Florus of Lyon (ca.800–ca.860): Sermon on Predestination

A note about this sermon:

Florus (c.800-860) served as deacon and teacher in the church at Lyons under the bishops Agobard, Amolo, and Remigius. He wrote several treatises related to the Gottschalk predestination controversy, some of which have been passed down under the names of Amolo and Remigius. Florus wrote this Sermon on Predestination (Sermo de praedestinatione) in response to certain persons who asked him about divine foreknowledge, predestination, and free will. In a codex at Trier, it was attached to Amolo’s Letter to Gottschalk (Epistola ad Godescalcum). Its concern that predestination does not mean a person is unable to change his spiritual status, and its comments about Gottschalk in the closing paragraph, suggest that it was written about the same time as Amolo’s letter, circa 851-852. Between 853-855, serving under Remigius, Florus concerned himself with responses to Hincmar, Pardulus, Rabanus, and Eriugena, and took a more mediating position with regard to Gottschalk. Edition: PL 119:95-102; PL 125:57-9; PL 116:97-100 (attributed to Amolo).

Francis X. Gumerlock, “Florus of Lyon—Sermon on Predestination,” in Gottschalk & A Medieval Predestination Controversy: Texts Translated from the Latin, ed. & trans. V. Genke and F. X. Gumerlock (Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation 47; Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2010), 206.

 

SERMO FLORI DE PRÆDESTINATIONE, SICUT EST DE EBONIS SCRINIO SUMPTUS.

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Almighty God, since He is most truly the true and only God, has by His own eternal and unchangeable knowledge foreknown all things before they were done, as the Scripture testifies, saying, “Eternal God, who understandest secret things, who knowest all things before they are done.” He foreknew, therefore, without doubt, both the good deeds that the good would do, and the evil which the wicked would do: in the good He wrought by His grace that they should be good, but in the case of the wicked He did not cause that they should be wicked (which be far from Him!) but merely foreknew that they would be such through their own fault. For the foreknowledge of God has not imposed upon them such a necessity that they could not be otherwise than wicked; but only what they would be of their own freewill; this He, as God, foresaw by virtue of His Omnipotent Majesty. Whence the Scripture, pointing out to us His spotless justice, says of Him, “He hath commanded no one to act wickedly, neither hath He give to any man licence to sin.” So that inasmuch as unrighteous men act wickedly, and turn the space of this life, which God has given them to use for good purposes, to evil pursuits, the fault is not God’s, but their own, and so they are rightly damned by His justice. Moreover, the same Almighty God foreknew that the damnation of those would be eternal, whom He foresaw would persist in their own wickedness; but that this would be in consequence of their own deserts, and not (which be far from Him) from His own injustice, Who has ordained nothing contrary to justice, and who will reward every man according to his works; that is to say, He will give to those who do good works, eternal blessings, and to those who do evil, eternal misery. Therefore in regard of the good, He altogether foreknew both that they would be good by His grace, and by the exercise of the same grace would receive eternal rewards; that is, that both in the present life they would live rightly, and in the future would be rewarded blessedly,—but both from the gift of the mercy of God. Whence the Apostle calls them vessels of His mercy, saying, “That He might shew the riches of His grace on the vessels of mercy which He hath prepared for glory.” On the contrary, however, He both foreknew that the wicked would be wicked through their own depravity (malitia), and would be punished with eternal vengeance by His justice. Just as He foreknew concerning the traitor Judas, that “it was he who should betray Him,” as the Gospel says, “when he was one of the twelve,” for He foreknew his eternal damnation when He said, “Woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man shall be betrayed. It were good for him if that man had not been born.” And so in the case of the wicked Jews, He undoubtedly foreknew what their impiety would be, of which He spoke beforehand in the Psalm,—“They gave Me gall to eat, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.” He foreknew also their subsequent damnation, concerning which He added in the same Psalm,—“Let them be wiped out of the book of the living, and not be written among the righteous.” But in their case, as in the case of all the ungodly, wickedness arises from their own depravity, and then condemnation follows from the Divine justice. In this manner we must think of the predestination of God, because in the case of the good He has predestined both their goodness which should spring from the gift of His grace, and their eternal reward for the same goodness; that by His gift they should be made good, and by His gift should be rewarded. Whence the Apostle says, “Who hath predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself;” and in another place, “Whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” He has therefore predestinated His elect, both that now they should be received into the adoption of sons of God by the grace of baptism, and hereafter be made conformable to the image of the Son of God. He has predestinated altogether that both here they should be good, not of themselves, but through Him; and that there they should be blessed, not by themselves, but by Him. In either case, therefore, He foreknew and predestinated His future blessings in them and concerning them; but in the wicked and impious, Almighty God did not predestinate wickedness and impiety, that is, that they should be wicked and impious, and that they could not be otherwise: but those whom He foreknew and foresaw would be wicked and impious through their own fault, He predestinated to eternal damnation by just judgment; not because they could not be otherwise, but because they would not. They themselves are therefore the cause of their own damnation, but God is the just Judge and Orderer of the damnation itself; for He has not predestinated what is unjust, but that which is just. He has predestinated therefore crowns for the righteous, and punishment for the ungodly, since each is just.

And the Apostle, commending this justice to us, says, “Is God unjust who taketh vengeance? God forbid.”

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Almighty God is not then the cause of death or perdition to any man, but the wicked procure for themselves death and perdition by their own deeds and words, while by acting wickedly, and more wickedly persuading others, they bring damnation both on themselves and others; while, loving the way of iniquity and perdition, they turn aside from the right path, and hasten as it were with their hands joined, with a like consent in wickedness, to everlasting damnation; and being confederate with death, and enemies of eternal life, themselves, according to their hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath. In which day of the just judgment of God, because every one receives according to his works, no one is condemned by a foregone judgment (præjudicio) of God, but by the desert of his own iniquity. For He has not predestinated that any one should be wicked, but He has predestinated with regard to every wicked man that he should not go unpunished; because also every just law has not a fault (crimen), lest it should be unjust, and yet it punishes the guilty (criminosum), that it may be truly just. He, therefore, who says that they who perish are predestinated to perdition, and that therefore it cannot be otherwise, must likewise affirm this is the case of the righteous also, as if they are therefore saved, because, being predestinated to salvation, they could not be otherwise than saved. He, therefore, who talks so confusedly and foolishly, takes from the one the merit of damnation, and from the other the merit of salvation. And so what else is his meaning, but that, according to him, since the necessity of perdition is imposed on those who perish, so on those who are saved is imposed the necessity of salvation? And so neither can the one be damned with justice, because they could not be righteous; nor the other rewarded with justice, because they were not able to be anything but righteous. So that in either case both perdition and salvation does not result from the judgment of their own actions, but from the fore-judgment (præjudicio) of the Divine pre-ordination. And then, where will be that “who will render to every one according to his works?” and again, “Is God unjust who taketh vengeance? God forbid?” For the cause of the perdition of those who perish is openly referred to God, if He has so predestinated them to destruction that they are not able to alter their condition. But to think or speak this is horrible blasphemy. But the faith of the Catholic Church, of which we ought to be the sons and followers, thus commends itself to us to be most firmly held, as we have briefly pointed out above according to the authority of Holy Scripture, viz., that Almighty God foreknew in the case of the wicked their wickedness, because it is of themselves, but did not predestinate it, since it is not of Him; but their punishment He both foreknew, because He is God, and predestinated, because He is just, so that in themselves lies the deserving of their own damnation, and in Him the power and judgment of justly condemning. For God does not predestinate anything but what He designs to do; but He foreknows many things which He does not design to do, as all the wickedness which wicked men do, and not He. Also, that the wicked themselves do not therefore perish because they could not be good, but because they would not be good, and through their own fault arrived at the condition of vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and continued in the mass of damnation, either by original or actual deserving of it. In the case of the good, however, Almighty God, as it has been sufficiently shewn above, both foreknew and predestinated that in the present life they should by His grace be good, and in the future also happy. For of each kind of their good, that is, both their present and future, He Himself is the Author and Giver, and therefore without doubt, of each the Foreknower and Predestinator; since they themselves by themselves not only could be otherwise, but also were otherwise, before that they were made righteous, from being unrighteous, by Him who justifies the ungodly. So that, whether in those who are saved or in those who perish, their own free-will is rewarded and their own free-will is condemned. But in the one, since by the grace of God our Saviour the will is healed, so that from wicked and depraved it becomes good and right, there can be non doubt that it is most worthily rewarded. But in the others, since the will does not submit to receive healing by the Saviour, most justly by the same Judge will feel eternal damnation.

And this in few words is the whole, which, according to the truth of the Catholic Faith, must be held concerning free-will. That is to say, that god has constituted every man capable of free-will; but because by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, since all have sinned, so the free-will, belonging to the whole human race, being vitiated and corrupted by the fault of his sin, is so blinded and weakened that it suffices man for evil doing, that is, for the ruin of iniquity, and can be free to this alone; but to well-doing, that is, for the exercise of virtue and shewing forth the fruit of good works, in no way can it rise or be strong, unless by the faith of the one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, it be restored, illuminated, and healed, as the Saviour Himself promises in the Gospel, saying, “If the Son shall set you free, then shall ye be free indeed.” And the Apostle says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” And that the human will is freed, illuminated, and healed by this grace of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ, let that joyful exclamation of the Psalmist testify, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear?” Let him, therefore, who desires to receive this grace of liberty, so that he may become truly free to live piously and righteously, not presume on his own strength, but commit himself faithfully to Him to be healed and strengthened, concerning Whom the same Psalmist says, “Order my steps in Thy word, and so shall no wickedness have dominion over me.”

“Letter of Florus,” in Henry G. Newland, ed., A New Catena on St. Paul’s Epistles: A Practical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians (Oxford: J. H. and J. Parker, 1860), 15–20. The Latin text can be found here: Florus Lugdunensis Diaconus, Sermo de praedestinatione, Migne, CXIX. col. 95–102. His other works in Latin can be found here (click). Another English translation was done by Francis X. Gumerlock. See “Florus of Lyon—Sermon on Predestination,” in Gottschalk & A Medieval Predestination Controversy: Texts Translated from the Latin, ed. & trans. V. Genke and F. X. Gumerlock (Mediæval Philosophical Texts in Translation 47; Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2010), 206–211. For more that may possibly be written by Florus (or Remegius) regarding predestination, see also “A Reply to the Three Letters,” in Early Medieval Theology, ed. George E. McCracken, trans. Allen Cabaniss (The Library of Christian Classics; Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 148–175.

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Florus of Lyon (Florus Magister, Florus Lugdenensis, ca. 800–ca. 860) was a Spanish scholar and deacon of Lyon. He seems to hve owed his ecclesiastical career to Agobard of Lyon and remained unwaveringly loyal to him throughout his life. It has proved difficult to document Florus’s early years, but it seems reasonable to assume that he had come to Lyon early in life, perhaps for his education or to begin his ecclesiastical career. Florus clearly benefited from an education in the classics, as well as a deep grounding in the church fathers. He became particularly adept at liturgical issues, a skill that was put to the test when Agobard was exiled in 835 and Amalarius of Metz was appointed the episcopal administrator. Amalarius began to disseminate a quite different understanding of the Mass, one that was far more allegorical than Florus could stomach. Florus published his rebuttal to Amalarius’s Service Book (Liber officialis) and eventually accused Amalarius of heresy. Florus was successful in having Amalarius and his book formally condemned at the Council of Quierzy in 838, which resulted in Agobard returning to Lyon. However, the eventual victory was Amalarius’s because his approach to explaining the Mass eventually becaue the common way in medieval Christianity.

In keeping with his liturgical interests, Florus compiled a martyrology for the Lyonnais church, drawing upon a similar work of the Venerable Bede. Florus’s avid reading of patristic sources led him to publish a compilation on the Pauline Epistles, a text that very much anticipates the Ordinary Gloss. Florus also wrote in support of Gottschalk of Orbais in the controversy over the doctrine of predestination.

James R. Ginther, “Florus of Lyon,” in The Westminster Handbook to Medieval Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 69.

FLORUS (d. c.860). Scholar and controversialist. Nothing is known of his early life before he became a deacon of Lyons during the period when Agobard was its bishop (816-40). After Agobard’s deposition (he was later reinstated) in 835 because of his opposition to the schemes of Empress Judith, Florus defended the rights and independence of the Church of Gaul in De iniusta vexatione ecclesia Lugdonesis. His other writings included a defense of moderate predestination against the extreme views of Gottschalk, three treatises on liturgy, a commentary on the epistles of Paul, some additions to the Martyrology of Bede, and a collection of poems.

J. D. Douglas, ed., “FLORUS,” in The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), 381.

Florus (d. c.860), deacon of Lyons. Little is known of his life, but he was prob[ably] born in the region of Lyons. He served successive Abps. of Lyons, Agobard, Amolo, and Remigius, and was a canon of the cathedral church. His works on canon law, liturgy, and theology, which he appears never to have signed, were written in their service. When Amalarius was made administrator of the see of Lyons and tried to make changes in the liturgy, Florus attacked him in a series of works, one of which, the ‘Expositio Missae’, continued to be read. He took part in the controversy on predestination, defending Gottschalk and attacking Johannes Scottus Erigena. He was deeply versed in patristic writings, and the manuscripts at Lyons contain many traces of his editorial work. He compiled various Expositions on the Pauline Epistles, based on the writings of different Fathers; the one based on works of St Augustine circulated widely under the name of Bede.

F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, ed., “Florus,” in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 620–621.