Pelagius as seen by Augustine, Jerome, Paul Orosius and Marius Mercator – a comparative study

This paper aims at presenting the pecularities of the image of Pelagius as a heretic in the anti-Pelagian works of Augustine, Jerome, Paul Orosius and Marius Mercator. The circumstances of every analyzed writing are taken under consideration, for the date of composition and the size of a given polemics matter and influence the rhetorical strategies of the writers. The analysis is based on two categories, namely the similiarities and the differences between the portrayal of Pelagius. The contents of these works are interpreted from the perspective of their rhetorical form and literary techniques inherent in them and not from the perspective of a historian of theology. The analysis enables to conclude that Augustine’s portrayal is the most coherent, persuasive an detailed of all the considered heretical images. It is also the most elegant, e.g. Augustine – contrary to all other three writers – refrains from deriding the physical features of Pelagius or his origins. The Augustine’s Pelagius is presented as the most dangerous new heretic and the arguments a persona are best fitted with the theological layer of polemics. One must, however, bear in mind that Augustine’s works against Pelagius are far more numerous and longer than any other writer’s