Augustine in His Own Words (continued)
which he was able to deceive—still those pestiferous teachings of his were condemned; even he himself anathematized them.74
Attack on Jerome's Monastery
After Pelagius's trial, some of his supporters reportedly attacked monks at Jerome's monastery in Bethlehem. This violence was one factor in a turning of the tide against Pelagius and his allies. We have several reports of the incident. Here is Augustine's, which he added as an appendix to his account of Pelagius's trial in Diospolis (or Lydda; today: Lod, Israel). From The Deeds of Pelagius: (35.66) After this judgment [in favor of Pelagius], certain crimes are said to have been committed with incredible audacity by some band of rabble, who were held to have strongly supported Pelagius in his perversity. It is said that the servants and handmaidens of God, residing under the direction of the holy priest Jerome, were set upon in a most wicked onslaught, that a deacon was killed, that the buildings of the monastery were burned, and that only a well-fortified tower managed to protect Jerome himself, by the mercy of God, from the attack and assault of these impious people. About these matters, my view is that it is best for us to remain silent, and wait and see what our brother bishops there think should be done about such evils. For who would think they could ignore them? After all, the impious teachings of such persons [as Pelagius] ought to be refuted by all Catholics, even those who live far away from these lands, so that they cannot do damage wherever they have been able to spread. But impious actions, whose suppression belongs to episcopal discipline in the place where they are committed, should ordinarily be punished there, with pastoral diligence and pious severity, by those in authority in that place or nearby. Therefore, we, who live so far away, can only hope that such an end be put to these matters, that there be no necessity for further adjudication about it anywhere else, but rather an end which it is fitting for us to proclaim, so that the souls of all who have been seriously wounded by the report, winging about everywhere, of those crimes, may be healed by the mercy of God, following afterward.75
74. Ep. 4*.2–3 (BA 46B:108–10); trans. Eno, FOTC 81:41–42. On this, J.-P. Bouhot, "Une lettre d'Augustin d'Hippone à Cyrille d'Alexandrie (Epist. 4*)," in Lepelley, Les lettres de saint Augustin découvertes par Johannes Divjak, 147–54; Bonner, "Some Remarks on Letters 4* and 6*," in Lepelley, 155–64; and especially Dunn, "Augustine, Cyril of Alexandria, and the Pelagian Controversy," 63–88.
75. De gestis Pelagii 35.66 (BA 21:576–78); trans. Mourant and Collinge, FOTC 86:176–77.