Caelestius

Caelestius (or Celestius) was the major follower of the Christian teacher Pelagius and the Christian doctrine of Pelagianism, which was opposed to Augustine of Hippo and his doctrine in original sin, and was later declared to be heresy.

Development of Caelestius' doctrines

It is believed Caelestius met Pelagius in the late 4th century in the city of

Christian saints

(although he also affirmed repeatedly in Church proceedings and in a letter to the pope that grace assisted the will in all good actions).

For several decades before the doctrine of

Father of the Church to develop the doctrine of original sin

, mostly in reaction to his disputes with Pelagius and Caelestius, which remain in Augustine's numerous writings.

It should be mentioned when assessing the alleged teachings and sayings of Caelestius and Pelagius that the works of neither exist today, although fragments of what is believed to be their writings are quoted in the works of Augustine and Jerome.

Caelestius also went much further than Pelagius in stating that the sin of

Adam, as chronicled in the Biblical Book of Genesis, had only harmed himself, and not all of humanity, as Augustine had taught in his writings and sermons. (Pelagius has been accused of starting this teaching, but in fact he anathematized the opinions of Caelestius at the Synod of Lydda in 415, as well as in a letter to the pope shortly afterwards.) In several books on the topic, Augustine also argued that Pelagius and Caelestius neglected to take God's divine grace into account. Augustine believed Adam's sin ("Fall") in the Garden of Eden had caused human beings to lose the ability to not sin ("non posse non peccare" in Latin

) and therefore, all good deeds done by Christians come from them being enabled by God to do good. In contrast, Pelagius believed that God gave the power of free will to all men, not just Christians, in such a way that no one was forced into sin (Augustine even wrote certain remarks that seemed to imply that any such forced action would not in fact be sinful). Caelestius again appears to have gone beyond this and denied that Christian goodness is due to grace, on the grounds that this would imply that if any Christian sinned, it was because God's grace had failed; once again at the Synod of Lydda Pelagius anathematized this position (although he stated that he did not mean to indicate whether they were Caelestius' opinions or not).

Persecution

After they left Rome when it was attacked and burned by the Visigoths in 410, Pelagius and Caelestius faced constant attacks against their teachings by Augustine, Jerome and their followers, who sought to have the Pope declare their views "heretical," or contrary to Christian teachings.

In 411, the same year they arrived in North Africa, Caelestius faced a council in

Paulinus of Milan

, listed six of Caelestius' ideas to be counted as heresies, but it is worth noting there is no recorded confirmation that Caelestius identified his views in the same way:

Even if
Adam
had not sinned, he would have died.
Adam's sin did not harm the entire human race.
Children are born into the same state Adam was born into.
The whole human race neither dies through Adam's sin nor is saved through
Christ
's resurrection.
The law gives entrance to heaven as well as the gospel.
Before Jesus some men lived without sin.

The fragmented transcripts of this council can be found under the section below entitled Related links and sources.

Council of Carthage

Caelestius refused to retract his views and when the above six points were condemned, the synod denied him ordination. He first intended to object and appeal to the

Saint Augustine.^[1]

Later, it is recorded that

Honorius

against the Pelagians, Zosimus was convinced both Caelestius and Pelagius were heretics. Zosimus issued his Tractoria in which Pelagianism and its authors were finally condemned. No further information is known about Caelestius afterward.

Caelestius was again condemned at the

First Council of Ephesus

in 431.

The teachings of Pelagius and Caelestius were taken up by the Bishop Julian of Eclanum (ca. 386 - 454.)