Fulgentius of Ruspe and the Scythian Monks: Correspondence on Christology and Grace

268 Pages·2013·1.155 MB·English

by  Fulgentius of Ruspe, Roy McGregor, Donald Fairbairn

THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A new TrAnslATion
Volume 126
THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A new TrAnslATion
eDiToriAl BoArD
David G. Hunter
University of Kentucky
Editorial Director
Andrew Cain Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J.
University of Colorado Fordham University
Brian Daley, S.J. Rebecca Lyman
University of Notre Dame Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Susan Ashbrook Harvey Wendy Mayer
Brown University Australian Catholic University
William E. Klingshirn Robert D. Sider
The Catholic University of America Dickinson College
Trevor Lipscombe
Director
The Catholic University of America Press
Former eDiToriAl DireCTors
Ludwig Schopp, Roy J. Deferrari, Bernard M. Peebles,
Hermigild Dressler, O.F.M., Thomas P. Halton
Carole Monica C. Burnett
Staff Editor
FULGENTIUS OF
RUSPE AND
THE SCYTHIAN
MONKS
CorresPonDenCe on
CHrisToloGY AnD GrACe
Translated by
ROB ROY MCGREGOR AND
DONALD FAIRBAIRN
Introduction and Notes by
DONALD FAIRBAIRN
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2013
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
the American National Standards for Information Science—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI z39.48-1984.
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fulgentius, Saint, Bishop of Ruspa, 468–533.
[Selections. English. 2013]
Correspondence on Christology and grace / Fulgentius of Ruspe and the
Scythian monks; translated by Rob Roy McGregor and Donald Fairbairn ;
introduction and notes by Donald Fairbairn.
p. cm. — (The fathers of the church ; v. 126)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN 978-0-8132-0126-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Fulgentius, Saint, Bishop of Ruspa, 468–533.—Correspondence.
2. Jesus Christ—Person and officesw—Early works to 1800.
3. Free will and determinism—Early works to 1800.
4. Grace (Theology)—Early works to 1800.
I. McGregor, Rob Roy, 1929– II. Fairbairn, Donald III. Title.
BR65.F854E5 2013
232—dc23
2012038316
Rob Roy McGregor
dedicates this book to his wife, Kathryn,
and their son, Rob Roy III.
Donald Fairbairn
dedicates this book to his children,
Trey and Ella, who greeted him many times
as he came home from the office
by asking, “How’s Fulgie?”

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Abbreviations xi
Select Bibliography xiii
INTRODUCTION
Introduction 3
CORRESPONDENCE ON
CHRISTOLOGY AND GRACE
Letter from the Scythian Monks to 25
the Bishops (Ep. 16)
Fulgentius’s First Letter to the 43
Scythian Monks (Ep. 17)
Fulgentius’s Second Letter to the 108
Scythian Monks (Ep. 15)
Fulgentius’s The Truth about 121
Predestination and Grace
APPENDICES AND INDICES
Appendix I: The Chapters of John Maxentius 235
Compiled Against the Nestorians and the Pelagians
for the Satisfaction of the Brothers
Appendix II: A Very Brief Confession of the 237
Catholic Faith by the Same Author
General Index 239
Index of Holy Scripture 247

PREFACE
This is the second volume in the Fathers of the Church series dedicat-
ed to the North African bishop and theologian St. Fulgentius of Ruspe
(ca. 467–ca. 532). The first, translated by Robert Eno and published
in 1997, is broad in scope, containing the Life of the Blessed Bishop Ful-
gentius and a number of the bishop’s theological and moral treatises.
This current volume is meant as a complement to that earlier one, and
its focus is considerably narrower. It contains correspondence between
Fulgentius (writing on behalf of a group of North African bishops)
and a group of Latin-speaking monks from Scythia (near the mouth of
the Danube River in modern-day Romania) between AD 519 and 523.
The correspondence between Fulgentius and the Scythian monks
is significant—and striking—because it stands at the intersection of
two great theological discussions: the primarily eastern Christological
controversies between the Fourth Ecumenical Council (at Chalce-
don in 451) and the Fifth (at Constantinople in 553) and the largely
western discussions about grace (the so-called “Semi-Pelagian” con-
troversy) that stretched from the closing years of St. Augustine’s life
(the discussion began in 427, and Augustine died in 430) to the Sec-
ond Synod of Orange in 529. Contemporary western scholars nor-
mally treat these controversies over Christ and grace separately, but
there were noteworthy points of contact between the discussions. In
the 420s, John Cassian was the ardent opponent of both Nestorius on
Christology and Pelagius on grace, even though he has subsequently
been branded (probably unjustly) as the father of Semi-Pelagianism.
The correspondence between Fulgentius and the Scythian monks
from a century later is another significant instance of direct connec-
tion between the controversies over Christ and those over grace.
These connections suggest that we today may do well to treat
Christology and grace more as two sides of the same coin than as sep-
arate theological issues. Both sets of issues deal fundamentally with
the relation between God and humanity: Christological questions ask
ix