Council of Sens, 1140 or 1141

1. That the Father is complete power, the Son a certain power, the Holy Spirit no power.

2. That the Holy Spirit is not of the substance [another version:* power] of the Father or of the Son.

3. That the Holy Spirit is the soul of the world.

4. That Christ did not assume flesh to free us from the yoke of the devil.

5. That neither God and man, nor this Person which is Christ, is the third Person in the Trinity.

6. That free will is sufficient in itself for any good.

7. That God is only able to do or to omit those things, either in that manner only or at that time in which He does (them), and in no other.

8. That God neither ought nor is He able to prevent evil.

9. That we have not contracted sin from Adam, but only punishment.

10. That they have not sinned who being ignorant have crucified Christ, and that whatever is done through ignorance must not be considered as sin.

11. That the spirit of the fear of the Lord was not in Christ.

12. That the power of binding and loosing was given to the Apostles only, not to their successors.

13. That through work man becomes neither better nor worse.

14. That to the Father, who is not from another, properly or especially belongs power, * not also wisdom and kindness.

15. That even chaste fear is excluded from future life.

16. That the devil sends forth evil suggestion through the operation * of stones and herbs.

17. That the coming at the end of the world can be attributed to the Father.

18. That the soul of Christ did not descend to hell by itself but only by power.

19. That neither action nor will, neither concupiscence nor delight, when * it moves it [the soul] is a sin, nor ought we to wish to extinguish (it).,*

[From the letter of Innocent II "Testante Apostolo" to Henry the Bishop of Sens, July 16, 1140 * ]

And so we who though unworthily are observed to reside in the chair of St. Peter, to whom it has been said by the Lord: "And thou being once converted convert thy brethren" (Luke 22:33), after having taken counsel with our brethren the principal bishops, have condemned by the authority of the sacred canons the chapters sent to us by your discretion and all the teachings of this Peter (Abelard) with their author, and we have imposed upon him as a heretic perpetual silence. We declare also that all the followers and defenders of his error must be separated from the companionship of the faithful and must be bound by the chain of excommunication.

[From the letter "Apostolicam Sedem" to the Bishop

of Cremona, of uncertain time]

To your inquiry we respond thus: We assert without hesitation (on the authority of the holy Fathers Augustine and Ambrose) that the priest whom you indicated (in your letter) had died without the water of baptism, because he persevered in the faith of holy mother the Church and in the confession of the name of Christ, was freed from original sin and attained the joy of the heavenly fatherland. Read (brother) in the eighth book of Augustine's "City of God" * where among other things it is written, "Baptism is ministered invisibly to one whom not contempt of religion but death excludes." Read again the book also of the blessed Ambrose concerning the death of Valentinian * where he says the same thing. Therefore, to questions concerning the dead, you should hold the opinions of the learned Fathers' and in your church you should join in prayers and you should have sacrifices offered to God for the priest mentioned.

CELESTINE II 1143-1144 Lucius II 1144-1145