Pelagius I…

…judges Francis’ idea on eternal condemnation

  • The wicked are given to eternal and inextinguishable fire, that they may burn without end

For I confess that all men from Adam, even to the consummation of the world, having been born and having died with Adam himself and his wife, who were not born of other parents, but were created, the one from the earth, the other, however, from the rib of the man (cf. Gen 2:7), will then rise again and stand before the Judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he has done, whether it be good or bad (Rom 14:10, 2Cor 5:10); and indeed by the very bountiful grace of God he will present the just, as vessels of mercy prepared beforehand for glory (Rom 9:23), with the rewards of eternal life; namely, they will live without end in the society of the angels without any fear now of their own fall; the wicked, however, remaining by choice of their own with vessels of wrath fit for destruction (Rom 9:22), who either did not know the way of the Lord, or knowing it left it when seized by various transgressions, He will give over by a very just judgment to the punishment of eternal and inextinguishable fire, that they may burn without end. (Denzinger-Hünermann 443. Pelagius I, Letter Humani generis to Childebert I, April, 557)

Print Friendly, PDF & Email