the encyclopedic entry of Caelestius

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Development of Caelestius' doctrines

It is believed Caelestius met Pelagius in the late 4th century in the city of Rome. Pelagius taught that a rigorous moral asceticism was required of Christians by God, Who they said required Christians to struggle against evil behavior using, for the most part, the teachings of the Bible and the example of the Christian saints.

For several decades before the doctrine of sin was fully worked out by the Roman Catholic Church, this teaching brought both of them into numerous theological disputes about the nature of sin with several Christian leaders in the church.

Among them were the Bishop of the northern African Roman province of Hippo, Augustine, (later known as "Saint Augustine,") and the theologian Jerome. Augustine especially did more than any other 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 remain quoted in the works of Augustine and Jerome.

Caelestius also joined with 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. 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.

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 Carthage to defend his views. His accuser, the deacon 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.
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 take the matter to the Pope but instead left for Ephesus and was ordained there. Throughout their career, both Pelagius and Caelestius found a more welcome reception in the Eastern Roman Empire for their teachings than in the west. This same view is also shared by the German protestant theologian Hans von Campenhausen in his book "The Fathers of Church" when discussing the relationship of pelagianism with the orthodox champion Saint Augustine.

Later, it is recorded that Pelagius claimed in a synod that he did not agree with all of Caelestius' teachings. In Carthage, two local synods formed and condemned Pelagius and Caelestius without their presence. After being banished from Constantinople and condemned by Pope Innocent, Caelestius brought his case to Pope Zosimus. Zosimus was initially impressed by Caelestius' confessions of faith. However, after a new synodal letter of the African council of May 1, 418 to the pope, and after the steps taken by the emperor 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 after this time.

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