Letter 191: 1. Since the arrival of the letter which, in my absence, your Grace forwarded by our holy brother the presbyter Firmus, and which I read on my return to Hippo, but not until after the bearer had departed, the present is my first opportunity of sending to you any reply, and it is with great pleasure that I entrust it to our very dearly beloved so...

Augustine to Sixtus, greetings. I write to congratulate you on your opposition to the Pelagian heresy and to encourage you to remain firm. The battle is not over — if anything, it is intensifying. Pelagius and his supporters are clever. They do not openly deny grace — they redefine it. They say "grace" and mean nature. They say "God's help" and mean the free will God gave us at creation. They agree that we need Christ — but they mean we need his teaching, not his redemption. They use our vocabulary while emptying it of its meaning. Be alert to this. The most dangerous heresy is not the one that contradicts the faith openly — it is the one that hollows it out from the inside, leaving the shell intact while removing the substance. Grace is not nature. Grace is not the law. Grace is not the example of Christ. Grace is the power of God acting directly on the human will to turn it from evil to good — a power that we did not earn, cannot earn, and do not deserve. Without it, we are lost. With it, everything is possible. Stand firm, brother. Farewell.

Letter 191 (A.D. 418) To My Venerable Lord and Pious Brother and Co-Presbyter Sixtus, Worthy of Being Received in the Love of Christ, Augustine Sends Greeting in the Lord. 1. Since the arrival of the letter which, in my absence, your Grace forwarded by our holy brother the presbyter Firmus, and which I read on my return to Hippo, but not until after the bearer had departed, the present is my first opportunity of sending to you any reply, and it is with great pleasure that I entrust it to our very dearly beloved son, the acolyte Albinus. Your letter, addressed to Alypius and myself jointly, came at a time when we were not together, and this is the reason why you will now receive a letter from each of us, instead of one from both, in reply. For the bearer of this letter has just gone, meanwhile, from me to visit my venerable brother and co-bishop Alypius, who will write a reply for himself to your Holiness, and he has carried with him your letter, which I had already perused. As to the great joy with which that letter filled my heart, why should a man attempt to say what it is impossible to express? Indeed, I do not think that you yourself have any adequate idea of the amount of good done by your sending that letter to us; but take our word for it, for as you bear witness to your feelings, so do we bear witness to ours, declaring how profoundly we have been moved by the perfectly transparent soundness of the views declared in that letter. For if, when you sent a very short letter on the same subject to the most blessed aged Aurelius, by the acolyte Leo, we transcribed it with joyful alacrity, and read it with enthusiastic interest to all who were within our reach, as an exposition of your sentiments, both in regard to that most fatal dogma [of Pelagius], and in regard to the grace of God freely given by Him to small and great, to which that dogma is diametrically opposed; how great, think you, is the joy with which we have read this more extended statement in your writing, how great the zeal with which we take care that it be read by all to whom we have been able already or may yet be able to make it known! For what could be read or heard with greater satisfaction than so clear a defense of the grace of God against its enemies, from the mouth of one who was before this proudly claimed by these enemies as a mighty supporter of their cause? Or is there anything for which we ought to give more abundant thanksgivings to God, than that His grace is so ably defended by those to whom it is given, against those to whom it is not given, or by whom, when given, it is not accepted, because in the secret and just judgment of God the disposition to accept it is not given to them? 2. Wherefore, my venerable lord, and holy brother worthy of being received in the love of Christ, although you render a most excellent service when you thus write on this subject to brethren before whom the adversaries are wont to boast themselves of your being their friend, nevertheless, there remains upon you the yet greater duty of seeing not only that those be punished with wholesome severity who dare to prate more openly their declaration of that error, most dangerously hostile to the Christian name, but also that with pastoral vigilance, on behalf of the weaker and simpler sheep of the Lord, most strenuous precautions be used against those who more covertly, indeed, and timidly, but perseveringly, and in whispers, as it were, teach this error, creeping into houses, as the apostle says, and doing with practised impiety all those other things which are mentioned immediately afterwards in that passage. 2 Timothy 3:6 Nor ought those to be overlooked who under the restraint of fear hide their sentiments under the most profound silence, yet have not ceased to cherish the same perverse opinions as before. For some of their party might be known to you before that pestilence was denounced by the most explicit condemnation of the apostolic see, whom you perceive to have now become suddenly silent; nor can it be ascertained whether they have been really cured of it, otherwise than through their not only forbearing from the utterance of these false dogmas, but also defending the truths which are opposed to their former errors with the same zeal as they used to show on the other side. These are, however, to be more gently dealt with; for what need is there for causing further terror to those whom their silence itself proves to be sufficiently terrified already? At the same time, though they should not be frightened, they should be taught; and in my opinion they may more easily, while their fear of severity assists the teacher of the truth, be so taught that by the Lord's help, after they have learned to understand and love His grace, they may speak out as antagonists of the error which meanwhile they dare not confess.

EPISTOLA 191 Scripta forte a. 418 exeunte. A. Sixto presbytero, postea romano pontifici, gratulatur quod contra Pelagianos, quibus eum favisse rumor fuerat, gratiae Dei defensionem suscepisset (n. 1), hortans ut pergat impudentes cohibere, dissimulantibus mederi (n. 2). DOMINO VENERABILI ET IN CHRISTI CARITATE SUSCIPIENDO SANCTO FRATRI ET COMPRESBYTERO SIXTO, AUGUSTINUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM. Sixto, gratiae defensori, gratulatur. 1. Ex quo Hipponem litterae Benignitatis tuae per sanctum fratrem nostrum Firmum presbyterum directae me absente venerunt, posteaquam illas cum remeassem, quamvis iam inde profecto earum perlatore, legere potui, haec prima eademque gratissima rescribendi occurrit occasio per dilectissimum filium nostrum Albinum acolythum. Quod autem quibus simul scripsisti, tunc non eramus simul, ideo factum est ut singulorum singulas, non unam amborum epistolam sumeres. A me quippe digressus est perlator huius per venerabilem fratrem et coepiscopum meum Alypium, qui tuae Sanctitati aliam rescriberet, transiturus; ad quem etiam ipsas, quas ego iam legeram, litteras tuas ipse portavit. Quae nos quanta laetitia perfuderunt, quid homo nitatur loqui quod non potest eloqui? nec teipsum satis nosse arbitror, sed nobis crede, quantum boni feceris talia nobis scripta mittendo. Sicut enim tu testis es animi tui, ita nos nostri, quemadmodum sit affectus illarum sinceritate luculentissima litterarum. Si enim brevissimam epistolam tuam, quam de hac ipsa re ad beatissimum senem Aurelium per Leonem acolythum direxisti, exsultanti alacritate descripsimus, et quibus poteramus magno studio legebamus, ubi nobis exposuisti quid de illo perniciosissimo dogmate, vel quid contra de gratia Dei, quam pusillis magnisque largitur, cui est illud inimicissimum, sentias: quanta nos putas ista tua prolixiora scripta vel exsultatione legisse, vel cura, ut legantur, quibus valuimus aliis obtulisse, atque adhuc quibus valemus offerre! Quid enim gratius legi vel audiri potest, quam gratiae Dei tam pura defensio adversus inimicos eius, ex ore eius, qui eorumdem inimicorum magni momenti patronus ante iactabatur? aut unde uberiores Deo debemus agere gratias, quam quod eius sic defenditur gratia ab eis quibus datur, adversus eos quibus vel non datur, vel ingratum est quod datur; quia ut eis gratum sit, occulto et iusto iudicio Dei non datur? Sixtus impudentes cohibeat, dissimulantes sanet. 2. Quapropter, domine venerabilis, et in Christi caritate suscipiende sancte frater, quamvis optime facias, cum de hac re scribis ad fratres, apud quos se illi de tua solent efferre amicitia; tamen haec cura maior tibi restat, ut non solum salubri severitate plectantur qui errorem illum christiano infestissimum nomini audent garrire liberius, sed etiam ii diligentissime caveantur vigilantia pastorali, propter infirmiores et simpliciores dominicas oves, cui eum pressius quidem ac timidius, sed tamen insusurrare non cessant, penetrantes domos, sicut ait Apostolus, et caetera quae sequuntur exercitata impietate facientes 1. Nec illi neglegendi sunt, qui usque ad profundum silentium supprimunt timore quod sentiunt, sed tamen eamdem perversitatem sentire non desinunt. Nonnulli quippe eorum, antequam ista pestilentia manifestissimo etiam Sedis apostolicae iudicio damnaretur, vobis innotescere potuerunt, quos nunc repente reticuisse perspicitis; nec utrum sanati sint sciri potest, nisi cum non solum dogmata illa falsa tacuerint, verum etiam illis vera contraria, eo quo illa solent studio defensaverint: qui tamen lenius profecto sunt tractandi. Quid enim eos terreri opus est, quos satis territos ipsa taciturnitas monstrat? Nec ideo tamquam sani praetereundi sunt diligentia medicinae, quorum vulnus in abdito est. Etsi enim terrendi non sunt, tamen docendi sunt; et quantum existimo, facilius possunt, dum in eis timor severitatis doctorem adiuvat veritatis, ut opitulante Domino, gratia eius intellecta atque dilecta etiam loquendo expugnent quod iam loqui non audent.