Letter 214, to Valentin of Adrumetsky, 1st

The teaching on the role of Divine grace, set forth by Bl. Aurelius Augustine in a letter to the Roman presbyter Sixtus (Letter 194), caused controversy among the monastic community. This theory called into question the monastic desire to grow in perfection and to achieve unity with God. The abbot of the monastery of Adrumeta, Valentin, sent two of his monks (Cresconia and Felix) to the city of Hippo to receive from the blessed. Augustine provides necessary explanations regarding monastic life. The Bishop of Hippo sends with them a letter to Valentine with a brief explanation of the Pelagian dispute (Letter 214, 7 chapters). From the letter you can find out what issues have become the subject of disagreement and controversy. Two opposing opinions arose. Some disputants supported grace and denied free will. In their opinion, every will will be judged by God on the basis of deeds. Others believed that grace and will are mutually complementary, the latter supported by the former in the pursuit of good. They argued that the Last Judgment would be carried out in accordance with deeds: those deeds that were done by free will, supported by grace, would be recognized as good. Blzh. Augustine shared this position. He affirmed the complex complementarity of Divine grace and free will, as well as the significance of works in the context of the Last Judgment and Divine justice. Contents Letter One Discord among the monks on the question of grace and will How will and grace should be related The letter to Sixtus was directed against the Pelagians The grace of God is given without any merit The reason why Augustine does not go into detail about the controversy with the Pelagians Let the one from whom the confusion arose be sent Understanding what we believe depends both on God and on us Augustine greets his beloved master, brother Valentinus, venerated among the members of Christ, and the brothers who labor with you in the Lord. Discord among monks over the issue of grace and will 1. Two young men, Cresconius and Felix, came to us, saying that they were from your monastery, and told us that your monastery was outraged by a certain discord, since some of you preach grace in such a way that they deny that a person has a free decision; and, what is much more serious, they say that on the Day of Judgment God will not reward everyone according to their deeds 1 . However, they also declared that most of you do not think so, but recognize that free decision is supported by God's grace so that we think right and act right. So, when the Lord comes to reward everyone according to his deeds, He will find our good works, which God prepared for us to walk in them 2. Anyone who thinks so thinks well. How should will and grace relate? 2. So, I beseech you, brethren, as the apostle begged the Corinthians, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you. For the first time the Lord Jesus, as it is written in the Gospel of the Apostle John, did not come to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him 4 . In the end, as the Apostle Paul writes, God will judge the world 5 , that is, when He comes, as the fullness of the Church confesses in the Creed, to judge the living and the dead 6 . So, if there is no grace of God, then how can He save the world? And if there is no free decision, then how can He judge the world? Therefore, understand my book or letter, which the above-mentioned [brothers] brought with them to us, in accordance with this faith, so that you do not deny God’s grace, and do not defend a free decision, separating [it] from God’s grace, as if without it we could in any way conceive or do something pleasing to God - this is completely impossible for us. Indeed, for this reason, the Lord Himself, when discussing the fruit of righteousness, said to His disciples: Without Me you can do nothing 7 . The letter to Sixtus was directed against the Pelagians 3. I would like you to know that the above-mentioned letter to the presbyter of the Roman Church, Sixtus, was written against the new heretics - the Pelagians, who say that the grace of God is given according to our merits, so that the one who boasts should not boast in the Lord, but in himself, that is, in man, and not in the Lord. The apostle forbids this, saying: Let no one boast about man 8 . And in another place he says: He who boasts, boast in the Lord 9. But these heretics, believing that they become righteous by themselves and from themselves, boast not at all of God, but of themselves, as if it were not God who gave them [this righteousness], but they themselves [acquired it] for themselves. To such people the apostle says this: For who distinguishes you? 10 He says this because from the mixture of that destruction that came from Adam 11 only God singles out man, making him a vessel for honor and not for reproach 12 . But since man is carnal and vainly exalted, having heard: Who sets you apart? - he can say out loud or mentally in response: “My faith sets me apart, my prayer sets me apart, my righteousness sets me apart,” - the apostle immediately warns such thoughts of his and says What do you have that you would not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn’t receive it? 13 And those who think that they are justified by themselves, just boast as if they had not received; and therefore they boast in themselves, and not in the Lord. The grace of God is given without any merit 4. Therefore, in the letter that turned out to be with you, I proved with the help of the evidence of the Holy Scriptures, which you can find there, that our good deeds, and pious prayers, and right faith, we would in no way have had all this if we had not received it from Him, about whom the Apostle James said this: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights 14. So, let no one say that God's grace was given to him according to the merits of his works or according to the merits of his faith; Let no one consider as true the statement of the mentioned heretics that the grace of God will be given according to our merits. This is a completely false opinion, not because there is no good merit for the pious and no evil merit for the wicked (after all, how else can God judge the world?), but [since] the mercy and grace of God converts a person (that mercy about which the psalm says: My God, His mercy will go before me 15), so that the wicked is justified, that is, from the wicked he becomes righteous and begins to have the good merit that God will crown when He judges the world. The reason why Augustine does not go into detail about the controversy with the Pelagians 5. I would like to send you many things, so that, having read all this, you could more carefully and completely learn everything that happened at the episcopal councils against these Pelagian heretics; but the brethren from your number who have come to us are in a hurry. Through them we write this to us, but we do not write it as an answer. For they did not bring us any letter of Your Love; but we accepted them, because their simplicity sufficiently showed that they did not intend to deceive us in anything. And therefore they hastened because they want to spend Easter with you, so that it would be possible, with the help of the Lord, on such a holy day to see peace between you, and not discord. Let the one from whom the confusion arise be sent 6. You will do best (I ask you very much) if you do not hesitate to send to me the very one from whom, as they say, all the confusion occurred. After all, either he does not understand my book, or he himself is not understood when he tries to resolve and clarify a very complex question that few understand. After all, this is the very question about grace that led some foolish people to believe that the Apostle Paul was saying: Let us do evil so that good may come 16. Because of this, the Apostle Peter in his second Epistle says this: Therefore, beloved, looking forward to this, be diligent to appear before Him undefiled and blameless in peace: and consider the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as he speaks about this in all his epistles, in which there is something difficult to understand, that the ignorant and unstable pervert, like other Scriptures, to their own destruction 17 . Understanding what we believe depends on both God and us 7. Beware, then, of what so great an apostle speaks so fearfully; and if you feel that you do not understand something, at least believe the Divine utterances [regarding That], that there is both the free decision of man and God’s grace, without the help of which a free decision can neither turn to God nor improve in God. And pray that you may understand wisely what you piously believe. After all, free decision undoubtedly serves to ensure that we reason wisely. If we had not understood and become wise thanks to a free decision, then the words of Scripture would not have commanded us: So, come to your senses, you senseless people, fools, and finally become wise 18 . And since we are commanded and commanded to understand and become wise, this requires obedience from us, which cannot be done at all without a free decision. But if this could have been accomplished without God’s grace, with the help of [only] a free decision, [namely] so that we would understand and become wise, then it would not have been said to God: Give me understanding, and I will learn Your commandments, 19 and it would not have been written in the Gospel: Then [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures 20; and the Apostle James would not have said: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him 21 . The Lord, who gives [of His bounty] to both you and us, can arrange everything so that we will rejoice, soon learning about peace and pious harmony among you. I greet you not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of the brothers who are with me, and I ask that you unanimously and constantly pray for us. May the Lord be with you. Eph 2:10. In Synod, trans.: good works which God has ordained for us to do. Wed: Nicene-Constantinople Creed, as well as 2 Tim 4:1; 1Pet 4 Compare: Rom 9:21; 2Tim 2:20. The Greek Church Fathers took a different point of view. For example, St. John Chrysostom, linking together these two similar passages from the epistles of St. Paul (Rom 9 and 2 Tim 2:20), understood them this way: “Just as it does not depend on the potter that from the same mixture one goes for honorable use, and another for low use, but on the method of use (άπό τ ŋs χρήόεω s) of those using [the vessel], so here too the matter depends on the free will of man (άπό τ ŋs πρωρέόεω s)… So, why are some vessels of wrath, and others vessels of mercy? Because of his own will” (άπό πρωρέόεω οίκεία s Homiliae in epstulam ad Romanos, 16.8–9 // РG T. 60. Col. 560–561). -Approx. ed. Psalm 58:11. In Synod, trans.: My God, who has mercy on me, will go before me. Rom 3:8. In Synod, trans.: And should we not do evil so that good may come out? Ps 119:125. In Synod.pres.: Come to your senses, senseless people! When will you be smart, ignoramuses? Ps 119:125. In Synod.trans.: Give me understanding, and I will know Your revelations. CPL 262. Translation based on the publication: Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Aeries Latina. Accurante J.-P. Migne. Paris, 1845. T. 33. Col. 969–971. Places with discrepancies were verified with the publication: Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum.Vindobonae 1911. Vo1. 57. R. 380–387. Wed: Matthew 16:27; Rom 2:6; Rev 22:12. You might be interested in: