Saint Photios the Great Against the Augustinian Doctrine of Original Sin

 

 

 

Theodore of Mopsuestia (ca. 350-428) wrote a book titled Against the Defenders of Original Sin which Saint Photios the Great read and reviewed in his Bibliotheca (177). It is often said that Theodore was the only eastern bishop who not only spoke about but also against Original Sin as formulated in the West, but with this review we see that Saint Photios does as well.  The chief defender of the doctrine of Original Sin, according to Theodore, was someone named "Aram", which scholars today mostly agree refers to Saint Jerome. However, Saint Jerome defended the doctrine of Original Sin primarily as a reaction to the extremes of Pelagianism, following in the footsteps of Saint Augustine. In actual fact, it was Saint Augustine who formulated the doctrine of Original Sin, also as a reaction to the extremes of Pelagianism, which is why Fr. George Florovsky writes of this book, "Theodore wrote against St. Augustine’s doctrine of original sin." Saint Photios was clearly unaware of both Saint Augustine's and Saint Jerome's defense of this doctrine, which he views as an obvious heresy foreign to the teachings of the Church and an extreme reaction against Pelagianism. Seeing that he praises Saint Augustine elsewhere in his writings, one wonders what he would have said about him if he knew that it was he who formulated this heresy. For pointing out the errors of these anonymous defenders of Original Sin, which were primarily Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome, Theodore of Mopsuestia is praised by Saint Photios, however Theodore also takes a wrong turn at points and falls into Nestorianism and Origenism and Pelagianism, which Saint Photios also discerned and condemned. Further, Theodore clearly embellished some points about Jerome in particular to make him look worse and supplement his argument. Unfortunately, everything we know of Theodore of Mopsuestia's book Against the Defenders of Original Sin comes from this review of Saint Photios and some fragments that alone have come down to us. Below is the excerpt of Saint Photios's review dealing with this book against Original Sin, to show how he condemned without hesitation this "new" false doctrine as something foreign to the Church.

Five Sermons on the Feast of Saint Vincent (St. Augustine of Hippo)

 

 

Homily on the Martyrs Known as the White Mass (St. Augustine of Hippo)

Holy Martyrs Known as the White Mass (Feast Day - August 24)

Saint Prosper of Aquitaine (+ 455)

Saint Prosper was born in Aquitaine around the year 390. He was a renowned lay theologian, although few details of his life are known.

We know Saint Prosper chiefly from his writings. A contemporary writer described him as "a holy and venerable man." Like Saint Augustine, Saint Prosper was also an opponent of the Pelagian heresy. This wise man seems to have spent his life embroiled in controversies with heretics. Many of Saint Prosper's writings echo the teaching of Saint Augustine (June 15) on grace and free will. Though he never met Augustine, he was an aggressive propagandist for the Augustinian doctrine of grace. After Augustine's death he wrote three series of Augustinian defenses, especially against Saint Vincent of Lerins and Saint John Cassian (it should be noted that the Orthodox position aligns more with the latter rather than Augustine). In speaking of Pelagianism in Rome, Saint Photios the Great says the following: "Not long afterwards, when the shameless heresy again sprang up from an evil root, certain persons at Rome openly expressed themselves in favor of it. But Prosper, truly a man of God, in his pamphlets against them, soon crushed them, while Leo still occupied the papal throne."

Saint Monica as a Model for our Lives

By Protopresbyter George Papavarnavas

Saint Monica lived in the fourth century. She was born and raised in a Christian environment by pious and virtuous parents. Her husband, however, was an idolater, and, unfortunately, a cruel, violent and drunken man, and he ridiculed her for her way of life, which was characterized by love and philanthropy, but, according to her biographer, he never did hit her, which was common at that time, without, of course, meaning that this phenomenon is not observed even in our day. And, as he notes, he did not beat her, perhaps because she did not oppose him. However, she was deemed worthy out of her love and her patience to see her husband baptized, to change his way of life and to have an end that was "Christian", "without shame and peaceful".

On Praying for the Dead (St. Augustine of Hippo)

Aerius of Pontus in the fourth century rejected praying for the dead since he believed it promoted moral laxity in this life: "If the prayer of the people here has benefited the people there, no one would practice piety or perform good works." His objection was refuted by Augustine of Hippo.

By St. Augustine of Hippo

The prayer either of the Church herself or of pious individuals is heard on behalf of certain of the dead; but it is heard for those who, having been regenerated in Christ, did not for the rest of their life in the body do such wickedness that they might be judged unworthy of such mercy, nor who yet lived so well that it might be supposed they have no need of such mercy. (The City of God Bk. 21.24)

The Correspondence Between St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Paulinus of Nola

In his City of God (Bk. 1, Ch. 10), St. Augustine says the following about his contemporary St. Paulinus of Nola:

"For if many were glad that their treasure was stored in places which the enemy chanced not to light upon, how much better founded was the joy of those who, by the counsel of their God, had fled with their treasure to a citadel which no enemy can possibly reach! Thus our Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, who voluntarily abandoned vast wealth and became quite poor, though abundantly rich in holiness, when the barbarians sacked Nola, and took him prisoner, used silently to pray, as he afterwards told me, 'O Lord, let me not be troubled for gold and silver, for where all my treasure is You know.' For all his treasure was where he had been taught to hide and store it by Him who had also foretold that these calamities would happen in the world. Consequently those persons who obeyed their Lord when He warned them where and how to lay up treasure, did not lose even their earthly possessions in the invasion of the barbarians; while those who are now repenting that they did not obey Him have learned the right use of earthly goods, if not by the wisdom which would have prevented their loss, at least by the experience which follows it."

On the Prophet Obadiah (St. Augustine of Hippo)

By St. Augustine of Hippo

(The City of God, Bk. 19, Ch. 32)

Obadiah, so far as his writings are concerned, the briefest of all the prophets, speaks against Idumea, that is, the nation of Esau, that reprobate elder of the twin sons of Isaac and grandsons of Abraham. Now if, by that form of speech in which a part is put for the whole, we take Idumea as put for the nations, we may understand of Christ what he says among other things, "But upon Mount Sion shall be safety, and there shall be a Holy One." [Ob. 17] And a little after, at the end of the same prophecy, he says, "And those who are saved again shall come up out of Mount Sion, that they may defend Mount Esau, and it shall be a kingdom to the Lord." [Ob. 21] It is quite evident this was fulfilled when those saved again out of Mount Sion — that is, the believers in Christ from Judea, of whom the apostles are chiefly to be acknowledged — went up to defend Mount Esau. How could they defend it except by making safe, through the preaching of the gospel, those who believed that they might be "delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God?" [Col. 1:13] This he expressed as an inference, adding, "And it shall be to the Lord a kingdom." For Mount Sion signifies Judea, where it is predicted there shall be safety, and a Holy One, that is, Christ Jesus. But Mount Esau is Idumea, which signifies the Church of the Gentiles, which, as I have expounded, those saved again out of Sion have defended that it should be a kingdom to the Lord. This was obscure before it took place; but what believer does not find it out now that it is done?

Saint Augustine of Hippo Resource Page

St. Augustine of Hippo (Feast Day - June 15)

Verses

Aflame with eros for God, O Augustine,
You proved to be an all-radiant luminary, O Blessed one.

 

Life and Veneration 

 

Synaxarion of Saint Augustine of Hippo 

 

Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo 

 

Saint Augustine, His Life and Teachings (From the Patrology of Stylianos Papadopoulos) - Part One

 

Saint Monica, Mother of Blessed Augustine 

 

Saint Monica as a Model for our Lives 

 

Orthodox Miracles of Saint Augustine of Hippo 

 

The Correspondence Between St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Paulinus of Nola   

 

 

Theological Thought 

 

Saint Prosper of Aquitaine (+ 455) 

 

John Cassian, Vincent of Lerins and Faustus of Riez Were Not Semi-Pelagians 

 

The Legacy of John Cassian in East and West

 

Saint Photios the Great Against the Augustinian Doctrine of Original Sin 

 

St. Gregory Palamas on Augustine of Hippo and Pastoral Theology 

 

Saint Nektarios on Saint Augustine of Hippo 

 

Saint Porphyrios on Saint Augustine of Hippo 

 

Is Augustine of Hippo A Father of the Church? 

 

The Revival of Romiosini in the Thought of Romanides and Yannaras 

 

A Response To Errors About Fr. John Romanides in the Book "Orthodox Readings of Augustine" 

 

A Critique of the Holy Synod in Resistance 

 

Galileo, Augustine and Vatican II 

 

 

Writings and Teachings 

 

Sermon on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (St. Augustine of Hippo) 

 

Homily on the Martyrs Known as the White Mass (St. Augustine of Hippo) 

 

John is the Voice, Jesus is the Word 

 

On Wisdom, Faith, Hope and Love (St. Augustine of Hippo) 

 

On the Interpretation of the Creation Account in Genesis (St. Augustine of Hippo) 

 

All That a Christian Should at Least Know About Creation 

 

On the Literal and Figurative Understanding of Genesis 2 (St. Augustine of Hippo) 

 

Augustine of Hippo on the Devil in Paradise 

 

On Praying for the Dead (St. Augustine of Hippo) 

 

Miracles Through the Relics of Saint Stephen as Recorded by St. Augustine of Hippo 

 

On the Prophet Obadiah (St. Augustine of Hippo) 

 

Holy Martyrs Castus and Aimilius of Carthage 

 

The Law of Thelema...Christianized Once More