Pelagius

Pelagius ( ; 354–418) was a Christian theologian known as an ascetic monk and promoting a system of doctrines (termed Pelagianism by the Catholic Church) which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius was accused of heresy at the Synod of Diospolis in 415 and his doctrines were harshly criticized by Augustine of Hippo, especially the Pelagian views about mankind's good nature and individual responsibility for choosing asceticism. Pelagius especially stressed the freedom of human will. Very little is known about the personal life and career of Pelagius, although he was thought to be of British-Celtic or possibly Romano-British origin and fluent in Latin before arriving in Rome and later North Africa.

== Beginnings == Pelagius was active between about 390 and 418. He was said by his contemporaries, such as Augustine of Hippo, Prosper of Aquitaine, Marius Mercator, and Paul Orosius, to have been of Celtic British origin. Jerome apparently thought that Pelagius was Irish, suggesting that he was "stuffed with Irish porridge" (). He was tall in stature and portly in appearance. Pelagius was also highly educated, spoke and wrote Latin and Greek with great fluency, and was well versed in theology. His name has traditionally been understood as a Graecized form (from , "sea") of the Welsh name Morgan ("sea-born"), or another Celtic equivalent.