The Second Council of Orange (or Second Synod of Orange) was held in 529 at
Orange, which was then part of the
Ostrogothic Kingdom
The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy (), existed under the control of the Germanic Ostrogoths in Italy and neighbouring areas from 493 to 553.
In Italy, the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric the Great killed and replaced Odoacer, ...
. It affirmed much of the theology of
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...
, and made numerous proclamations against what later would come to be known as
semi-Pelagian doctrine.
Questions regarding Pelagianism
Background
Pelagian theology was condemned at the (non-ecumenical)
418 Council of Carthage,
[.] and these condemnations were ratified at the ecumenical
Council of Ephesus
The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church t ...
in 431. After that time, a more moderate form of Pelagianism persisted which claimed that man's faith was an act of free will unassisted by previous internal grace. On 3 July 529 a synod took place at Orange. The occasion was the dedication of a church built at Orange by
Liberius (praetorian prefect)
Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius ( 465 554) was a Late Roman aristocrat and official, whose career spanned seven decades in the highest offices of both the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy and the Eastern Roman Empire. He held the highest govern ...
of Narbonensian Gaul. It was attended by fourteen bishops under the presidency of
Caesarius of Arles
Caesarius of Arles ( la, Caesarius Arelatensis; 468/470 27 August 542 AD), sometimes called "of Chalon" (''Cabillonensis'' or ''Cabellinensis'') from his birthplace Chalon-sur-Saône, was the foremost ecclesiastic of his generation in Merovingia ...
.
Bishops participating
*Caesarius of Arles
*Julianus Amartolus (Bishop of Carpentras)
*Constantius (Bishop of Gap)
*Cyprianus (Bishop of Toulon)
*Eucherius (Bishop of Avignon)
*Eucherius
*Heraclius (Bishop of Saint-Paul-trois-Châteaux)
*Principius
*Philagrius (Bishop of Cavaillon)
*Maximus
*Praetextatus (Bishop of Apt)
*Alethius (Bishop of Vaison)
*Lupercianus (Bishop of Fréjus)
*
Vindemialis Vindemialis was Bishop of Orange from 527 to 549.
He attended, and probably hosted, the famous second Council of Orange on July 3, 529, that was chaired by Saint Caesarius of Arles
Caesarius of Arles ( la, Caesarius Arelatensis; 468/470 27 Aug ...
(Bishop of Orange)
Conclusions of the Council
The question at hand was whether a moderate form of Pelagianism could be affirmed, or if the doctrines of Augustine were to be affirmed. The determination of the council could be considered "semi-Augustinian". It defined that faith, though a free act of man, resulted, even in its beginnings, from the
grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninc ...
of God, enlightening the
human mind
The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
and enabling belief.
[Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005] However, it also explicitly denied
double predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby ...
(of the
equal-ultimacy variety), stating, "We not only do not believe that any are foreordained to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing, they are anathema." The document links grace with baptism, which was not a controversial subject at the time. It received
papal
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
approbation under
Pope Felix IV
Pope Felix IV (489/490 – 22 September 530) was the bishop of Rome from 12 July 526 to his death. He was the chosen candidate of Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great, who had imprisoned Felix's predecessor, John I.
Rise
Felix came from Samnium, t ...
.
Effects
The canons of the Second Council seem to have been lost in the tenth century, then recovered and consequently published in 1543. Nonetheless, the teachings of the Council, which followed closely those of Augustine, continued to be adhered to by later medieval scholars, not least of which
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino, Italy, Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest who was an influential List of Catholic philo ...
. The 'Capitula' of Felix IV, on which the Council's 'Capitula' were based, were freely used by the Council of Trent in its condemnation of Luther. Certain Classical Protestants affirm the theology of the Second Council of Orange. However, the concessions it makes of a weakened free will which cooperates with God's Grace is inconsistent with Luther (see Assertio, Article 36) or Calvin determinism and Calvin double-predestination.
Arminian
Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the '' ...
theologians
["Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace", By Keith D. Stanglin, Thomas H. McCall (Oxford University Press, Nov 15, 2012), page 153] also consider the Council of Orange historically significant in that it strongly affirmed the necessity of
prevenient grace
Prevenient grace (or preceding grace or enabling grace) is a Christian theological concept that refers to the grace of God in a person's life which precedes and prepares to conversion. It was termed and developed by Augustine of Hippo (354 – ...
and yet did not present divine grace as
irresistible, deny the free will of the unregenerate to repent in faith, or endorse a strictly Augustinian view of predestination.
References
Sources
*
*
*
Hefele, K. J. ''Consiliengeschichte'', ii. 291–295, 724 sqq., Eng. transl., iii. 159–184, iv. 152 sqq.
*
*
*
*Mansi, J.-D. (ed.), ''Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio'
editio novissima Tomus VIII(Florence 1762).
*
Sirmond, J., ''Concilia antiqua Gallia'', i. 70 sqq., 215 sqq., Paris, 1829.
*
External links
Canons of the Second Council of Orange
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orange
529
6th century in Francia
6th-century church councils
Catholic Church councils held in France
Vaucluse
Ancient Christian controversies