Concilium Arausicanum I

CANONS OF THE SECOND COUNCIL OF ORANGE ON GRACE AND FREE WILL. The Second Council of Orange was celebrated at the dedication of the basilica built by the patrician Liberius, on the fifth day before the Nones of July, under the consulship of Decius Junior, Vir Clarissimus, that is, in the year of Christ 525, in the third year of Pope Felix IV. PREFACE.—When we had assembled, God propitiating and at his own invitation, for the dedication of the basilica which our most illustrious prefect and patrician son Liberius built with most faithful devotion in the city of Orange, and when among us a spiritual discussion had arisen concerning matters which pertain to the ecclesiastical rule, it came to our attention that there are some who wish to think about grace and free will less cautiously, and not according to the rule of the Catholic faith. Hence, according to the authority and admonition of the apostolic see, it seemed just and reasonable to us that we should set forth, for the instruction of those who think otherwise than they ought, a few chapters transmitted to us from the apostolic see, which were gathered by the ancient Fathers from the volumes of the Holy Scriptures especially on this subject, to be observed by all, and that we should subscribe to them with our own hands. Upon reading these, let him who up to now has not believed concerning grace and free will as he ought, not delay to incline his mind to those things which are in accord with the Catholic faith.

That through the sin of Adam not only the body, but also the soul was injured (Aug. lib. 2 de Nupt. et Conc. cap. 34). I. If anyone says that through the offense of Adam's transgression not the whole man, that is, according to body and soul, was changed for the worse, but that with the freedom of the soul remaining unharmed, only the body is believed to be subject to corruption: deceived by the error of Pelagius, he contradicts Scripture saying: The soul that has sinned, it itself shall die (Ezekiel 18:20); and: Know you not that to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of him whom you obey (Romans 6:16)? and: By whom one is overcome, to him he is also adjudged a slave (2 Peter 2:19). That the sin of Adam harmed not only himself, but also passed to his descendants (Aug. lib. 4). II. If anyone asserts that Adam's transgression harmed only Adam himself, and not also his offspring; or certainly asserts that only the death of the body, which is the punishment of sin, but not also sin itself, which is the death of the soul, passed through one man into the whole human race; he will impute injustice to God, contradicting the Apostle saying: Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus death passed through into all men in whom all have sinned (Romans 5:).

That the grace of God is not given in response to human invocation, but rather it is grace itself that causes itself to be invoked. III. If anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred by human invocation, and not that grace itself causes itself to be invoked by us, he contradicts the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 65:1), or the Apostle saying the same: "I was found by those who were not seeking me; I appeared plainly to those who were not asking for me" (Romans 10:20). That God does not wait for our will in order to cleanse us from sin, but prepares it. IV. If anyone contends that God waits for our will in order to cleanse us from sin, and does not confess that it is also through the infusion and operation of the Holy Spirit in us that we come to wish to be cleansed, he resists the Holy Spirit Himself, speaking through Solomon: "The will is prepared by the Lord" (Proverbs 8, according to the Septuagint); and the Apostle, preaching salutarily: "It is God who works in you both the willing and the perfecting for good will" (Philippians 2:13).

That the beginning of faith is not from us, but from the grace of God. (Aug. lib. de Praed. SS. a cap. usque ad 9.) V. If anyone says that, just as the increase, so also the beginning of faith, and the very disposition of belief itself, by which we believe in Him who justifies the impious, and by which we arrive at the regeneration of holy baptism, is not through the gift of grace, that is, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit correcting our will from unbelief to faith, from impiety to piety, but says that it is naturally inherent in us, he is shown to be an adversary of apostolic teachings, the blessed Paul saying: "We are confident that He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6); and this: "It has been given to you for Christ, not only that you may believe in Him, but also that you may suffer for Him" (Ibid., 29); and: "You have been saved by grace through faith, and this not from yourselves, for it is a gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). For those who say that faith, by which we believe in God, is natural, in some way define all those who are alien to the Church of Christ as being faithful.

That without the grace of God mercy is not conferred upon those who believe and ask, since grace itself causes us to believe and to ask (Aug. lib. de Dono Persever. c. 23; Prosp. contr. Coll. cap. 6). VI. If anyone says that mercy is divinely conferred upon those who believe, will, desire, strive, labor, keep watch, study, ask, seek, knock without the grace of God, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we are able to believe, or will, or do all these things as we ought, and subordinates the help of grace to humility or human obedience, nor consents that it is itself a gift of grace that we be obedient and humble, he resists the Apostle saying, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. IV, 7) and "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. xv. 20). That we cannot by the powers of nature think or choose any good thing pertaining to salvation without grace (Aug. lib. de Gratia Christi, cap. 26).

VII. If anyone asserts that by the vigor of nature one can think as is expedient, or choose, or consent to salvation, that is, to evangelical preaching, for some good pertaining to the life of eternal salvation, without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who gives to all delight in consenting to and believing the truth, he is deceived by a heretical spirit, not understanding the word of God in the Gospel saying: "Without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5); and that of the Apostle: "Not that we are fit to think anything by ourselves, as if from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God" (2 Cor. 3:5). That through free will no one can attain to the grace of baptism (Prosper, against Coll. ch. 1, 7, 18; and Reply to the definitions of Cassian). VIII. If anyone contends that some can come to the grace of baptism by mercy, others by free will (which in all who are born from the transgression of the first man is manifestly corrupted), he is proved alien from the right faith. For he either does not assert that the free will of all is weakened through the sin of the first man, or he thinks it so injured that nevertheless some are able, without revelation of God, to procure for themselves the mystery of eternal salvation. How contrary this is, the Lord himself proves, who testifies that not some, but no one can come to him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44).

As also is said to Peter: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17); and the Apostle: "No one can say, Lord Jesus Christ, except in the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3). Concerning the help of God by which we do good works (Prosper, Sent. 22). IX. It is a divine gift when we both think rightly and restrain our feet from falsehood and injustice. For whenever we do good, God in us and with us works, so that we may work. Concerning the help of God always to be implored by all (Prosper, Against the Collator, ch. 24). X. The help of God is to be implored even by the regenerate and the holy always, so that they may arrive at a good end or be able to persevere in good work. Concerning the offering of vows (Aug., Bk. 17 of The City of God, ch.; Prosper, Sent. 54). XI. No one would rightly vow anything to the Lord unless he received from him that which he vows, as it is read: "When we have received from your hand, we give to you" (1 Chron. 29:14).

XII. God loves us as we shall be by His own gift, not as we are by our own merit. XIII. The will's freedom was weakened in the first man and cannot be restored except through the grace of baptism: what has been lost cannot be given back except by Him who could give it. Hence the Truth itself says: "If the Son frees you, then you will be truly free" (John 8:16). So that we may be freed from misery, we are anticipated by the mercy of God. XIV. No one, no matter how great his misery, is freed from it unless he is anticipated by God's mercy: as the Psalmist says: "Let your mercy quickly anticipate us, O Lord" (Ps. 78:8); and that other: "My God, His mercy will anticipate me" (Ps. 58:11).

XV. Adam was changed from what God formed him, but for the worse, through his own iniquity; the faithful person is changed from what iniquity wrought, but for the better, through the grace of God. That first change was of the first transgressor; this one, according to the Psalmist, is a change of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 76:11). That one should not boast of what one has, since it is from God (Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, ch. 28; Prosper, Sententiae 260). XVI. Let no one boast of what he seems to have, as if he did not receive it; or think that he received it because the letter appeared externally, or sounded so that it might be heard. For as the Apostle says: If justice is through the law, then Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21). But if he did not die for nothing: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men (Eph. 4:8; Ps. 67:19). From that source has whatever anyone has. Whoever, however, denies that he has it from that source either truly does not have it, or what he has will be taken away from him (Matt. 25:29).

XVII. The fortitude of the pagans is produced by worldly desire, but the fortitude of Christians is produced by the charity of God, which is diffused in our hearts not through the will's choice, but through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us (Hom. v. 5), with no merits preceding grace. No merits precede grace (Aug., lib. I Op. Imp. num. 133; Prosper. sent. 299). XVIII. A reward is owed to good works, if they are performed; but grace, which is not owed, precedes so that they may be performed. No one is saved except by the mercy of God (da. epist. 186, n. 37; Prosper. sent. 310). XIX. Human nature, even if it were to remain in that integrity in which it was created, could in no way preserve itself without the help of its Creator. Hence, since without the grace of God it cannot keep the salvation which it received, how could it, without the grace of God, recover that which it lost?

Nothing good can man do without God (Augustine, *Against Two Letters of the Pelagians* Book II, ch. 8; Prosper, *Sententiae* 314). XX. God does many good things in man which man does not do; but man does no good things which God does not enable man to do. *On Nature and Grace* (Augustine, *On Grace and Free Will* ch. 13; Prosper, *Sententiae* 317). XXI. Just as the Apostle most truly says to those who, wishing to be justified under the Law, have fallen from grace: “If righteousness is from the Law, then Christ died in vain” (Galatians 2:21), so also to those who think that grace, which the faith of Christ commends and receives, is nature, it is most truly said: “If righteousness is from nature, then Christ died in vain.” For here already was the Law, and it did not justify; here already was nature, and it did not justify. Therefore Christ did not die in vain, so that the Law might be fulfilled through Him who said: “I have not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it” (Matthew 5:17); and that nature, lost through Adam, might be restored through Him who said that He had come to seek and to save what had perished (Luke 19:10).

Concerning Those Things Which Are Proper to Men (Augustine, *Tractates on the Gospel of John*; Prosper, *Sententiae* 325). XXII. No one has from his own self anything except falsehood and sin. But if a man has anything of truth and justice, it is from that fountain which we must thirst for in this desert, so that, sprinkled as if by certain drops from it, we may not fail on the way. Concerning the Will of God and of Man (Augustine, *Tractates on the Gospel of John*; Prosper, *Sententiae* 340). XXIII. Men do their own will, not God's, when they do that which displeases God. But when they so do what they will that the divine will serves their will, although they act willingly in what they do, nevertheless it is the will of him by whom what they will is both prepared and commanded. Concerning the Vine and the Branches of the Vine (Augustine, *Tractates on the Gospel of John*; Prosper, *Sententiae* 368). XXIV. The branches are in the vine in such a way that they contribute nothing to the vine, but receive from it that by which they live. For the vine is in the branches in such a way that it supplies vital nourishment to them, not takes it from them. And by this, both having Christ remaining in them and remaining in Christ benefits the disciples in both respects, not Christ. For when a branch is cut off, another can sprout from the living root; but he who is cut off cannot live without the root.

Concerning the Love with Which We Love God (Augustine, *Tractates on the Gospel of John*; Prosper, *Sententiae* 372). XXV. To love God is wholly a gift of God. He who, not loved, loved, gave that he might be loved. Unpleasing, we were loved, so that there might be wrought in us that by which we would please. For the Spirit of the Father and the Son, whom we love together with the Father and the Son, diffuses charity in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). And thus, according to the above-written sentences of the holy Scriptures, or the definitions of the ancient Fathers, this, with God propitious, we ought both to preach and to believe: that through the sin of the first man, free will was so bent and weakened that afterwards no one can either love God as he ought, or believe in God, or work for God what is good, unless the grace and divine mercy of God has anticipated him. Whence we believe that the illustrious faith which the apostle Paul preaches in praise of them was conferred upon the just Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the whole multitude of the ancient saints, not through the good of nature which had been given earlier in Adam, but through the grace of God: which grace, even after the coming of the Lord, we know and believe to be conferred, not by free will, but by the bounty of Christ, upon all who desire to be baptized: according to that which has already been said above, and which the apostle Paul preaches: It is given to you for Christ, not only that you believe in him, but also that you suffer for him (Phil.

(I, 29); and this: "God who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ibid., 6); and this: "You have been saved by grace through faith, and this not from yourselves, for it is a gift of God" (Ephesians II, 8); and what the Apostle says of himself: "I have obtained mercy that I might be faithful" (I Corinthians VII, 29): he did not say, because I was, but that I might be; and this: "What do you have that you have not received?" (I Corinthians IV, 7); and this: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights" (James I, 17); and this: "No one has anything good unless it has been given to him from above" (John III, 27). The testimonies of the holy Scriptures that could be brought forward to prove grace are innumerable, but they have been omitted for the sake of brevity; because, in truth, for whom a few do not suffice, many will not profit. This also we believe according to the catholic faith, that, with grace received through baptism, all the baptized, with Christ helping and cooperating, can and ought, if they faithfully wish to labor, to fulfill those things which pertain to salvation. But that some are predestined to evil by divine power, we not only do not believe, but also, if there are those who wish to believe such a great evil, we pronounce anathema upon them with all detestation.

We also healthfully profess and believe that in every good work, we do not begin it and afterwards are aided by God's mercy; but rather He Himself, with no preceding good merits on our part, first inspires in us both faith and love for Him, so that we may faithfully seek the sacraments of baptism, and after baptism, with His help, be able to fulfill those things that are pleasing to Him. Hence it must be most clearly believed that the so admirable faith of that thief whom the Lord recalled to the homeland of Paradise (Luke 23:43), and of Cornelius the Centurion, to whom an angel of the Lord was sent (Acts 10:3), and of Zacchaeus, who merited to receive the Lord Himself (Luke 19:6), was not from nature, but a gift of divine bounty (See above Prosper's book against Cassian, ch. 7). And because we desire and wish that the definition of the ancient Fathers, and our own which is written above, be a medicine not only for the religious but also for the laity, it pleased that the illustrious and magnificent men who gathered with us for the aforementioned feast should also subscribe with their own hand.

Caesarius, bishop in the name of Christ, had our constitution read back, and signing it, I subscribed, on the fifth day before the Nones of July, under the consulship of Decius the Younger, vir clarissimus. Julianus Amartolus, bishop, had it read back and subscribed. Constantius, bishop in the name of Christ, consented and subscribed. Cyprianus, bishop, subscribed. Eucherius, bishop, subscribed. Likewise Eucherius, bishop, subscribed. Heraclius, bishop, subscribed. Principius, bishop, subscribed. Philagrius, bishop, subscribed. Maximus, bishop, subscribed. Praetentatus, bishop, subscribed. Alethius, bishop, subscribed. Lupercianus, bishop, subscribed. Vindemialis, bishop, subscribed. Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius, vir clarissimus et illustris, Praetorian Prefect of the Gauls and Patrician, consenting, subscribed.

Syagrius, vir illustris, consenting, I subscribed. Opilio, vir illustris, consenting, I subscribed. Pantagathus, vir illustris, consenting, I subscribed. Deodatus, vir illustris, consenting, I subscribed. Cariatho, vir illustris, consenting, I subscribed. Marcellus, vir illustris, consenting, I subscribed. Namatius, vir illustris, consenting, I subscribed. A Warning Concerning the Book On the Promises and Predictions of God. Cassiodorus, in the book Institutes of Divine Literature, chapter one, urges that the three books in which Saint Prosper has encompassed all the authorities of the divine word in one hundred fifty-three chapters, after the pattern of the one hundred fifty-three fish which the evangelical nets drew from the stormy depth of this age, be read assiduously and attentively. There is scarcely any room for doubt that he speaks of this work whose title is On the Promises and Predictions of God. For that this was his mind is inferred from the fact that he himself, in the same book, chapter 17, pursuing a discourse on Christian historians, speaks thus of Prosper (Chapter): "Saint Prosper also produced Chronicles from Adam to the times of Genseric and the plundering of the city of Rome, down to the end." By which words he sufficiently indicates that he considers this Prosper who wrote the Chronicles to be the same one whom he had previously testified had composed three books of the whole divine authority: for each is considered a saint by him.

At the Chronicles of Cassiodorus, anyone will understand that he understood the work of our Prosper from the fact that Gennadius testifies in his Catalogue that he saw Chronicles prefaced with the same name, from which Senator undoubtedly borrowed his own material, who, in the already cited chapter, strongly recommends the reading of this work. This work, however, is today distributed into five parts, as it came from the author. But he, alluding to those one hundred fifty-three fish which the apostles are reported to have caught with one cast of the net after Christ's resurrection in the Gospel (John 21:11), wished that under one hundred fifty-three titles (as Cassiodorus noted) all the promises of Christ the Lord, scattered throughout the entire field of sacred Scripture, be contained: which he therefore gathered into one, so as to demonstrate that they were truly fulfilled by Christ, or would certainly be fulfilled in the future. However, since those promises, partly made before the law, partly under the law, are finally found to be fulfilled at the time when grace was manifested to men, there were not lacking those who would designate this work by the name of the Book before the law, under the law, and under grace. Cassiodorus indeed produces a passage taken from the third part as if it were a saying of Saint Prosper.

The most learned author of the Ecclesiastical Annals as well writes, for the year of the Christian era, that the author of the work On the Promises and Predictions of God is Prosper, and thus he leads him on long journeys through Italy and Africa; then he attributes to him new wars against the Pelagians, all of which flow from the same source. Many, without having examined the matter maturely, have wholly descended into the opinion of each of the aforementioned authors. Yet I would not easily define whether, from the sole authority of each, it can rightly be concluded that the name of this work’s author was Prosper. This conjecture, not disapproved by some, is altogether refuted by others. Among these, the most eminent Cardinal Norisius, in the second book of his Pelagian History, chapter fourteen, supposing the matter as probable, thinks that the author of the book can be recognized as Saint Prosper, bishop of Reggio, a different man from Prosper of Aquitaine, whom the most learned man does not believe was ever raised to episcopal dignity. He thinks that the title began first to be attributed to Temencus, a faithful disciple and most zealous defender of the same Aquitanian, whence that title, along with other similarly spurious inscriptions of treatises, crept into the collection of his works. This is certainly more inclined to be believed than to admit another Prosper, one decorated with a reputation for sanctity, of whom no memory survives, and no trace is said to be found in the monuments of those times.