinner who uses his free will to accept this gift, the blessing of the divine gift begins to work through a change of heart." 24 Here St. Fulgentius does not clarify exactly how the prevenient and inviting grace of God works, but he clearly teaches that it is addressed to everyone and that everyone has the opportunity to be saved. The saint says that the gospel call to repentance reaches every person. And through repentance, the Lord grants remission of sins, which is what salvation consists of: “What is salvation from sins if not their remission? For the Savior himself, who came to save the lost, testifies that He came to call sinners to repentance” 25. The call to repentance becomes the main effect of prevenient grace. This call is addressed to everyone, and everyone can, by responding to it, receive remission of sins. Even the traitors and murderers of Christ are not deprived of this opportunity. St. Fulgentius says that Christ would have forgiven Judas Iscariot if he had sincerely repented of his sins 26 . Repentance cannot be postponed for any period of time, but each of us must now hasten to confess our sins before the Merciful God: “Now let him who does not desire endless torment seek the mercy of the Lord. Now let him who does not desire eternal death seek eternal life. Now let anyone who does not want to be condemned to eternal suffering hasten to confess before God. For now the time is coming when repentance bears fruit, now remission of sins is granted to those who repent; Now the Kingdom of Heaven will not be taken away from any of those who have converted, in which they live and rejoice endlessly, where neither death takes away the life of the one who rejoices, nor does sadness darken the joy of the living. For those faith and deeds with which a person comes to the threshold of life, for them he will receive a reward in eternity. Just as everyone who has not converted until the end of this life and ends his life in sins will not find peace beyond the grave, so anyone who at this time, in accordance with the divine commandments, turns from his sins and, if he does not deviate from the right path and good life in the Catholic Church, will be saved” 27. God does not want all people to be saved Although God gives His calling grace to everyone, He does not reward everyone with justifying grace, without which it is impossible to be saved. If God wanted the salvation of everyone, then, by virtue of the omnipotence of God, His every desire should be fulfilled, and then everyone would be saved, but this does not happen. Hence St. Fulgentius, following the blj. Augustine concludes that God really only wants to save the elect: “Our Savior condemns the hard-heartedness of the unbelieving city with these words: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its young under its wings, and you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). Christ said this to show [the Jews] their evil will, with which they tried in vain to resist the invincible Will of the Divine, which is good and cannot be suppressed by those whom It has left. It is also impossible that She will not do what she wants. Although Jerusalem, so eager to achieve the fulfillment of its will, did not want its children to be gathered by the Savior, yet He gathered all those whom He wished [to gather]. With this [Jerusalem] wanted to resist the Almighty, but could not, because God, Who, according to what is written, “does whatever He wants” (Ps. 134:6), turns to Himself those whom He Himself wished to justify; By His gift of abounding grace, God precedes those whom He could justly condemn if He would. Therefore, when the Apostle Peter says that God is “long-suffering, not willing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9), let us not understand the word “all” as stated above, that there is no one who is not willing to bring proper repentance, but we should here understand by “all” those to whom God gives repentance in such a way that along with [repentance] He will also give a gift perseverance, that is, we are talking about those who were not only justified by preliminary divine mercy, but also by subsequent, the same mercy will never return to the grave sins that they had previously renounced. These are those to whom, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, “God will grant repentance to the knowledge of the truth, so that they may be freed from the snare of the devil, who has ensnared them in his will” (2 Tim 2:25–26). Anyone who diligently repents in this life will be able to obtain the fruit of his repentance with God” 28. According to St. Fulgentius, it is not enough just to respond to the call of God’s grace, but it is necessary to hold on to the righteousness received. The gift of perseverance in righteousness is given by the justifying grace of God, which not everyone receives. Any gift of grace is in the power of God, so if He did not give it to someone, it means that He did not want to give it. Following the blzh. Augustine St. Fulgentius interprets the words of the Apostle Paul: “God wants all people to be saved and to attain the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4) - not in the proper sense. He believes that the apostle by “all” means representatives of all nations, all classes, all provinces, and not all people in general: “But the word “all” is used [here] because the saved are gathered from all races of mankind, that is, from all nations, all positions, all masters, all servants, all kings, all soldiers, from all provinces, all languages, all ages and all ranks. Therefore, all whom God wills to save are saved, for no one is saved unless God wills to save him by His free justification. For when our Savior says: “No man knoweth the Son except the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal” (Matthew 11:27), - He directly shows that he wants to reveal himself to some people and does not want to reveal himself to others. How can He want to save them if He did not want to reveal to them His Father and Himself? This is clearly stated in the Gospel when God speaks in parables precisely because He wants His words to be heard, but does not want them to be understood. There can be no doubt that the Lord Himself revealed this to us when His disciples asked Him, as Matthew recalls in these words: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13:11). Mark also teaches that the Savior gave a similar answer, testifying: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to those outside everything happens in parables; so they look with their own eyes and do not see; They hear with their own ears and do not understand, lest they convert, and their sins be forgiven” (Mark 4:11-12). And Luke confirms that the Lord answered the same thing: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables, so that seeing they do not see and hearing they do not understand” (Luke 8:10). ... So, if God wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, then why does the Truth Itself hide the secret of knowing Itself from some people? And to those whom He denies knowledge of Himself, He also denies salvation. After all, people are saved only by coming to the knowledge of the Truth. It is truly said about Christ: “He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Even blessed Peter says of Him that “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). So how could God want those from whom He hid the very knowledge of the Truth to be saved? 29. God not only does not want salvation for all people, but at His own will even hides from some people. As a result, they do not come to the knowledge of the truth and are doomed to destruction. It is amazing how this idea is consistent with St. Fulgentia with the universal appeal of prevenient grace. He believes that although grace calls to absolutely everyone, not everyone is given the ability to understand the meaning of this call. God addresses everyone as if in parables, and He gives the ability to understand these parables only to His chosen ones. In this matter, St. Fulgentius deviates from the teachings of the Orthodox Church. It is not entirely clear how he could teach that God does not want salvation for all people, when, according to his own words, God does not want death for anyone. Apparently, St. Fulgentius was afraid to come into conflict with his favorite teacher, Blessed. Augustine and tried to unite the living call of St. John Cassian and the severity of the logic of the blessed one. Augustine. Therefore, for the saint, the idea that salvation is accessible to everyone is adjacent to the idea of ​​God’s desire to hide Himself from some people. In him, God wants the call of prevenient grace to reach every person, but He does not want every person to be saved. Some researchers have tried to explain this paradox by emphasizing in the works of St. Fulgentia “early” and “late” Fulgentia, supposedly at first the saint taught one thing, and then changed his mind. This was done without reason 30. All the main books of the saint were written at approximately the same time, during the years of his second exile to Sardinia in 517–523. Moreover, there is an obvious contradiction in St. Fulgentia is not detected. If he had to speak directly about God's desire to save all people, then he always took the Augustinian position. However, it seems that for St. Fulgentia, the question of God's desire for salvation is solely whether all people are saved or not. He finds no other way to explain the paradox of the fulfillment of all divine desires (omnipotence) and the existence of those who are not saved, except to conclude that God does not want everyone to be saved. In the context of the entire teaching of the saint, even the concealment of God can be explained by the resistance of the human will to the call of grace. God hides himself from some people for a reason, but precisely because they persist in their evil will. We also find such a thought in Eastern authors: “But is it really possible that by distribution and purpose this is given to some by nature, and not to others? It cannot be; but to those it was given, as to those who seek: “Seek,” it is said, “and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7), and God left others in blindness, so that the knowledge of what is due would not serve to further condemn them when they do not fulfill this obligation.”31 It is also surprising that for St. Fulgentia, the universal call of grace does not become evidence of God’s all-encompassing desire for the salvation of people. When at Rev. John Cassian, who once inspired Fulgentius to asceticism, directly states that calling grace is proof of God’s desire for salvation for all people: “The grace of God is present every day, which, desiring that everyone should be saved and attain the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4), calls everyone without any exception” 32. St. also writes about this. Prosper of Aquitaine, opponent of St. John, whom St. Fulgentius also happened to read: “These and other testimonies from the Holy Scriptures irrefutably prove that the great wealth, power and grace, which in these last times calls all the heathen into the kingdom of Christ, was in former ages hidden in the secret council of God. ... And yet we believe with good reason in the goodness of God, that He wills all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth: this we must regard as His unchangeable will from all eternity, which is manifest in the various measures which He in His wisdom has chosen for the increase of His common gifts.”33 It should be noted that in the subsequent Western tradition the Augustinian paradox about God’s desire for the salvation of people was never resolved. St. Remigius of Lyons († 875) 34, an active participant in the predestination debate that broke out in the West in the 9th century, tried to reconcile the omnipotence argument as applied to God's will with the idea that God wills the salvation of every person. But he could not come to any positive conclusion and was forced to conclude that it was better to completely stop trying to penetrate the secret that God had hidden from us. We should not condemn any of the fathers who held any of these positions, because “none of them seems false or contrary to faith” 35. St. Fulgentius of Ruspia can rightfully be called not only the great teacher of the West, but also of the entire Orthodox Ecumenical Church. In addition to his steadfastness in the persecution of the Arian rulers, with the help of his books he was able to transform the teachings of the blessed. Augustine on predestination and grace in a way that expresses the Orthodox faith. Among the so-called "Augustinists" St. Fulgentius was undoubtedly the better representative because he was able to preserve the decisive role of grace in human salvation without denying the value of man's own volitional efforts. It is not for nothing that in the Western tradition he received the name “little Augustine.” But St. Fulgentius, like all people, was not blameless. Following the blj. Augustine, he taught that God does not want the salvation of all people, but only the elect. Although he believed that everyone has the opportunity to be saved, the Orthodox Church still teaches differently: God desires salvation for every person in the most direct and immediate sense. However, this error does not overshadow the entire holy life and entire teaching of St. Fulgentia. His memory is June 25 (July 8). Calendrier Liturgique. Metropole Orthodoxe Roumaine d'Europe. Occidentale et Meridionale. Doyenne de France. 2022 His memory is September 28. Synaxarion: Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church: In 6 volumes / Adapted. lane from French /auth. comp. hierome Macarius of Simonopetra. T. 1. – M.: Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2011. P. 399–401 His memory is August 6 (19). Western Rite Vicariate for North America of Antiochian Church. A Western Rite Orthodox Martyrology. – St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church Washington, 2015. P. 141 PE. John Maxentius. Volume 24. pp. 435–437 Letter from Scythian monks to bishops // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 126. Fulgentius of Ruspe and the Scythian monks: Correspondence on Christology and Grace. Translation by R. R. McGregor and D. Fairbairn. – The Catholic University of America Press. Washington, D.C. 2013. P. 42 His memory is January 1. Synaxarion: Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church: In 6 vols. T. 3 pp. 27–29 Historical teaching about the fathers of the church: [In 3 volumes] / [Op.] Philareta, Archbishop. Chernigovsky and Nezhinsky. – St. Petersburg: Type. II-nd Department of own. His. Imper. Vel. Offices, 1859. T. 3. P. 137 Life of Blessed Bishop Fulgentius // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 95. Fulgentius. Selected works. Translation by R. B. Eno. – The Catholic University of America Press. Washington, D.C. 1997. P. 21–22 St. Filaret Chernigovsky. Decree. Op. P. 140 Life of Blessed Bishop Fulgentius // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 95. P. 47 “For God, the Creator of everything, does not foreknow what will not be done, as if it were about to happen. For we know that Divine foreknowledge is so true and unchangeable that what He foreknew as something that would happen actually happens. And He cannot foreknow what will not happen according to His foreknowledge, as if it were going to happen. Even a creature subject to change thinks only about what is certain to happen, but the changeable created mind is completely different from the Unchangeable Creator. So nothing is past or future for God. Everything that He foreknows happens to Him in the present time in such a way that when it actually happened, it did not become past in the eyes of God, because He knows the past as well as He knows the future. For everything that changes and happens in time is preserved in His knowledge without change and without taking into account the passing of time. The book of Daniel testifies to the fact that Divine foreknowledge does not include what will not happen, and includes only what actually happens, in the following words: “Eternal God, knower of unseen things and knowing all things before they were” (Dan 13:42). Therefore, God, in His eternal foreknowledge that something will happen, thus knows that it will actually happen.” St. Fulgentius of Russia. About the truth of predestination and grace. Book one // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 126. Fulgentius of Ruspe and the Scythian monks: Correspondence on Christology and Grace. Translation by R. R. McGregor and D. Fairbairn. – The Catholic University of America Press. Washington, D.C. 2013. P. 132–133 St. Fulgentius of Russia. To Monim // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 95. P. 196–197 “And according to the immutability of His foreknowledge of the vessels of mercy, God foreknew in them no other gift than the gift of His own grace, a gift that He knew was necessary for Him to bestow so that merits worthy of reward could be produced, and so that these rewards themselves could be given according to merit. For God himself freely gives goodness to the human will and himself helps the good will in the creation of good deeds.” Right there. P. 132 “God has always had everything in His predestination: the beginning of our call, the increase in justification and the reward of glorification; therefore, in the calling, and in the justification, and in the glorification of the saints, He foreknew the future works of His grace. The Apostle attributes all this to God in these words: “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He predestined, those He also called, and those He called, them He also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified" (Rom 8:29-30)." St. Fulgentius of Russia. To Monim // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 95. P. 202 St. Fulgentius of Russia. Letter Two // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 126. P. 114–115 Smith, Thomas A. De gratia: Faustus of Riez's Treatise on grace and its place in the history of theology. – Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990. P. 190 St. Fulgentius of Russia. About the truth of predestination and grace. Book two // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 126. P. 161–162 St. Fulgentius of Russia. To Monim // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 95. P. 226–227 St. Fulgentius of Russia. Letter One // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 126. P. 85 St. Fulgentius of Russia. On the remission of sins // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 95. P. 127 St. Fulgentius of Russia. About the truth of predestination and grace. Book three // The Fathers of the Church. A new Translation. Vol. 126. P. 210–212 Gumerlock, Francis X. Fulgentius of Ruspe on the Saving Will of God. – Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2009 Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria. Evangelist: In 4 volumes - Vol. 2. Interpretation of the Gospel of Mark. – 3rd ed. – M.: Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2013. P. 44 Complete collection of the works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers. Volume XI. John Cassian the Roman. Creations are dogmatic, polemical and ascetic. – M.: Siberian Blagozvonnitsa, 2020. P. 464 St. Proper of Aquitaine. Calling all nations. [Electronic resource] URL: https://virtusetgloria.org/trasnlations/prosper/call_to_all_nations/call_of_all_nations_44.html (Date accessed 06/27/2023) His memory is October 28. Métropole orthodoxe grecque de France. Vicariat Sainte-Marie-de-Paris-et-Saint-Alexis-d’Ugine. Synaxaire. Calendar des saints orthodoxies Sancti Remigii. Liber de tribus Epistolis. // PL 121. Col. 1010