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The Orthodox position is taken to be simpling,Ianthough the Pelagian controversy took place in the west, not the east. The designation was applied to Orthodoxy long after the arguments. The Orthodox Church does not describe itself as semipelagian.
" the Triodion [a book of hymns and prayers used during Orthodox Lent] should not be misconstrued in a Pelagian sense.If the Lenten texts are continually urging us to greater personal efforts, this should not be taken as implying that our progress depends solely upon the exertion of our own will. On the contrary, whatever we achieve in the Lenten fast is to be regarded as a free gift of grace from God. The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete leaves no doubt at all on this point:
I have no tears, no repentance, no compunction;
But as God do Thou Thyself, O Saviour, bestow them on me.
" [1]
"Semipelagian thought stands in contrast to the earlier Pelagian teaching about salvation (in which man is seen as effecting his own salvation), which had been dismissed as heresy. Semipelagianism in its original form was developed as a compromise between Pelagianism and the teaching of Church Fathers such as Augustine of Hippo, who taught that man cannot come to God without the grace of God. In Semipelagian thought, therefore, a distinction is made between the beginning of faith and the increase of faith. Semipelagian thought teaches that the latter half - growing in faith - is the work of God, while the beginning of faith is an act of free will. It too was labeled heresy by the Western Church in the Second Council of Orange in 529."
[2]
/Orthodox
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