Глава I

Sixtus - opponent of the Pelagian heresy 1. In the letter that I sent [to you] through our beloved brother acoluth 2 Albinus, I promised that I would send a more extensive [letter] through our holy brother and fellow worker in the presbytery of Firmus, who delivered to us the message of Your Purity, full of your intact faith; and it has brought us so much joy that it is easy for us to have it, but to express it is very difficult. Yes, and we must confess to Your Love that we were very much saddened when the rumor spread that You favor the enemies of Christian grace. But this sadness was erased from our hearts: first of all, since the same rumor did not remain silent about how you were the first to pronounce an anathema on them in front of a large crowd of people; further, since when you sent a letter from the apostolic see to Africa about their condemnation, 3 along with it came your letter to the venerable elder Aurelius, which, although it was quite short, sufficiently showed your striving against the error [of heretics]. Now, when the very faith of the Roman Church speaks to us much more clearly and more extensively in your letter about what you think about this teaching, and in contrast to it - the faith of the Church, with which the holy Apostle Paul spoke especially much and in a variety of ways about the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord 4 - not only the mentioned cloud of sadness completely fled from our hearts, but also such a great light of joy shone there that, as it seems, The previous grief and fear did not produce anything in us - they only intensified the radiance of the joy that followed them. How to deal with adherents of the Pelagian error 2. So, beloved brother, although we do not see you with carnal eyes, but with our souls in the faith of Christ, in the grace of Christ, in the members of Christ we keep, embrace and kiss; and - since the most holy and most faithful carrier of our conversations with you is sent from us to you, who, as you deigned, was for us not only the deliverer of your writings, but also the narrator and witness of your deeds - we are sending you a response letter in which we wish to talk with you longer, convincing you not to retreat from those in need of teaching, from those from whom, as we know, you are not retreated when it was necessary to intimidate them. For there are some who think that wickedness which has been justly condemned still needs to be openly defended; there are others who creep into houses, 5 and what they are afraid to broadcast openly, do not cease to plant in secret; There are also those who have become completely silent, suppressed by great fear, but still keep in their hearts what they no longer dare to utter with their lips, but they can be well known to the brethren by their former defense of this teaching. So, the first should be punished with greater severity, the second should be sought out more diligently, and the third, although it should be treated more gently, should be taught without laziness, since, although there is no longer any fear that they will destroy someone, they should not be neglected, lest they themselves die because of this. J.-P. Migne. Paris, 1845. T. 33. Col. 874–891. Places with discrepancies were verified with the publication: Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vindobonae, 1911. Vo1. 57. R. 176–214. "Akoluf" (Greek άκόλουθος) - 'companion', 'guide'. This is the first of the four lower ecclesiastical orders in the ancient Church; as a special rank existed in the Western Church and corresponds to the eastern rank of subdeacons That is letter from Pope Zosima (417–418) Compare: Rom 7:25. In Synod.trans.: I thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord. You might be interested in: