Aurelius of Carthage
Bishop of Carthage and leading bishop of Roman Africa in Augustine’s time. He presided over the councils of 397 and 419 that listed the books of Scripture and over the trial of Caelestius and the council of 418 against the teaching of Pelagius.
Aurelius presided over the council held at Carthage on 28 August 397, which confirmed the decisions taken at Hippo four years earlier, among them the list of the canonical Scriptures; his signature stands first, before that of Augustine of Hippo (Council of Carthage (397) Breviarium Hipponense, preface and subscriptions). See African Councils List the Books of Scripture.
He questioned Caelestius, the disciple of Pelagius, at his trial in Carthage (Augustine, On the Grace of Christ and on Original Sin 2.3–4), and presided over the council of 1 May 418 that issued canons against Pelagian teaching (Council of Carthage (418) heading) and over the council of May 419 that gathered the canons of the African church into one collection (Council of Carthage (397) African Code, opening). Augustine addressed to him his examination of the synod in Palestine that had acquitted Pelagius (Augustine, On the Proceedings of Pelagius 23). See Augustine and Pelagius Dispute over Grace.
In the timeline
- AD 393 to AD 397, firm dateAfrican Councils List the Books of Scripture
The bishops of Roman Africa, meeting at Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397, rule that only canonical Scripture may be read in church and list its books: a New Testament of twenty-seven books and an Old Testament that includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach and Maccabees.
- AD 411 to AD 418, estimated dateAugustine and Pelagius Dispute over Grace
The monk Pelagius teaches that God made human nature able to choose the good and commands nothing impossible. Augustine answers that fallen nature can do no good without the grace of Christ. African councils and the bishops of Rome condemn Pelagius’s teaching in 418.