Concerning the case of Coelestius: how it was conducted at Carthage, Constantinople, and Rome. 1. A certain Coelestius, brought forth a eunuch from his mother's womb, a disciple and hearer of Pelagius, having departed some twenty years more or less ago from the city of Rome to Carthage in Africa:
he came to the metropolis of the whole region, and there, before Aurelius, bishop of the said city, he was accused by a written petition by a certain Paulinus, a deacon of Ambrose of holy memory, bishop of Milan, concerning the chapters set down below, as the compilation of the proceedings shows, in which proceedings that same petition has been inserted (copies of which proceedings we have in our hands); that not only did he himself teach this, but he had also sent through the provinces divers men conspiring with him, who might disseminate these things among the peoples, namely: that Adam was made mortal, who, whether he sinned or did not sin, was destined to die. That the sin of Adam injured himself alone, and not the human race.
That little children who are born are in that same state in which Adam was before the transgression. That neither through the death or transgression of Adam does the whole race of men die, nor through the resurrection of Christ does the whole race of men rise again. That the Law sends to the kingdom of heaven in the same way as the Gospel. That even before the coming of the Lord there were men without sin, that is, sinless. 2. Concerning all which chapters, as is established from the above-mentioned copies of the synodal proceedings, the Fathers and bishops of that region withstood Coelestius and bade him condemn the same, because they were heretical opinions.
But Coelestius, in no way acquiescing, but rather resisting those same proceedings, was deprived of ecclesiastical communion. From which sentence he thought he should appeal to the examination of the Roman bishop; but presently he himself, having neglected that very appeal, made his way to Ephesus, a city of Asia, and there he dared, by surreptitious means, to seek a place in the presbytery. 3.
From there, after some years, under Atticus, bishop of holy memory, he sought the city of Constantinople, where, being detected in similar matters, he was driven out of that aforesaid nourishing city by the great zeal of that holy man, letters concerning his name being sent into Asia, and to Thessalonica, and to Carthage, to the bishops, copies of which we are prepared to produce. 4. The aforesaid Coelestius, however, having been cast out from here also, hastened with all speed to the city of Rome under Zosimus, bishop of holy memory;
where, in the proceedings (copies of which we have) being interrogated, since he was to some extent intimidated by that examiner, by frequent responses and his own pleadings he sowed the hope that he would condemn those chapters of which he had been accused at Carthage, promising to do so. For this was the more urgently demanded of him, and on account of this very thing he was deemed worthy of some kindness from that holy priest; and thus he merited a certain letter full of benevolence to the African bishops, which he abused, or even still abuses, to the deception of many ignorant people. 5.
But the bishops from Africa writing back, and setting forth the whole case which had been transacted among them, and sending also the proceedings which had then been compiled either with him or concerning him, he was summoned to a fuller hearing, that he might hasten to fulfill what he had promised, that is, that, the aforesaid chapters being condemned, he might be absolved from the sentence of the African pontiffs by which he had been deprived of communion; yet he not only did not present himself, but even fled from the said city of Rome, and on account of this he was utterly condemned by the aforesaid Zosimus, bishop of blessed memory, in most ample and lengthy writings, in which both the very chapters of which he had been accused are contained, and the whole case, both concerning the aforewritten Coelestius and concerning Pelagius his master, is seen to be narrated;
of which writings we also here have copies, and we report that similar and identical writings were transmitted to the Eastern Churches, to the diocese of Egypt, and to Constantinople, and to Thessalonica, and to Jerusalem, to the bishops.