Matthew Pereira - From Augustine to the Scythian Monks: John Maxentius’s Doctrine of Grace

A number of recent studies have assessed the relationship between the reconstruction of the past and the reception of tradition in collaboration with the formation of distinct ecclesial networks. The emergence of distinct religious identities situated within clusters, especially between the councils of Ephesus (431) and Constantinople II (553), were often defined by a social group’s adherence to a canon of privileged church fathers. The canonization of church fathers, often juxtaposed against a number of so-called heretical adversaries, increasingly became an integral component in social identity formation throughout the fifth and sixth centuries.

This present study analyzes John Maxentius’s reception of theological antecedents in his contest against Faustus of Riez and other opponents. Maxentius appropriates a select set of church fathers in order to construct a genealogical distinction between his own Scythian monastic network and his adversaries. In particular, Maxentius locates himself and his allies within the trajectory of Augustine of Hippo, whereas conversely, he bluntly situates Faustus of Riez and other adversaries within the lineage of Pelagius. 

Maxentius’s advances the Augustine - Pelagius binary in order to establish a clear distinction between himself and his opponents. Beyond merely engaging in rhetorical flourishes, Maxentius’s appropriation of Augustine and other church fathers significantly shaped his interrelated doctrines of the Incarnation, anthropology and divine grace. This present assessment attempts to disentangle Maxentius’s rhetorical constructions of the past from his praxis by examining and situating his writings within their historical context. This study attempts to demonstrate that Maxentius’s appropriation of Augustine should neither be reduced to fanciful historical reconstruction nor a passive reception of the past. Rather, Maxentius’s appropriation of Augustine, as evidenced throughout his writings, demonstrates a complex negotiation between reception, reconstruction and application, which together significantly shaped a collective identity among the Scythian monks.