08 — East and West
Vincent is a Western saint whose chief idea has become common Orthodox property. This section sets out the place of the canon of catholicity in Orthodox accounts of Tradition — from the catechetical handbooks to the neo-patristic theologians — and notes his commemoration on 24 May; and then reassesses the broader Lérins school: its real theological contribution and the fairness of the “Semi-Pelagian” label that has clung to it.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (pre-Schism West; the canon of catholicity)
The Orthodox Church receives Vincent as a father of the undivided West and his canon as a serviceable, if not exhaustive, statement of the catholic principle — congenial to an ecclesiology that locates the criterion of truth not in a single see but in the consensus of the whole Church across space and time. This section traces that reception and then steps back to the Lérins school as a whole — Honoratus, Eucherius, Hilary of Arles, Faustus of Riez — asking what it contributed and whether its later reputation as a nest of “Semi-Pelagianism” survives scrutiny.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Canon in Orthodox Thought | The place of the Vincentian canon in Orthodox accounts of Tradition — its congeniality to conciliar and consensual ecclesiology, its use by modern Orthodox theologians, its limits as the Orthodox see them — and the feast of 24 May. |
| A Lérins Theology | The broader Lérins school — Honoratus, Eucherius, Hilary of Arles, Faustus of Riez — its monastic and theological contribution, and its “Semi-Pelagian” reputation reassessed in light of recent scholarship. |
See Also
- Quod Ubique, Quod Semper — the canon Orthodoxy receives
- Consensus Patrum — the consensus principle and its Orthodox use
- Vincent and Augustine — the grace controversy behind the school’s reputation
- The Isle of Lérins — the monastery and its leading figures
- Holy Tradition — the Orthodox doctrine into which the canon is received
References
- Vincent of Lérins. The Commonitory. Trans. C. A. Heurtley. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 11. 1894.
- Florovsky, Georges. Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View. Belmont, MA: Nordland, 1972.
- Casiday, Augustine. Tradition and Theology in St John Cassian. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
- Guarino, Thomas G. Vincent of Lérins and the Development of Christian Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.