Letter to Augustine (among Augustine's letters the 225th)

To the Most Blessed Father, inexpressibly wondrous, incomparably revered, great patron of [our] Augustine, Prosper. 1. Although I am not known to you personally, I am already to some extent, if you remember, known in thoughts and words, because I sent you letters and received [an answer] through my holy brother Deacon Leontius: so even now I also dare to write to Your Beatitude, not only to greet you, as it was then, but also at the prompting of the faith by which the Church lives. For since your vigilant zeal constantly cares for all the members of the body of Christ and fights with the power of truth against the snares of heretical teachings, I thought that I need not be afraid of being a burden to you or too importunate, [inquiring] about things that relate to the salvation of many, and therefore to [the concerns of] your piety. I considered that I would be more likely to be guilty if I did not inform the exclusive trustee of the belief of what seemed to me extremely harmful. 2. So, many of the servants of Christ living in the city of Massilia 1 believe that in the writings of Your Holiness, which you created against the Pelagian heretics, something contradicts the opinion of the Fathers and the opinion of the Church, [namely, everything] that you set out there about the calling of the elect according to the intention of God. And while for quite a long time they preferred to blame their stupidity rather than reject the incomprehensible, and some of them decided to ask for a clearer and more open explanation of all this from Your Beatitude, it turned out at the discretion of God's mercy that when some in Africa had similar misunderstandings, You sent them a book On reproach and grace, full of Divine authority. When, thanks to an unexpected confluence of circumstances, it became available to our attention, we thought that all the disagreements of the opponents should now calm down, since the answer to all those questions about which we should consult with Your Holiness is given there so completely and exhaustively, as if you were specially doing this to calm the indignation that had occurred among us. But, considering this book of Your Beatitude, those who had previously followed the holy and apostolic authority of Your teaching became more knowledgeable and much more trained, while those who were hindered by the darkness of their convictions departed [from reading this book] even more opposed than they were before. Such stubborn disagreement forces them to fear, first of all, for themselves, lest the spirit of Pelagian wickedness spoil such pure and experienced men in the practice of every virtue, and also [to fear] that some simpletons, who have great respect for these people because of the confidence in [their] honesty, would not think that the statements they heard from those whose authority they follow without any judgment are completely safe for them. them. 3. And their definition [of faith] and statement is this: [they say] that although every person has sinned when Adam sinned, and no one is saved by regeneration according to his works, but [this happens] by the grace of God, yet all people, without any exception, are offered the propitiation consisting in the Sacrament of the Blood of Christ, so that all who wish to proceed to faith and baptism can be saved. And whoever believes and whoever remains in faith, helped by grace, God foreknew before the foundation of the world and predestined those into His Kingdom. in relation to whom he foresaw that they, having been called freely, would become worthy of election and would depart from this life with a good death. And therefore, Divine institutions encourage every person to faith and virtue, so that no one despairs of acquiring eternal life, since reward is prepared by voluntary dedication of oneself [to God]. And [as for the teaching] about the purpose of the calling of God, according to which, as they say, a division was made before the beginning of the world or at the creation of the human race between those who were to be chosen and [who were to be] rejected, so that, depending on how it pleased the Creator, some were created as vessels for honor, and others as vessels for reproach - then [this teaching] also takes away from the fallen the concern for restoration, and gives the saints a reason for neglect. After all, for both of them, the work would be unnecessary if the rejected one could not enter [the Kingdom of God] by any effort, and the chosen one could not become expelled from it because of any negligence, since no matter how they acted, nothing could happen to them other than what God determined [to happen]. With such an unreliable hope there cannot be a constant flow [of a pious life], since if the choice of the predestined is true, then the effort of the aspirant is in vain. [They further say] that if the institution of God precedes human wills, then all zeal is eliminated, virtues are removed, and under this name of predestination a certain inevitable necessity of fate (fatalem quamdam necessitatem) is introduced, or we have to say that the Lord is the Creator of opposite natures, if no one can be other than what he was created. And in order for me to explain their views more briefly and fully, here it is. everything that Your Holiness opposed yourself in this book 2 on the part of the objectors, everything that was expressed on this issue in the books against Julian 3 on behalf of himself and that you mightily conquered - all this is persistently proclaimed by these saints [men]. And when we brought in opposition to them the writings of Your Beatitude, rich in extensive and countless testimonies of the Divine Scripture, and in accordance with the form of your reasoning we ourselves added something as a conclusion, they defended their stubborn opinion with antiquity and declared that those passages from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, which are cited to indicate Divine grace preceding the merits of the elect, were never written by any of the church [writers] were understood as they are now explained [by you]. And when we demanded that they themselves explain them in any sense, they declared that they had not found any satisfactory [meaning] and decided to remain silent about those things, the heights of which no one can reach. And finally, all their stubbornness reached the point that they decided that our faith can interfere with the edification of those who listen, and therefore, even if it is true, we should not talk about it, since it is dangerous to convey what is not convenient for perception, and without any danger it is possible to keep silent about what is impossible to understand. 4. And some of them are so not alien to the Pelagian paths that when they are forced to confess that grace of Christ, which precedes any human merit - after all, if it were rewarded for merit, it would be in vain called grace - then they want this [grace] to relate to the [original] dispensation (conditionem) of every person in which he places him, who has not deserved anything before, since it did not exist, the grace of the Creator, making him rational and possessing a free decision, so that through the discrimination of good and evil he could direct his will to the knowledge of God and to obedience to His commandments, and thereby achieve that grace by which we are reborn in Christ, that is, [would achieve it] with the help of his natural ability - asking, seeking, knocking 4. And therefore man receives, therefore finds, therefore enters, because, having made good use of the good of nature, he, thanks to the help of original grace (initialis gratiae), was worthy to achieve this saving grace salvantem gratiam). And they generally limit the intention of calling grace (vocantis gratiae) only to the fact that God has decreed that no one should be admitted into His Kingdom except through the sacrament of regeneration, and all people in general are called to this saving gift, whether through the natural law, or through the written law, or through the gospel preaching. So [all] those who wish become children of God 5 and those who do not wish to become faithful are not excused, since the justice of God is manifested in that. that's all. those who do not believe will perish; and goodness is manifested in that. that He does not separate anyone from life, but without any discrimination wants everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 6. And here they already cite evidence by which the admonition of Divine Scripture motivates the will of people, by free decision or doing it. what is commanded, or those who neglect it. As a consequence of this, they believe that just as it is said of a sinner that he did not submit because he did not will, so the faithful undoubtedly became faithful because he willed, and whatever capacity everyone has for evil is exactly the same for good, and the soul is equally moved towards either vices or virtues. If she strives for good, then she is supported by the grace of God. and if he seeks evil, he suffers righteous condemnation. 5. And when, as an objection, they bring forward countless numbers of infants, who (if we do not take into account original sin, since all people are born equally subject to it, [being] in the condemnation of the first person), having no will or any personal actions, are separated not without God's judgment, so that they are removed from the flow of this life before they begin to distinguish between good and evil, and some of them, thanks to rebirth, are accepted among the heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, and others, having not been baptized, become subject to eternal death, then. They say that some perish, while others are saved, depending on what they would have become in adulthood, according to the foreknowledge of Divine knowledge, if they had lived to active age. And they do not understand that the grace of God. which they want to make not precede human merits, but accompany them. they subordinate to the very wills in relation to which they are. according to your own invention. They do not deny that [grace] precedes them 7 . AND. generally speaking, they subordinate the election of God to all sorts of imaginary merits, so that, since there are no previous ones, they invent future ones that are not destined to exist. Based on this new kind of absurdity, it turns out that what was foreknown was not destined to happen, and what was foreknown was not accomplished. It seems to them, of course, that it will be much more reasonable for them to introduce that foreknowledge of human merits by God, in accordance with which [in their opinion] the grace of the Caller acts, when they take into account those peoples who were allowed to walk their own ways in past centuries, 8 or those who are still stuck in the wickedness of the old unbelief and who have not yet been illuminated by the enlightenment of the law or the Gospel. Therefore, when the pagan people, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, thanks to the fact that the mouths of the preachers are opened and the ways are made, see a great light 9, and those who were not once God’s people now become His people, and those whom He once did not have mercy on, now have mercy 10 - to this they say that God foresaw those who were to believe, and so distributed the terms and ministries of teachers for everyone people, so that in good will there arises a willingness to believe. And he is not shaken by this [statement that] God wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 11. After all, those who could have been instructed by natural reason to worship the one true God are inexcusable, and therefore did not hear the Gospel, because [even having heard], they would not have accepted it. 6. [Further, they teach] that our Lord Jesus Christ died for the entire human race, and no one is excluded from the redemption of His blood, even if [a person] spends his whole life without thinking about it, for the sacrament of Divine mercy applies to all people, but many are not renewed by it. since it is foreknown regarding them that they do not have the will to renew themselves. So, as far as God is concerned, eternal life is prepared for everyone, and as for freedom of choice, then [this eternal life] is acquired by those who believe in God of their own free will and receive the help of grace for the merits of fidelity. And to this preaching of such grace those whose resistance we encountered joined with all their might. although previously they held a better opinion, since if they recognized that [grace] precedes all good merits, and from it is granted the possibility of the existence of these merits, then they would necessarily (should) conclude that God creates, by the intention and decision of His will, judging in secret and acting openly, one vessel for honor, and another for reproach 12. After all, everyone is justified only by grace, and everyone is inevitably born in sin. But they avoid admitting this, and are afraid to attribute to the Divine action the merits of the saints, and find no consolation in the fact that the predetermined number of the elect can neither be reduced nor increased. [They fear that if this is admitted], there will be no place left for the exhortations (of preachers) addressing the unbelievers and the lazy, the prescription of diligence and labor will be unnecessary, for this activity must become futile in the absence of election, since only in that case can one be called to correction or improvement if he knows that thanks to his diligence he can be good and his free decision should be strengthened in this by God's help if he chooses what God commands . And thus, since those. who have taken advantage of free will, there are two [things] that accomplish the salvation of man, that is, God's grace and human obedience, then they want obedience to come before grace, so that [in their opinion] one must think that the beginning of salvation lies with the one who is saved, and not with the One who saves, and the human will creates for itself the action of Divine grace, and not grace subjugates the human will. 7. We know how wrong this opinion is; we know thanks to the revelation of Divine mercy and the instruction of Your Beatitude. So, although we can now be steadfast and not believe in such things, we are not equal in authority to those who think so, since they far surpass us in the merits of life, and some of them are distinguished by the recently accepted highest honor of priesthood. So it is not easy for anyone, except a few intrepid lovers of perfect grace, to venture to object to the reasoning of such high-ranking people. Therefore [there is a danger here] not only for those who listen to them, but also for those themselves who are listened to, and this danger increases as their dignity increases, since for many [listeners] their timidity either fetters their [mouths] with an unhelpful silence, or leads to careless agreement, while [the speakers] seem to be in the highest degree salutary that which is not refuted by practically any objection. Therefore, since in these remnants of Pelagian vicissitude the beginnings of no small destruction are nourished - if the beginning of salvation is badly placed in man, if the human will becomes impious above the Divine will, so that help is given to a person because he believes, and not because he believes that help was given to him, if it is incorrectly believed that [man], being evil by origin (originaliter malus), begins to acquire goodness not from The Supreme Good, but from yourself, if they think to please God with something that He Himself did not give, you, most blessed and worthy father, give us in this matter, as far as You can with the help of the Lord, the attention of Your Piety, and deign to reveal in your extremely luminous explanations everything that is dark in these matters and difficult for those who want to understand it. 8. And first of all, explain what danger lies in this belief of theirs, because many people think that the Christian faith is not destroyed by this disagreement. Further, how does [the doctrine of] prior and concurrent grace not interfere with free decision? Then, whether the foreknowledge of God is in agreement with [His] intention in such a way that what is in the intention should be considered foreknown, or whether they differ according to the type of circumstances and depending on the persons, so that since the invocations are different, then in relation to those who are to be saved without having done anything [good], there seems to be only one intention of God, and in relation to those who are to do something good, the intention is confirmed through foreknowledge. Or [foreknowledge and intention exist] together, that is, one cannot be separated from the other by temporal distinction, but foreknowledge is in some way subordinate to intention; and just as there are no deeds that Divine foreknowledge does not know in advance, so there is no good in which we could become involved, except for what is created by God? Finally, [explain also] how this preaching of God’s intention, according to which those who are destined for eternal life become believers, does not create an obstacle to any of those who should be encouraged [to goodness], and whether [people] will not have a reason for negligence if they despair of the fact that they are predestined. We also ask that you, patiently enduring our folly, will show how this is explained in respect of which it is discovered, after reviewing the opinions of previous [ecclesiastical writers] on this matter, that almost all of them had the same opinion on this matter, according to which they understood the purpose and predestination of God as depending on foreknowledge, so that it turns out that God created some vessels for honor, and others vessels for reproach, since he foresaw the end of each [man] and knew in advance, what will and action will be in a person who has received the help of grace 13 . 9. And when all this has been examined, and much more besides has been considered, which, thanks to your higher view, you can better see as pertaining to this question, then, as we believe and hope, not only will our poverty be strengthened by the support of your reasoning, but those who, shining with their merits and honor, are darkened by the darkness of this error, will perceive the purest light of grace. For let Your Beatitude know that one of these men of eminent authority and spiritual activities, Saint Hilary, Bishop of Arelate 14 , is your admirer and follower in all other parts of your teaching, and for a long time he has wished by means of a letter to test with Your Holiness his opinion on what arouses perplexity. But since it is unknown whether he [still] intends to do this and how it will end, and the weariness of all of us, according to the grace of God who has provided this for this age, finds rest in the meekness of your love and wisdom, then add instruction to the humble, add reproof to the proud. It is also necessary and useful to write what has already been written, so that what is not often mentioned is not considered unimportant. After all, they believe that what does not cause pain is healthy, and they do not feel the ulcer under the swollen skin, so let them understand that a long-term tumor must be opened. Grace of God and peace of our Lord Jesus. May Christ crown you at all times and, moving from virtue to virtue, may you be glorified in eternity, O lord and most blessed father, our inexpressibly wondrous and incomparably honored patron. A city on the southeastern coast of Gaul, now Marseille. That is, in the book “On Reproach and Grace.” This refers to the six books of Augustine's work Contra Julianum (see: PL T. 44. Col. 641–874), directed against the follower of Pelagius - Julian, Bishop of Eclan. – Approx. ed. Apparently, in the case of babies who died prematurely. – Approx. ed. This is the usual opinion of the Greek Fathers of the Church. See above: blessed. Augustine. Letter 194.8.35, approx. 118. – Approx. edit Probably we are talking about St. Hilary, Bishop of Arelat (429-449), who was first a monk of the Lerin monastery, and then became the bishop of Arelat after his relative and founder of the Lerin monastery - St. Honoratus, who died in 429. However, the identity of the bishop mentioned here remains controversial. For more on this, see above: R. H. Weaver. Divine grace and human action. Chapter II. But whoever this bishop Hilary was, he should not be confused with another Hilary, a layman and like-minded person of Prosper, who wrote the following letter to Augustine (Letter 226). – Approx. ed. Accurante J.-P. Migne. Paris, 1845. PL T. 33. Col. 1002–1007. Places with discrepancies were verified with the publication: Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vindobonae, 1911. Vo1. 57. R. 454–468.