Saint Pelagius (c.350-418)
The Northumbria Community, in its Celtic Daily Prayer book, keeps this day, traditionally the feast day of St Augustine of Hippo, as a celebration of the British theologian Pelagius, whom Augustine did so much to malign and persecute. The book has this to say about him:
Pelagius was a British theologian, teacher, writer and soul-friend who settled in Rome. He was highly spoken of at first - even by Augustine. He taught about the value of soul-friendship. He celebrated the fact that the goodness of God cries out through all of creation, for 'narrow shafts of divine light pierce the veil that separates heaven and earth'.
But soon he was criticised for teaching women to read Scripture, and for believing that the image of God is present in every new-born child, and that sex is a God-given aspect of our essential creation. He did not deny the reality of evil or its assault on the human soul, or the habitual nature of sin. Augustine's own peculiar ideas were in sharp contrast, seeing humanity as essentially evil, and polluted by the sexual activity which causes conception to occur.
Augustine tried twice in 415 to have him convicted of heresy - on both occasions Pelagius was exonerated in Palestine. In 416 Augustine and his African bishops convened two diocesan councils to condemn him and Celestius, another Celt. In 417 the Bishop of Rome called a synod to consider the conflict, and declared Pelagius' teaching entirely true, and urged the African bishops to love peace, prize love and seek after harmony. They ignored this, and in 418 they persuaded the State to intervene and banish Pelagius from Rome for disturbing the peace. The Church then was obliged to uphold the Emperor's judgement, and excommunicated and banished him, though no reasons were made clear. He returned to Wales, probably to the monastery of Bangor.
Pelagius was a British theologian, teacher, writer and soul-friend who settled in Rome. He was highly spoken of at first - even by Augustine. He taught about the value of soul-friendship. He celebrated the fact that the goodness of God cries out through all of creation, for 'narrow shafts of divine light pierce the veil that separates heaven and earth'.
But soon he was criticised for teaching women to read Scripture, and for believing that the image of God is present in every new-born child, and that sex is a God-given aspect of our essential creation. He did not deny the reality of evil or its assault on the human soul, or the habitual nature of sin. Augustine's own peculiar ideas were in sharp contrast, seeing humanity as essentially evil, and polluted by the sexual activity which causes conception to occur.
Augustine tried twice in 415 to have him convicted of heresy - on both occasions Pelagius was exonerated in Palestine. In 416 Augustine and his African bishops convened two diocesan councils to condemn him and Celestius, another Celt. In 417 the Bishop of Rome called a synod to consider the conflict, and declared Pelagius' teaching entirely true, and urged the African bishops to love peace, prize love and seek after harmony. They ignored this, and in 418 they persuaded the State to intervene and banish Pelagius from Rome for disturbing the peace. The Church then was obliged to uphold the Emperor's judgement, and excommunicated and banished him, though no reasons were made clear. He returned to Wales, probably to the monastery of Bangor.
posted by Tony at 8/28/2004 04:57:00 pm
2 Comments:
You can read some of Pelagius' original writings at http://www.seanmultimedia.com/Pie_homepage.html and see firsthand what he taught. More of his writings are being prepared for the site as well.
I'm reading up on him, and it says in multiple places that instead of what you describe, he was a hostage. He was oringinally going to be traded for different hostages, but those different hostages never came. Poor boy was still hostage for 3 years, and he was given the offer of change his faith from Christian to Muslim, or else he would be killed, and he denied to change his faith.
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