Selected Works

On the Forgiveness of Sins

ON THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS Introduction At the request of Euthymius, a pious layman, Fulgentius produced this treatise during his second period of exile in Sardinia (c. 517–523). It may well rank among the most repetitive of his works. Surprisingly, it does not discuss technical questions about the system of canonical penance then prevalent, though perhaps little used, in the Church. This treatise provides a more general treatment of the question of repentance for sins. In the first book, Fulgentius discusses the issues of to whom God forgives sins and where he forgives them. The answer is that God forgives sins only to those in the Catholic Church who have the true faith and who live good lives (doing good works). In the second book, he emphasizes the question of time, that sins must be forgiven while one is still in this life. Those who die in a state of serious sin will be damned. This work has been published recently in an Italian translation. TO EUTHYMIUS. BOOK I y dear euthymius,1 I am unable to express how much I rejoice at your enthusiasm—not only that you enrich your spirit with the heavenly Scriptures when you are at home but that you also frequent the holy Church with vigilant heart. So the body’s sense of hearing is touched by the divine words and, within, the love of your soul is nourished. The work of divine grace is recognized because , in the house of God, you are enjoying spiritually the conversation of those whom you know are fervent in the love of the divine Law; on the other hand, you are not happy exchanging useless words with certain people who, without profit, come to the life-giving feast of the heavenly word and who, according to the truthful word of the Apostle Paul, who blames them, “stop listening to the truth and are diverted to myths.”2 1. Euthymius: a layman otherwise unknown. See PCBE, 377. 2. 2 Tm 4.4. 111 FULGENTIUS 112 2. Of such people, I shall say, not undeservedly, that they are like those whose stomach, overcome by some deadly complaint, enjoys fasting more than food; and, for this reason , in vain do they study the abundant medicines brought to them. Since they refuse to take them, they acquire from them neither strength nor health, and, in the doctor’s office , spurning the remedy of the spiritual cure offered them, they enter it only to go away more ill than before. To them God is able to grant a knowledge of and a love for his word, that they may be inflamed by the example of good people. Having been warned by these people, let them cast aside their negligent procrastinating and let them seek salvation in the salutary precepts of the Doctor himself—so that, together with those who, searching the word of the Lord, seek him, they too for their salvation may not stop seeking what can be found by those who seek. II. 1. Therefore, the letter which you sent me, although it did not tell me anything unknown about your heart, still, it did furnish a great increase in happiness to my heart. I was aware, for example, that, with the divine grace mercifully at work in you, you often gave a great deal of thought to the forgiveness of sins. Nevertheless, I said that our happiness increased because you desire to obtain the forgiveness of sins in such a way that you inquire frequently and carefully about the way the same forgiveness works. 2. You say that the question arose among you and, although you yourself recall it, still, I preferred to insert in this small work the words which are found in your letter in the precise order you wrote them, so that you might recognize the product of your own dictation, but also so that anyone else reading it, while he may be given an idea of your request for knowledge, may also be taught to understand the answer more easily. You ask therefore, “The Lord, the Creator of all things, in this world forgives sins only for those for whom he wishes to do it, and thus someone goes forth from this world free; or, through his omnipotence, those whose sins he did not forgive in the present world, he forgives those sins when they leave the body before the day of judgment...