Augustine replied to his correspondents by writing what proved to be almost his latest works,--the treatises "De Prædestinatione Sanctorum" and "De dono Perseverantiæ." In these volumes Augustine, while freely acknowledging the great difference between his opponents and the Pelagians, yet maintained as strongly as ever his own position, and "did not abate an iota of the contention that election and rejection were arbitrary, and that salvation was not really within the reach of all Christians." [613] Thus the books naturally failed to satisfy the recalcitrant party, or to convince those who thought that the denial of the freedom of the will tended to destroy man's responsibility. Prosper, however, was delighted with the treatises, and proceeded to follow them up with a work of his own, a poem of a thousand lines, "De Ingratis," by which he designates the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians, whose opinions he speaks of as spreading with alarming rapidity. The date of this publication was probably the early part of 430. It was certainly written before the death of Augustine, which took place on August 28 of the same year. The removal from this life of the great champion of Grace did not bring to an end the controversy to which his writings had given birth. The school of Marseilles continued to propagate its views with unabated vigour, in spite of the protests of Prosper and Hilary, who finally took the important step of appealing to Pope Celestine, from whom they succeeded in obtaining a letter addressed to the Gallican Bishops, Venerius of Marseilles, Leontius of Fréjus, Marinus, Auxonius, Arcadius, Filtanius, and the rest. [614] Celestine speaks strongly of their negligence in not having suppressed what he regarded as a public scandal, and says that "priests ought not to teach so as to invade the episcopal prerogative," an expression in which we may well see an allusion to Cassian, the leading presbyter, of the diocese of Marseilles, whose Bishop is named first in the opening salutation; and the letter concludes with some words of eulogium on Augustine "of holy memory." Never, perhaps, was Gallican independence shown in a more striking manner than in the sturdy way in which the Massilians clung to their views in spite of the authority of the Pope now brought to bear upon them. Prosper and Hilary on their return found the obnoxious teaching daily spreading, so that the former of them finally determined to put down, if possible, the upholders of the objectionable tenets by a direct criticism of Cassian's Conferences. This was the origin of Prosper's work "Contra Collatorem," against the author of the Conferences, a treatise of considerable power and force, although not scrupulously fair. [615] The respect in which Cassian was held is strikingly shown by the fact that his antagonist never once names him directly, but merely speaks of him as a man of priestly rank who surpassed all his companions in power of arguing. The work consists of an examination of the thirteenth Conference, that of Abbot Chæremon, on the Protection of God, from which Prosper extracts twelve propositions, the first of which he says is orthodox while all the others are erroneous. [616] He concludes by warning his antagonist of the danger of Pelagianism, and expresses a hope that his doctrine may be condemned by Pope Sixtus as it had been by Celestine and his predecessors. The last statement fixes the date of the book as not earlier than 432; for Celestine only died in April in that year.
Cassian was evidently still living when this attack upon him was made; but, so far as we know, he made no reply to it. Its publication is the last event in his life of which we have any knowledge. He probably died shortly afterwards, as the expression used by Gennadius in speaking of his work against Nestorius would seem to imply that it preceded his death by no long interval; for he says that with this he brought to a close his literary labours and his life in the reign of Theodosius and Valentinian. [617]
The controversy on Grace and Freewill lingered on for nearly a century longer, and was only finally disposed of by the wise moderation shown by Cæsarius of Arles and those who acted with him at the Council of Orange (Arausio), in the year 529. [618]
While it cannot be denied that the teaching of Cassian and his school in denying the necessity of initial and prevenient grace is erroneous and opens a door at which Pelagianism may easily creep in, yet it was an honest attempt to vindicate human responsibility; and it must be frankly admitted that the teaching of Augustine was one-sided and required to be balanced: nor would the question have ever been brought into prominence had it not been for the hard and rigorous way in which the doctrine of Predestination was taught, and the denial that the possibility of salvation lay within the reach of all men. While, then, it is granted that a verdict of guilty must be returned on the charge of Semi-Pelagianism in Cassian's case, we are surely justified in claiming that a recommendation to mercy be attached to it on the plea of extenuating circumstances. Since his death Cassian has ever occupied a somewhat ambiguous position in the mind of the Church. Never formally canonized, his name is not found in the Calendars of the West; nor is he honoured with the title of "Saint." He is, however, generally spoken of as "the blessed Cassian," holding in this respect the same position as Theodoret, of whom Dr. Newman says that, though he "has the responsibility of acts which have forfeited to him that oecumenical dignity," yet he is "not without honorary title in the Church's hagiology; for he has ever been known as the blessed Theodoret.'" [619] In the East Cassian's position is somewhat better. He is there regarded as a saint, and may possibly be intended by the Cassian who is commemorated on February 29. [620] It is only natural that this difference should be made, for the Eastern Church has always held a milder view of the effect of the Fall than that which has been current in the West since the days of Augustine; and, indeed, Cassian, in making his protest against the rising tide of Augustinianism, was in the main only handing on the teaching which he had received from his Eastern instructors.
[530] Gennadius Catalogus, c. lxii.
[531] Conference XIV. xii.
[532] On the Incarnation, VI. ix., x.
[533] Skiathis, and Skiathike (v. l. Skithiake) chora are the forms of the name given by Ptolemy. The Greek Fathers speak of the district as Sketis, while in Latin writers the name appears as Scythia, or Scythis; and, though the printed texts of Cassian give the form as Scitium, heremus Scitii, and heremus Scitiotica, yet we learn from Petschenig that in the mss. of his works it is not seldom written as Scythium. It should be added that in the text of Gennadius the reading is not absolutely free from doubt, as there is some slight authority for reading "natus Serta."
[534] Bibliotheca, cod. cxcvii.
[535] Dr. Gregory Smith (Dictionary of Christian Biography, art. Cassian) thinks that Cassianus' possibly points to Casius, a small town in Syria; but, apart from the fact that the name was not uncommon in the West as well as in the East, the description of his home as being in a country where there were no monasteries is quite fatal to this idea.
[536] Conference XXIV. i.
[537] c. xviii.
[538] No difficulty need be felt on the score of his thorough knowledge of Greek, for this could easily be accounted for by his education at Bethlehem, and prolonged residence in the East.
[539] De Div. Lect. Pref., and c. xxix.
[540] Conference XIV. ix.; Institute V. xxxv.
[541] Chronicle.
[542] Parisinus. Nouv. acquis. Lat. 260, of the eighth or ninth century.
[543] Institutes XI. xviii.
[544] Conference XXIV. i.
[545] See the Institutes III. iv.; IV. xix.-xxi., xxxi. Conferences I. i.; XI. i. v.; XIX. i.; XX. i. The date is too early for this to have been S. Jerome's famous monastery, as that father only settled at Bethlehem towards the close of 386, by which time Cassian himself must have been already in Egypt; nor does he anywhere in his writings make any allusion to Jerome as his teacher, although he mentions him with great respect in his work on the Incarnation, Book VII. c. xxvi.
[546] Conference XI. i. A good account of Cassian's visits to Egypt is given in Fleury's Ecclesiastical History, Book XX., c. iii.-vii.
[547] Conference XVII. ii.
[548] Conference XI. i.-iii., and compare VII. xxvi. for another description of the same district.
[549] Conferences XI., XII., XIII.
[550] Conferences XIV., XV.
[551] Conference XVI. i.
[552] Conferences XVI., XVII.
[553] See Conference XVII. i.-v. and xxx.
[554] Conference XX. i., ii. The story is also told in the Institutes, IV. xxx.
[555] Institute V. xxxii.-xlii.
[556] Conference XX.
[557] Institute V. xxxvi.
[558] Conference XVIII. On the Sarabaites, see the note on c. vii.
[559] Conference XIX. i.
[560] Conference XIX. i.
[561] Conference XXI.
[562] Conference XXII.
[563] Conference XXIII.
[564] Conference XXIV. i.
[565] Conference XXIV.
[566] Institute V. xxxvi. sq.
[567] Conference XVII. xxx.
[568] Butler's Coptic Churches, Vol. I., p. 287.
[569] Rosweyd, Vitæ Patrum; and the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum, 14 April, Vol. II., 201-3.
[570] Dictionary of Christian Biography, art. Ammon; cf. Rufinus, Hist.: Monach, xxx.; and Palladius, Hist.: Lausiaca, viii.
[571] Hist., Monach, c. xxi.
[572] Sozomen, H.E. VI. xxxi.
[573] Hist., Laus., c. vii.
[574] Epp.: ad Eustochium, ad Rustic.
[575] Part. I., cc. vii., viii.
[576] The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt, by Alfred J. Butler. 2 vols. (Oxford, 1884).
[577] Curzon, p. 79.
[578] Butler, Vol. I., pp. 295, 6, 7.
[579] Conference II. ii.; III. v.
[580] Conference I.
[581] Conference II.
[582] Conference III.
[583] Conference IV.
[584] Conference V.
[585] Conference VI.
[586] Conference VII.
[587] Conference VIII.
[588] Conference IX. x.
[589] See Conference X. cc. i-iii.
[590] See Conference XI. i.
[591] Compare the Institutes, IV. xxiii.
[592] On the Incarnation, VII. xxxi.
[593] Palladius Dial. iii.; Sozomen, H. E. VIII. xxvi.
[594] It is highly precarious to infer from the language used in the Institutes, III. that Cassian visited Mesopotamia before settling in Gaul. His departure from Rome may perhaps have been occasioned by the Gothic invasion of Italy and Alaric's sieges of Rome, 408-410.
[595] Montalembert's Monks of the West, Vol. I. p. 464 (Eng. Translation). The names of Hilary of Arles, Vincent of Lérins, Salvian, Eucherius of Lyons, Lupus of Troyes, and Cæsarius of Arles, are alone sufficient to render the monastery of Lérins illustrious in the annals of the Church of Gaul.
[596] Montalembert, l. c.
[597] The Acts of S. Victor's martyrdom given by Ruinart, Acta Sincera, p. 225, have been attributed by Tillemont and others to Cassian, but without sufficient reason.
[598] The Church in Roman Gaul, by R. Travers Smith, p. 245.
[599] This is the title which Cassian himself gives to the work in his Preface to the Conferences.
[600] Institutes, Preface.
[601] Castor is commemorated on the twenty-first of September. See the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum, Sept. VI. 249.
[602] See the Institutes II. i., ix., xviii.; V. iv.
[603] With Papa Leonti et Sancte frater Helladi, in the Preface to Conference I., compare beatissimis Episcopis Helladio ac Leontio, in the Preface to Conference XVIII.
[604] See the Preface to the work On the Incarnation against Nestorius.
[605] See the Epistle of Celestine to Nestorius in Mansi IV. 1026, in which he apologizes for delay by saying that the letter and other documents sent by Nestorius had had to be translated into Latin.
[606] See On the Incarnation, Book I. c. ii. sq.
[607] The Anti-Pelagian Treatises of S. Augustine; with an Introduction by William Bright, D.D. (Oxford), 1889, p. 1.
[608] Epistle xciv.
[609] Anti-Pelagian Treatises, p. liv., lv.
[610] Epp. ccxxv., ccxxvi., in the correspondence of S. Augustine. Works, Vol. II. 820, in the Benedictine Edition.
[611] Cassian himself quotes Augustine as an authority for the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation in his work against Nestorius, VII. xxvii. But it is remarkable that, whereas on all the other authorities quoted (Hilary, Ambrose, Jerome, Rufinus, Gregory, Nazianzen, Athanasius, and Chrysostom) a high encomium is passed, Augustine alone is alluded to with no words of praise, being simply spoken of as priest (sacerdos) of Hippo Regius. There is no authority for the reading "magnus sacerdos," found in the editions of Cuyck and Gazet, which misled Neander. Ch. Hist. Vol. IV. p. 376, E. T.
[612] The only person referred to by name is Hilary, who had just succeeded Honoratus as Bishop of Arles. This fixes the date of the correspondence as 429.
[613] Bright's Anti-Pelagian Treatises, l. c.
[614] The letter is given in full in Gazet's edition of Cassian, with certain doctrinal articles appended, which really belong to a later date. See Dr. Newman's note to the English translation of Fleury, Book XXVI. c. xi.
[615] The treatise is given in Gazet's edition of Cassian.