Letter 13: Gelasius remonstrates with these bishops because an ignorant old man has been allowed to teach and restore the three...

Gelasius the bishop, to all the bishops throughout Picenum: greeting in the Lord. 1. Until now we were grieving over the barbarian invasions, especially that the provinces nearest to us were being laid waste by the savage tempest of wars; but in the midst of the very fervent perils of these recent calamities we have learned how much more destructive a ruin the devil has inflicted upon the minds of Christians than the enemy's ferocity has inflicted upon their bodies. This evil chiefly looks to the priests of those regions, who, taken up with such sloth and with such neglect of their ministry, disregard the governance of the souls committed to them, so that they suffer those souls to be torn even by any tiny little beasts before their very eyes with impunity; nay rather, by nurturing the wickednesses that creep in, and by acquiescing to the corrupters of the faithful, not only do they by no means draw them back, but they themselves rather furnish nourishments of perdition by their own example. 2. But what would such bishops be likely to do if -- which God forbid -- some new and previously unknown plague were to break forth, or if, by sharper wits and crafty senses, or by some skill in the secular doctrines, men cunning in sacrilege should earn for themselves the utterances of blasphemies, when they do not even recognize nor refute the worn-out fictions of an old error, fictions refuted both by the greater teachers of the churches and also in our own age; and they do not spit out things put forward by ignorant and foolish men? Thanks be to almighty God, since He examines the hearts of His own through persons of this kind, who do not know the very poison that they speak! For what would the prelates of the peoples do under more astute enemies, who willingly submit themselves to the unlearned? Since indeed, even if there was such utter cowardice in the rulers of the Lord's flock that they could not even understand or bridle so cheap and dull a person, they ought, with pastoral care, to have inquired of us about the things to be learned, rather than to submit a compliant will inconsiderately to absurd persuasions. 3. For there has been brought before us a wretched old man, Seneca by name, who, being not only a stranger to all holy learning but altogether foreign even to common understanding itself, has imprudently immersed himself in the Pelagian abyss and filth -- like one of the frogs, as we read concerning certain ones in the Apocalypse -- and, horribly wallowing in that dregs, finding in no way how he might emerge from there; for, abandoning the purity of catholic truth, the more he tries to lift himself up through the slippery slope of falsehood, so much the more, hemmed in by its miry pits, is he overwhelmed: being one of those of whom Peter the apostle says: "But these, like irrational beasts, naturally born for capture and for destruction, blaspheming in the things which they do not know, shall perish in their own corruption, receiving the wages of injustice." Truly indeed his mind is so stupid and obtuse that of these poisons, which he has badly drunk in and vomited up, he can altogether neither receive nor render any account; but, hardened by diabolical blindness and already handed over to himself, he is condemned by the deadly obstinacy of his own heart, and nothing remains for him except that our God, who said that the things which seem impossible to men are easy with Him, should transfix a mind of this kind with a powerful compunction; so that, according to the blessed apostle Paul, he may recover his senses from the snares of the devil, by which he is held captive at the sentence of the divine judgment. Many things, which had not even in his dreams at all touched him concerning the Pelagian opinions, we have rather brought forth made plain, and we have shown that these were long since refuted. These very things also, which the same man seemed to put forward, we have taught were of old brought into the open by the heretical Pelagians too, and were fittingly demolished by catholic preachers. We have proved that Pelagius, Coelestius, Julian, and very many others, men of oratorical eloquence, were convicted in this assertion, and were struck down both by ecclesiastical decrees and by imperial precepts; and therefore we have affirmed that we cannot endure this man, in whose company those so great and so many were laid low, since he can neither grasp what was understood by them, nor establish by similar eloquence the things that were debated by them. But, as has been said, a diabolical mind possessed by inspiration, coming now into the depth of evils, consents to no remedies. 4. Wherefore, out of the innumerable kinds of blasphemies which the authors of the Pelagian heresy have published, three, which this old man to be lamented has especially adopted for himself, we have believed must not be passed over in silence, so that, unlocked, they may be displayed more plainly and, with God destroying them, may more easily be seen overthrown. In the wombs of mothers, they say, infants are created by the divine work; therefore they think it does not seem just that the creature of God, without any actions of its own, should be begotten bound to any sin, and they make God unjust if they should be made guilty before they are born. This they put forth as the very keenest argument of their dogma, not noticing that those first parents of the human race, begotten indeed from no progenitors but from harmless matter, and purely and sincerely powerfully framed by the divine art and made rational, by their own will having followed the seducer, the devil, were infected with depraved desires through the excess of their transgression. In whom indeed human nature sinned, and the made nature became vicious; without doubt a receiver of the evil which it did not know before; which, falling away from the good and the right, fell back into the disposition of evil and depravity, as is manifest from the very course of the consequent things. Such, then, the princes of our substance being made, rendered themselves passible and corruptible, so far departing from the gift of the divine condition that they were punished with the vengeance of death. For that on that day they were dead, whence they were made mortal, is held to be beyond doubt. Accordingly, whatever those progenitors brought forth from their own seed is indeed a work of God, according to the institution of nature, but not without the contagion of that evil which they drew upon themselves by their own transgression; and certainly this same contagion of that evil it is certain is not a divine work. And so the vice is not from God's institution, the vice which nature gathered by a voluntary motion, but rather, from a nature vitiated through itself, God carries out His institution, which belongs to His creation; but the creation brings forth the vice, which it did not receive from the institution of the Creator, but which it itself took on through the lapse of its transgression. For if those first men themselves, born of none, as has been said, of parents, and formed without any contagion, were able by the appetite of unlawful presumption to deprave themselves, and to attach to the work of God the work of diabolical fraud, what wonder is it if those already depraved brought forth a depraved offspring? Does not even, although God indeed founded human substance free by His creation, yet among human laws also a servitude approaching from without render it bound and liable? By origin they are begotten liable, and from a servile condition they are begotten consigned, and by being born they become more bound than begotten. If this is done in matters outside nature, how much more is it no wonder that it should come about for those in whom the very human substance is recognized to be depraved? And through this, just as the human substance itself made itself, from a sincere institution, guilty of reprobate acts by a polluted will, so it has brought forth offspring and progeny of a nature already, from its own acts, stained by a guilty will; because it begets offspring of such a kind as it rendered itself by the excess of transgression. Therefore it brings forth from itself not only what God well instituted, but also what it itself badly and inconsequently cast forth. But in what manner the interior appetite of desiring may have power to change nature, is confirmed by the authority of the divine reading. Thus, finally, that flock entrusted to Jacob as he pastured, when a variety of rods had been placed beneath the channels, while it drank, allured by an affectional delight, conceived what it did not have in nature, and transfused into the offspring, in an unaccustomed way, through the senses, what it had not received in creation. Which thing then indeed was done figuratively, and signified in the ecclesiastical flocks that this would come to pass, and God, foreseeing the wranglings of the Pelagians and the contentions to be stirred up for His faithful, prepared understanding. 5. The divine testimonies teach, and the ecclesiastical sacraments themselves, and the tradition of the catholic teachers from the Lord Savior Himself, that the beginnings of human generation are discolored. Hence it is that the prophet cries out: "Who shall glory that he has a chaste heart, or that he is clean from sins? Not even the infant, whose life upon the earth is of one day." Hence it is that Scripture again says: "Who can make clean that which is conceived of unclean seed? Is it not you who alone are?" And elsewhere: "Because the seed," he says, "was accursed"; and moreover also the prophet David testifies: "In iniquities I was conceived, and in offenses my mother bore me." And if he says this, who may assert himself to have been procreated otherwise? The blessed apostle Paul too asserts: "And we also were once by nature children of wrath," and the rest. Concerning which wrath He says in the Gospel: "He who shall believe and be baptized shall have eternal life; but he who shall not believe is already judged, and the wrath of God remains upon him": that wrath, surely, of which it was said: "By death you shall die." The Lord Jesus Christ Himself pronounces with heavenly voice: "He who shall not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood shall not have life in himself": where indeed we see no one excepted, nor has anyone dared to say that a little child can be led to eternal life without this saving sacrament; and without that life it is not doubtful that he will be in perpetual death in the future. Why then is he not concluded under this lot, if he has no sin at all? And God will the more seem -- which God forbid -- unjust, if punishment be inflicted there where there is no fault. Whence, since he is held bound by no guilt of his own actions, nothing remains except that he is polluted solely by the vicious nativity; and unless he be cleansed by the participation of the Christian mystery, he cannot come to perpetual life. Hence it is that infants are exsufflated and catechized; and because, in the work of God, by which they are well instituted in their author, the work of diabolical malignity has supervened, they are transferred, as the apostle teaches, "from the power of darkness" to the lot of God and to lawful purgation. But unless the first generation, which God instituted good, had degenerated by transgression into fault and had been made reprobate, the second generation would not have had to be substituted. On account of which the blessed apostle Paul says: "By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and so it passed to all men, in whom all sinned"; and a little after: "Therefore as by the offense of one upon all men unto condemnation, so also by the justice of one upon all men unto justification of life." -- But just as he says all unto condemnation, namely those who are begotten of Adam their parent, so he establishes all unto justification of life as none but those who are reborn in the mystery of Christ. By innumerable such instruments the death-bearing doctrine of the Pelagian heresy has both been refuted by our forefathers, and now can be convicted by their copious erudition; nor ought these things to disturb simple souls, for whom it will suffice to have believed, according to the ecclesiastical form, the things which they do not understand; or if anyone desires to know, it will be fitting to inquire. 6. But concerning little children -- that he asserts that, for original sin alone, without holy baptism, they cannot be damned -- this is a sufficiently impious, sufficiently profane proposition. For although no Christian is ignorant that those fresh from the womb of their mothers are baptized unto the remission of sins -- which indeed the catholic Church celebrates not falsely but truthfully, lest in the heavenly sacraments, which God forbid, she should seem to have lied -- accordingly, because they have no proper sins of their own, it is established that for them only the original is altogether relaxed. And so, those who, even by these alone being remitted, obtain eternal life through baptism, it is consequent that, by these alone not being remitted, they cannot attain to eternal life. Whence also the Lord, as we said above, says (which surely does not pertain except to one baptized): "He who shall not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood" shall not seem to have present life through this sacrament. It is therefore vain what they say, that infants not reborn are only unable to go to the kingdom of heaven, but are not punished by perpetual death; whereas without baptism they can neither eat nor drink the body and blood of Christ, and without this they cannot have life in themselves, and without life they cannot but be destined to be dead. They are therefore established in perpetual death, if they are not reckoned to be baptized. Let them therefore take away from the midst that I-know-not-what third place which they make for little children who are to be received; and because we read of nothing but a right hand and a left, let them not make those infants remain without baptism in the left-hand region, but let them allow those baptized to be transferred to the right hand by sacred regeneration. 7. In the third chapter he now carries about the ravings, known and convicted by the whole world, by which they say that man, by free will -- which he corrupted, defiled, and destroyed -- is made blessed with the good of nature being favorable; whereas from the blessedness of paradise, in which the substance had been established, unless by losing its own good it could in no way have been able to be expelled: therefore was it made mortal, because it had passed over from the good indeed by its own transgression to the evil, and from the divine participation had betaken itself to wicked deeds; therefore, fittingly given over to its deceiver, to whom it had consented, therefore it was cast out from the affection of its felicity and damned to thorns and thistles and manifold miseries; which penalty, surely, of a just judgment, so harsh, would by no means have been inflicted upon one persevering in the good, and would be proved to have been brought on not fittingly. Behold, without the divine [good], which, set in that blessedness, he is never read to have sought after, the natural good could not profit man, not only [to make him] blessed, but, when he trusted in this alone and did not [come] to His [grace], by which he might be made blessed; he obtained the contrary, by which, ill using it, he fell back into perpetual servitude; whence it is written: "He who commits sin is the servant of sin"; by whom a man is overcome, to him also is he consigned as a servant: is not this that natural presumption which descends to the laws of a detestable captivity, which holy Scripture thus recalls: "A grievous yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day of their going forth from the womb of their mother until the day of burial into the mother of all"; from which the human race none but our Lord Jesus Christ alone has redeemed by the commerce of His passion, and, the nativity being changed, has rescued? He alone surely came to seek and to save that which had perished: that the free [will of the human race], which had been cast down through rash pride, He might restore, repaired through grace; and that the free will of the human will, just as by following the devil it had merited everlasting captivity, so by following the author of reformed liberty might return to the lost reward. Hence it is that the Lord Himself says: "When the Son shall have made you free, then shall you be truly free"; and the blessed apostle Paul, following up: "When you were servants of sin, you were free from justice," that is, strangers to justice; "but now being made free from sin, you are made servants of justice"; and again the same one himself: "The liberty," he says, "by which Christ has set you free." Does not the same vessel of election affirm and say: "It is God who works in you both to will and to accomplish for good will"? -- lest also in an evil will God should be thought to work both to will and to accomplish. 8. But that is the peculiar poison of the Pelagians and long since worn smooth, by which they think the grace of God is to be conferred according to the merits of men; which be far from the minds of Christians, since the aforesaid witness, the apostle: "It is grace which is given freely; otherwise, if from works, grace is now not grace": because a wage is repaid, not given freely, whence grace received its name, it is bestowed. But who would dare to say that a Christian has anything of good without grace, when the teacher of the nations, concluding briefly all the gifts in himself, cries out: "By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace in me was not void": that he might show that he did not himself precede the gift of grace but had followed it, and demonstrating that he is a fellow-worker of grace by following, [adding]: "but I labored more than all of them." And again, fearing lest he should seem to presume of himself, he added: "not I, but the grace of God with me." He did not say: I and the grace [of God] with me, but he set the preceding grace before, and subjoined himself. But what could be had without grace, when faith itself is through grace, the same apostle teaching us: "I obtained mercy, that I might be faithful"? Nor is the divine mercy anything other than grace. Let us hear also how he instructs the Church: "By grace," he says, "you are saved through faith," that he might assert that the beginning of salvation and of faith began from grace; just as, following on, he adds: "And this not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God; not of works, lest anyone be exalted." The same one himself elsewhere generally and absolutely pronounces, saying: "For what have you which you have not received? But if you received, why do you glory as if you had not received?" Who could recount the particulars? By which it evidently appears that the choice of natural liberty does not earn grace, but rather receives through grace, that it may be mercifully absolved from the servitude which it had merited by sinning. By the redemption of this sacrament, prepared by the eternal providence before the beginning of the world, whether before the law was yet brought forth or under the dispensation of the law, by figural signs and sacrifices the ancient origin of all holy men and holy women was cleansed; and to all the just, through the Spirit of grace, the remedies of eternal salvation came from afar from this mystery to be adored; whose fullness, made manifest to the nations in Christ, purges and renews the world, and truly makes them partakers of perpetual blessedness. 9. Wherefore we greatly accuse our brothers and fellow-bishops, especially those governing the Church of the Lord throughout the provinces of Picenum, who not only did not despise the depraved discourse of a most inept old man and an abject person, but even nourished it by their consent. Who would endure, who would bear, that bishops have allowed that I-know-not-what unworthy corpse should dare to deprive of communion a presbyter not acquiescing to him? How was such a man either received by anyone or patiently listened to? Who, moreover, willingly gave laws gladly accepted, that male servants should be mingled with sacred maidens in a most disgraceful congregation? When spiritual minds, even when these associations are absent, are assailed by the imaginings of vices through enticements, how should they not be more vehemently incited by the gaze of the other sex, which incites them unwilling? Still a greater crime grows up: that, under the sight and presence of priests, of blessed memory Jerome and Augustine, the lights of the ecclesiastical teachers, "the dying fly," as it is written, "which spoils the sweetness of the oil," should strive to tear apart. But why should we wonder that the prelates of the churches neglect these things -- they who, as we have heard from many, it is manifest do everything contrary to the canons and everywhere act in all things contrary to the apostolic discipline: to ordain without the rules being observed, and not lawfully only monks but also ministers of the Church, migrating with women to foreign parts, to return again, and to be promoted by other bishops into the clerical militia? Which things, since they cannot be tolerated singly, who would suffer so many and such crimes to be perpetrated, by which they, not undeservedly offering a spectacle to gentiles, Jews, and heretics, seem to tend -- which God forbid -- to the very destruction of religion, and to those worthily doing these things will fittingly be applied that sentence of the apostle saying: "For the name of God is blasphemed through you among the gentiles"? 10. Let it suffice, therefore, that these things have hitherto been committed, and, that God may be feared, let divine things be more carefully attended to than human affairs! Let the asserter of the aforesaid plague find no place at all, nor let him at all gain access to the church or anywhere find participation of the catholic communion; he who prefers to follow the nefarious profession of heretics in their company; and let these men -- with whom previously it shall be proved he mingled harmful discourse -- unless they recover their senses and depart from his society, being removed from the ecclesiastical service, be struck with due vengeance, so that to the rest an example of caution may be administered. Let him approach no one, nor let him ever be permitted to speak the blasphemies long since condemned. With the dwellings of men and of women kept separate, as the holy purpose befits, let the devotion exercise itself, circumspect. Contrary to the constitutions of the canons, let no one be admitted to the ecclesiastical office: the rulers of each province not being about to be ignorant, nor about to find pardon for past matters, if henceforth they should dissemble in avoiding things made plain. Nor will any excuse be left for the future, if, after the present precepts -- which we have determined to send by Romulus the deacon, whose diligence on behalf of the catholic faith and whose vigilance for religion we most gratefully approve -- any prelate either as a contemner or as negligent should be apprehended concerning all these matters. For just as it pertains to the governance of the apostolic see to minister fittingly to all the due solicitude of the churches, so it is necessary that against the contumacious and the slothful it should not dissemble the power divinely handed over to it. Given on the Kalends of November, Albinus, most illustrious man, being consul.

^ 1 Nov. Gelasii papae ad episcopos p^r Piceuum eonstitutos. Omi epucopU ilUs exposiulat, quod ab imperito sene restaurari ac praedicari Mhureni tria praeeipue Pelagianae sectae capita^ quae et refuiat, mdelicet: I** panmlos peceaio originati non esse obnoxios (n. 4 e( 6) ; U^^ eos etiam sacro haptismate dettitutos damnari non posse (n. 6); IIP'° hominem per liberum ar- Utriim bono suffragante naturae beatum e/ftci (n. 7 et 8). Eorum praeterea incre- ftt tegmtiemf qua presbgterum ab eodem sene communione privari, puellas sacras em senis Dei una congregatione misceri aique beatae memoriae Hieronymum et ^ti^tttimm dente maledico corcan lacerari toterabant (n. 9). Cum eis denique ^xpottnlat, quod episcopi alieni monachos ei ministros ecclesiae in militiam pro- vehani clericalem (n. 10). GelasiuB episcopus universis episcopis per Pice- num in Domino salutem. 1. Barbaricis hactenus dolebamus incursibus^) maxime vicinas ^ W provindas et bellorum saeva tempestate vastari; sed quantum ^Editi contra G^ addont si. Desiderantur tituli illi ac canones, quos epi- "^ bnc snbnexos foiBBe Gelasias indicat. ^ lia G^ qtram vnlg. omittant non. '] Dmn scilicet Odoacer Hendoram rez et Theodoricus Gotthorom de Italiae 32G S: GELASII PAPAE a. 493. inter ipsa recentium calamitatum ferventia pericula comperimiiSy perniciosiorem diabolus Christianorum mentibus labem, quam cor- poribus hostilis feritas, irrogavit. Quod malum principaliter illamm regionum respicit sacerdotes, qui tanta segnitia tantaque ministerii dissimulatione suscepti conmiissarum sibi negligunt regimen anima- riun^ ut eas etiam ab exiguis quibusque bestiolis lacerari sub con- spectibus suis impunc patiantur; quinimmo subrepentes nequitiaSy confovendo^) et depravatoribus acquiescendo fidelium^ non solum minime retrahant, sed ipsi magis praebeant proprio nutrimenta per- ditionis exemplo. 2. Quid autem tales essent acturi pontifices, si, quod absit, Td aliqua nova pestis et primitus ignorata prorumperet, vel ingeniis acrioribus sensibusque versutis aut aliqua saecularium doctrinaram peritia callidis sacrilega blasphemianun dicta promerentur, qui tam veteris erroris^) detrita coinmenta, tamque majoribus ecclesiarom* magistris quam etiam nostra aetate convicta, non recoluut nec re- futant; atque ab imperitis stultisque prolata non respimut. Gratias omnipot^nti Deo, quoniam suorimi corda per hujusmodi personas examinat, qui hoc ipsum virus nesciunt^), quod loquimtur! Nam quid facerent populorum praesulos sub astutioribus inimicis, qui se subjiciunt libenter indoctis? Quando utique, etiamsi tauta erat in rectoribus dominici gregis prorsus ignavia, ut nec *) tam vilem hebe* .• temque personam possint vel intellegere vel frenarC; pastorali cora debuerint a uobis cognoscenda perquirere, quam suasionibus incon- sideranter absurdis facilem submittere voluntatem. ' 3. Oblatus est enim nobis miserabilis senex Seneca nominei qui non modo totius sanctae eruditionis alienus sed ipsius quoque intelligentiae conmuuiis prorsus extraneus, in Pelagianae Yoraginb ^\^?o'coeno, sicut de quibusdam in Apocalypsi legimus, velutuna rana- rum imprudenter inimersus, inque iUa faece horribiliter Yolutatuay nidlatenus iude qualiter emergere posset inveniens; quia puritatem relinquens catholicae veritatis, quant^) se per hibricum faLntatia conatur attoUere, tanto magls ejus lutosis foveis circumclusus ob* rcgno iiiter se (lecertabiuit. Sed morte Odacriu, qui hoc aupo 493 exstijicltti est, incursus illi quieveruut. EPISTOLA G. 327 roitur : de illis imus exsistens, de quil)us Petrus dicit apostolus : Hi ^ ^^^- vero veiui irrationabilia pecora, naturaliter in captionem et in perni- « i^^'*' ciem in his quae ignorant hlasphefnantes^ in corruptione sua peribunt, percipienies mercedem tnjustitiae. llevera euiin aic ejus stolidus et obtusus est animns^ ut de his venenis^ quao inale liausit et vomuit^ nullam rationem vel aceipere valeat onmino vel reddere: sed indu- ratus obcaecatione diabolica sibique jam traditus^ cordis sui funesta sit obstinatione damnatus, nihilque supersit ei, nisi ut Deus noster, qui dixit^ quae hominibus impossibilia videntur, apud so osse facilia, jQ^^e hujusmodi mentem potenti compunctione transfigat; ut secundum beatum apostoliun Paulum, resipiscat a diaboli laquets^ quibus captivus ^ 26. deiineiur sententia divini judicii. Multa illi, quae de Pelagianis sen- sibus nec in somnis omnino contigerat *')^ nos magis patefacta pro- didimus eaque dudum convicta fuisse monstraWmus. Haec otiam ipsa, quae idem proferre videbatur, olim et ab haeroticis Polagianis in medium producta docuimus, et a catholicis praedicatoribus com- petenter elisa. Pelagium, Coelestium, Julianum cetorosque com- plures oratoriae facmidiae viros in hac assertiono probavimus fuisse conYictos, et tam ecclesiasticis constitutis quam imperialibus per- CUS80S fuisse praeceptis; proinde istum ferre^) non posso firmavi- x^ in quibus illi tales tantique prostrati smit^ qui nec ipsa^ quae ab illis sunt disputata^ vel intellecta capere vel eloquio simili possit^ adstruere. Sed, ut dictum est, diabolica mens inspiratione possessa, m"'ig 3] profundum veniens jam malorum^ ad remcdia nuUa consentit. » 4. Quapropter de imiumeris blasphemiarum generibus, quas au-* etores Pelagianae haeresis ediderunt, tria, quae si])i praecipue hic* senex lugendus adscivit, credidimus non tacenda, ut reserata mani-- festius panderentur et Deo destruente facilius ^-iderentur eversa.' lu uteris, inquiunt, matrum opere divino creantur infantes ; propte- rea justum videri non putant, quod factura Dei sine ullis propriis- aetionibus cuiquam peccato gignatur obstricta, injustmnque Deum faciunty si rei efficiantui:, antequam nati. Hoc volut acutissimimi sui dogmatis exserunt argumentum, non advertontes^ quia prinii illi parentes generis humani^ de nullis utique genitoribus sed de iunoxia. limi mat^ria procreati, et pure atque sincere potenter arte divina. compacti factique rationales, propria voluututo seductorem secuti diabolum^ pravis cupiditatibus per excessimi praovaricationis infecti sunt. In quibus utique humana juitura peccavit, ot Iimnana ost «j Editi (c* c' c*°) contigerant: renitentibus aliis li])ri8. Porro illud contigerat,\ a verbp eanihigo derivatiun, de imperito sene praeclicatur. Mox in aliis ctiam- editui ea quae dudum: mendose. Deinde G' Celestinum, a. 493. facta natura vitiosa; receptrix sine dubio mali^ quod ante nesdtt; quae a bono rectoque deficiens^ in afiBctum mali prayique recidfic ipso rerum consequentium tramite manifestum est. Tales ig effecti principes nostrae substantiae semetipsos passibiles ei < ruptibiles reddiderunt^ in tantum conditionis divinae donayioliiii ut mortis fuerint ultione puniti. Hac enim die fuiase mortuoi, ^ mortales effecti sunt; ambiguum non habetur. Proinde quidquid i genitores de suo germine protulerunt; opus quidem Dei est, seea dum institutionem naturae, sed non absque contagio illius mi quod sua praevaricatione traxerunt; et utique hoc idem ipsius m contagium certum est opus non esse diyinum. Itaque non ez m tione Dei est vitium^ quod voluntario motu natura collegit, sed eiii de vitiata per semetipsam natura Deus institutionem suam qmd suae creationis exsequitur; sed creatio profert vitium; quod non institutione Creatoris accepit, sed quod ipsa per lapsum transgi sionis suae assumpsit. Nam si ipsi primi homines ex nullis, dictum est; parentibus uati et sine ullo formati contagio^ per t bitum praesumptionis iUicitae semetipsos depravare potuerunt et opere Dei opus diabolicae fraudis adnectere^ quid mirum; si iid depravati prbtulerunt subolem depravatam ? Nonne etiam quum D utique liberam condiderit humanam sua creatione substantiamy eti apud humanas tamen leges extrinsecus accedens servitus natoial: eam reddit obstrictam et obnoxiam? Origine®)'generantur obno et ex conditione servili gignuntur addicti, et nascendo fiunt pi obligati quam geniti. Si hoc agitur de rebus extra naturam pod quanto magis de his provenire non mirum est; quibus ipsa hmn substantia depravata cognoscitur? Ac per hoc sicut se ipsa hnsi substantia de institutione sincera actuum reproborum rea feeit luntate pollutam^ sic edidit subolem atque progeniem naturaa i ex actuum suorum rea voluntate maculosam; quia hujusmodi g« prolem, cujusmodi se ipsa reddidit praevaricationis excessu. Idec non solum de se profert^ quod bene Deus instituit, sed etiam q male ipsa inconsequenter ^jecit. Quemadmodum autem qoi] interior appetendi valeat immutare naturam, divinae lectioni8« an 30,88. ritate firmatur. Sic denique pascenti Jacob commissus ilto | EPI8T0LA 6. 329 OTiniD; 8upposita canalibus varietate virgarum^ dum potat; iUectus a. 493. aiectionali delectatione concepit, quod non habuit in natura^ et ioolitmn^^ sensibus transfudit in prolem^ quod in creatione non sompeit. Quod tunc utique figuraliter gestum; et in ecclesiasticis ogmficayit gregibus hoc futumm, et Pelagianorum Deus praevidens eiliunnias et exdtandas fidelibus suis decertationes ^ intelligentiam pneparayit. 5. Docent divina testimonia et ipsa [ecclesiastica sacramenta et ab ipso Domino Salvatore catholicorum traditio magistronmi; hu- mmae generationis decolorata primordia. Hinc est^ quod clamat propheta r Quis gloridbitur castum se habere cor, aut mundum esse a Job. 14, ffceatis? Nec infans, cujus est unius diei vita super terram. Hinc ert^quod item.dicit Scriptura: Quis potest facere mundum de immundo Joh.HyA, axncephtm semine? nonne tu qui solus es? et alibi: Quia semen, ^- {^Xi qiDt; erat maledictum; nec non etiam David propheta testatur: 7nP8.50,7. iniqyUatibus conceptus sum, et in delictis peperit me mater mea, Et si lioe iUe dicit, quis aliter se asserat procreatum? Beatus quoque apofitolus Paulus asserit: Et nos aliquando eramus natura filH irae Eph.2,s, iwrf et ceteri. De qua ira in evangelio dicit : Qui crediderit et bapti- Tg^t joh tstusfuerit, habebit vitam aetemam; qui autem non crediderit^ ya»i3,l8et36. jj^nlkatiis esi, et ira Dei manet super eum: illa utique^ de qua dictum «t: Morte morieris. Ipse Dominus Jesus Christus coelesti voce pro-Gen.2,i7. nmtiat: Qtd non manducaverit carnem Filii hominis et biberit sangui- joh.ByH. «fl» ejus, non habebit vitam in semetipso: ubi utique neminem vide- mis exceptum, nec ausus est aliquis dicere, parvulum sine hoc Mimento salutari'^) ad aeternam vitam posse perduci; sine illa ntsm vita in perpetua futurum morte non dubium est. Cur igitur n&DB hac sorte concluditur, si nullam habet omnino peccatum? Vagisque videbitur^ quod absit^ injustus DeuS; si illic infligatur ^ Ediii moliium, quod eodem modo in veteribus codicibus atque inolitum P^ %6kL Moz editi iransfundit et deinde G^ fidelibus suis docuncH creadores ^^enti4tm. ") Qoo sdlioet corporis ac BangaiziiB partidpes fimus. Quodrca Fulgentius ^ ine epiit. 12 ad Ferrandum asserit, nee cuiquam esse aliquatenus ambigendum, ^ wmquemque fideUum eorporis sanguinisque Dominici participem fieri^ quando ^^^ftitmate wiembrum corporis Christi effidtur, nec alienari ab Ulo panis caUdsve ^^'^tio, eUamsi antequam panem Utum comedat et caUcem hibat, de hoe saeeulo in '"'^ eorporis Christi constitutus abscedat, Ea vero, quae nuno Gelasius tcribit, ^^'■'leQianea nmt eis, quae Agust. epist. 186 n. 28 et 29 atque Innoc. ep. 30 n. 5 ^o^oere. Atqui Fulgentius loco dtato sequi se profitetnr dootriaam Augustwi, ^ >e ipia sententiam suam illius verbis iUustrat ac confirmat. Ita etiam Inno- *^^ ez verbis Johannis nisi manducaveritis etc. non eucharistiae perdpiendae, ^ biptifmi snsdpiendi confidt necessitatem. Intelligendus est igitur etiam ^^^1108 hic eodem sensu loqui. Postea n. 6 etiam aliam causam profert, quia ^^i^ stne baptismate eorpus et sanguinem Christi nee edere valent nee potare. a. 493. poena , ubi iiuUa sit culpa. Unde quum de propriis actibuB nuU^ reatu teneatur obstrictus, nihil restat^ nisi ut sola sit vitiosa nati^-v tat^ poUutus; et si non fuerit niysterii t-hristiani participati(^-::-i^. luundatus, ail vitani non potest pervenire perpetuam. Hiuc est, qi exsufflantur et cateehizantur infantes ; et quia in opere Dei, qu< in auctore suo bene sunt instituti^ opus diabolicae malignitatis ^ Col. 1,13. eessit; erud dc potestale tenehrarum, sieut docet apostolus, ad F^^fj Dei sortem purgationemque h?gitimam transferuntur. Nisi au^ — fej prima generatio, quam bonam Deus instituit, praevaricatione vesai^aii. set in culpam et reprobabilis esset etfecta, secunda generatio t^suh- roganda non fuerat. Propter quod dicit beatus Paulus apostc^Zus; l^et^is '^'^^'^ P^*^ unum hominem peccatum intravit in mundtm, et per pet^ca- tum mors, et ita in omnes homines pertransiit, in quo omues pecc4W^ runi; et paulo post: Igitur sicut per unius delictum in omnes homm^ in condemnationem, sic et per unius justitiam in omnes homines injwif^ ficationem vitae. — Sicut aut(»m omnes in condemnationem dicit, uti^ que qui de Adam parente sunt geniti, sic omnes in justificaiionm vitae non nisi illos adstruit, qui in Christi mysterio sunt renati. In- numeris talibus instrumentis haeresis Pelagianae doctrina mortifera et a nostris est convicta nifi-joribus, et nunc eonim copiosa potest eniditione convinci, nec debent simplices animos ista turbare, qui- bus quae non intelligunt secimdiun ecclesiasticam formam eredidisse. sufficiet, aut si quis nosse desiderat, int^rrogare conveniet. 6. De parvulis autem, quod asserit sine sacro baptismate pto solo originali peccato non posse danmari, satis impia, satis profaua. propositio est. Quamvis^*^) enim recentes ab utero matrum in renii»- sionem iveccatorum baptizari nuUus Christianus ignorat, quod utjque. non fallaciter sed veraciter catholica celebrat Ecclesia, ne in sacra», mentis coelestibus, quod absit, mentita videatur. Proinde quia pio*. pria non habeant uUa peccata, constat eis^^) sola prorsus originaria rehixari. Itaque quibus etiam solis remissis vitam per baptismum consequuntur aeteniam, consequens est, ut solis etiam non remissis ad aeternam vitam pervenire non possint. Unde et Dominus, sicnt Joh.6,54. superius diximus, ait (quod utique nisi baptizato non convenit): Qm non manducaverit carnem Fitii hominis ei hiberii sanguinem ejus, fhm '*) Magis placcrct quo. £x codem exsufBandi ritu saepc Augustinns origi- nalis peccati fidem adstruit, uomiuatimquc o]). imperfecto contra Juliaji. 1. III cap. 199 probat ritum illum Deo auctori coutumeliosum futunim fuisse, uisi dia- bolus otiam parvulos peccati contagioue roos tenerct. '*) lUud qmmvis perinde accipimus ac quantumvis et ad recentes referiniiu. lloc loco iudicat Gelasius, etiam Romauos ea usos esse baptismi forma, in qua verba in remissionem peccatorum euuntiabantur; cf. Siric. ep. 5 n. 2 (Coust. uot.d)»- Innoc. ep. 2 n. 4. loc Bacramentum vitam habere yideantur praesentem. est ergo quod dieant; quod non renati infantes tantum- regnum coelorum ire non valeant; non autem perpetua e puniantur; dum sine baptismate corpus et sanguinem c edere valeant nec potare, sine aut^m hoc vUam in semet- t non possint, sine vita vero iionnisi mortui sint futuri. itur, in morte perpetua eonstituti ^•'^) si non aestimentur lati. ToUant ergo de medio ueseio qucm ipsi tertium; piendis parvulis faciunt^ loeum; et quia non nisi dextram ^imus et sinistram^ non illos faciant in sinistra regione ptisraate remanere^ scd baptizatos sinant ad dexteram sa- icra regeneratione transferri. ertio capitulo jam toto mundo cognita atque convicta "um deliramenta circumfert; quibus dicunt; quod homo m arbitrium, quod corrupit, foedavit ac perdidit, bono 3 naturae beatus efficitur; quum de beatitudine paradisi, fuerat constituta substantia, nisi suo amisso bono nulla- lisset expelli: ideo mortalis effecta, quia de bono utique tione transisset ad malum , et a participatione divina ca semet facinora contulisset; ideo deceptori suo, cui mserat, competenter addictus, ideo de felicitatis suae cari- sus atque ad spinas et tribulos miseriasque multipliees 3ce damnatus est; quae utique poena justi judicii tam aspera in bono perseveranti nullatenus esset inflicta, et , non convenienter illata probaretur. Ecce sine divino quod in illa beatitudine positus nunquam legitur expetisse^ . homini naturale bonum prodesse non potuit, non solum beatum, .sed quum hoc solo confidit atque ad ejus non a. 493. consequantur^^); quo male usus in perpetuam recidii servitutem; e scriptum est : Qui facit peccatum, servus est peccati; a quo quis k -Joh.8,34. f»flf/ti^^ ^t/ic et servus addicitur: nonne haec est illa praesumpti(^ 2,19.' turalis^ quae ad detestandae captivitatis jura descendit^ quam S ptura sancta sic memorat : Grave jugum super filios Adam a die esz E(W5le8. ^^ ^entre matris eorum usque in diem sepulturae in matrem ommM de qua genus humanum non nisi solus Dominus noster Jesus C stus commeroio suae redemit passionis^ et mutata nativitate noi eruit? Solus utique venit quaerere et salvare, quod perierat: ut lil» ^Yites, quae per temerariam fuerat dejecta superbiam, instaurarei reparata per gratiam, mutuaque yice humanae voluntatis arhitrimi sicut sequendo diabolum captivitatem meruerat sempitemam, s reformatae subsequendo libertatis auctorem, amissum rediret i praemium. Hinc est, quod ipse Dominus ait: Quum vos Fffius l&er* Joh. s,'6^.verit, tunc vere liheri eritis; et apostolus beatus Paulus exseqmio: Quum servi essetis peccati, liberi fuistis justitiae, id est alieni a justitL 2^™22' /i^^flf^i autem a peccato, servi facti estis justitiae; et iterum idei ipse : Libertatem^ inquit, qua vos Christus liberavit, Nonne ipse yi Gal.4,31. electionis af&rmat et dicit: Deus est, qui operatur in vobis etvdU Phil.2,i3.|>tfr/fc^tf pro bona voluntate? ne etiam in mala voluntate et veDe perficere Deus putaretur operari. 8. Blud autem Pelagianorum peculiare virus est olimqne i tritum; quo putant gratiam Dei secundum merita hominum poc conferri; quod absit a mentibus ChristianiS; quum praefatus tesAeii apostolus : Gratia est quae gratis datur, aiioquin si ex operibus grai ^™\;V/»i non est gratia: quia merces redditur, non gratis, unde gra nomen accepit, impenditur. Quis autem audeat dicere ChristiAiii aliquid habere boni sine gratia, quando magister gentium clam cuncta breviter in se dona concludens : Gratia Dei sum id quod n 16,10. ^^ gratia ejus in me vacua non fuit\ ut ostenderet, quia donum g tiae non ipse praecesserit sed fuerit subsecutus, atque monstn: cooperatorem se esse gratiae subsequendo: sed pius omnihus,mqi illis laboravi. Ac rursus veritus, ne de se praesumere videretory i junxit: non ego, sed gratia Dei mecum, Non dixit: ego et graHa^ mecum, sed praeposuit gratiam praecedentem>% seseque subjmu Quid autem haberi possit sine gratia, quum sit fides ipsa per g: '^) Ita sensuB integer effidtur, d haec verba quasi ex Bententia Pelagiai rom sumuntur: qwd autem dicunt, libero arbitrio beatitudinem se consequi ...; ^ bu8 opponitur: nonne haec est praesumptio Jam opposuit antea et qiiMi] parentheain repetit, homini ne in beatitudine quidem posito bonum naturaie proia poiuisse, et nunc illius pravae sententiae merum fontem aperit, snperbiAm ad cet et praesumptionem jam in libro Ecdeaiastici notatam. '*) G' non seruit. '") Ita G^ Ediii se^ atquet a* praecedentemy se atque. ffinc maiime iiq)" EPI8T0LA & 333 tim, dodem apostolo nos docente: Misericordiam consecuius sum, t//a. 493. Wfsftr essem? Nec aliud est misericordi^ divina quam gratia. Audia- 1 ^^^- ^» iQs etiam^ quemadmodum informat Ecclesiam: Gratia, inquit^ ^^^t^MTim.i Kc/f esHs per fidemy ut principium salutis et fidei a gratia coepisse i^t ^^- ssereret; sicut secutus adnectit: Et hoc non ex vobis, sed Dei ^o-£ph.2,8. M est; non ex operibus, ne quis extollatur. Idem ipse alibi gene- liter et absolute pronuntiat; dicens: Quid enim habes quod non :episH? Aut si aceepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis? QuisiCor.4j. ficiat singula recensere? Quibus evidenter apparet^ non naturalis ertatis arbitriiun gratiam promereri; sed potius per gratiam reci- •e, ut a servitute, quam peccando meruerat, misericorditer abso- om esset. Hujus sacramenti redemptione aute mimdi principium ipitema providentia praeparati^ sive nondum prolata* lege seu sub «rratione legali^ figuralibus signis atque sacrificiis omnium san- nun yirorum feminarumque sanctarum vetus origo mundata est; Yersisque justis per gratiae Spiritum hoc de longe adorando my- rio salutis aetemae remedia contigerunt; cujus in Christo mani- !;ata gentibus plenitudo mundum purgat et renovat^ beatitudinis- i perpetuae vere facit esse participes. 9. Quapropter nimis incusamus fratres et coepiscopos nostros^ xime per Piceni provincias Ecclesiam Domini gubemantes^ qui 1 solum ineptissimi senis abjectaeque personae pravum non de- roere colloquium; verum etiam suo nutrivere consensu. Quis liaty quis ferat^ passos esse pontifices^ ut cadaver nescio quod lignum presbyterum sibi non acquiescentem auderet^) commu- oie privare? Quomodo talis vel susceptus ab aliquo vel patienter iitiis est? Qui insuper leges dedit libenter acceptas^i); ut seryi i cum puellip sacris congregatione dedecorissima miscerentur. Jn quum spiritales animi; etiam quum desint ista consortia^ imagi- ciis infestentur illecebris; quemadmodum alterni sexus intuitU; qui citet^^) nolenteS; non vehementius incitentur? Adhuc majus scelus ciescit; ut sub conspectu et praesentia sacerdotum beatae memo- we Hieronymum atque Augustinum^ ecclesiasticomm lumina magi- ymm, musca moritura, sicut scriptum est, exterminans oleum sua^ ^^^J®* '^») lacerare contenderet. Sed quid miremur ecclesiarum prae- tt 8emipelagianoram dogma, quo gratiam a nobis praeveniri ac praevementes aWqm volebant 1 In yolgatis audire communione privaretY '') Ita G* {accepV), ed. exceptus (c' ad marg. ,/ort. exceptas''). Et hanc licen* ^ PeUgii pladtiB consentaneam ' esse Norisius hist. Pelag. lib. 11 c. 17 ob- ^^ Certe Hieronymus adversus Pelag. lib. I drca med. illum arguiti quod 'WlJiai etiam w frequeniia vtrorum et congregatione turbarum peallere pemdttat, '^ lU G^ editi qui UHcite nolentes. 334 S.-GELASir PAPAE t a. 493. sules ista negligere; quoS; sicut a multis audivimus^ contra caj omnia gerere et contra apostolicam disciplinam passim cunct scere manifestum est: non servatis regulis ordinare, liciteque solum monachos sed etiam ministros Ecclesiae cum feminis ad grina migrantes remeare rursus, et ab aliis episcopis in mil provehi clericalem? Quae quum singula toleranda non sint, sustineat tot et talia facinora perpetrari, quibus spectaculum g libus, Judaeis et haereticis non immerito praebentes, in ipsum; absit, tendere videatur religionis excidium, digneque ista facien 2 JJ' aptabitur illa sententia dicentis apostoli: Nomen enim Dei pei hlasphematur in genlibus? 10. Sufficiat igitur hactenus fuisse haec commissa^ et ut cetur Deus, humanis rebus sollicitius divina curentur! Nu8( locum^^) prorsus inveniat praefatae pestis assertor, nec acce prorsus ecdesiae vel usquam participationem catholicae commui] inveniat; qui haereticorum mavult subsequi nefaria professione sortiumj et hi^ cmn quibus antea probabitur noxium miscuisse loquium, nisi resipiscunt et ab ejus societate discedunt^ ab ecc stico remoti servitio, debita-^) ultione plectantur, quo ceteris ca^ ministretur exemplum. Nullum adeat, nec'*) unquam loqui da tas olim blasphemias jam sinatur. Discreta suis habitationibn rorum atque feminarum, sicut sanctum propositum decet, exerc< circumspecta devotio Contra canonum constituta nullus ad c siasticum permittatur^®) officium: non ignoraturis provinciae u cujusque rectoribus, nec de praeteritis se veniam repefturos ei buS; si deinceps dissimulaverint vitare patefactos. Nec excusat de cetero relinquetur occasio, si post praecepta praesentia, qua< Romulum diaconum, cujus soUertiam^') pro fide catholica et religione vigilantiam gratissime comprobamuS; duximus destins quisquam super his omnibus aut contemptor aut negligeus d hendatur antistes. Sicut enini ad sedis apostohcae moderamina tinet, cimctis soUicitudinem debitam ministrare congruenter eccl - '^) Ita G^; edUi nusquam loci ... inveniaiur. '*) In vulgatiB devola. Meudum iude ortum, quod antiquarii v pro i gere soleant. Ita in FeUcis II epistolapi 1 n. 13 irrepserat de vitae eorum i devotione pro dehita eorum meritts devotione. '^) Ita G*; b nec usquojn loci damnatae olim blasphemiae jam nnantwr. favet, quod aUi editi nec usquam loqui damnatue etc. Mcx G' corrupie d a suis kabitationibus ... exerceat circumspecta. *•) c^ in marg. promoveatur^ non sperncnda conjectura. Dubium enii est, quin illud sanciat Gelasius adversus eos, quos ad peregriua migrantes < canonicam disciplinam ab aliis episcopis in militiam provehi clericalem pr u. 9 conquestus est. Vide Siricii epistolam G n. 4. '^) b tolerantiam et mox cum aliis editis quisquis ... deprehendelur^ EPISTOLAE 6. 7. 335 ita necesse est^ ut iu coQtumaees et desides traditam sibi divinitus a. 493. aon dissimulet potestatem. Data Calendis NovembriS; Albino viro daiissimo consule.