“They do not understand that the reason why the poor exist is that the rich own too much.
“Abolish the rich and you will not be able to find the poor.
“If no one possesses more than he needs, all will have as much as they need.
For it is those who are rich that are the reason for the many that are poor.”
From ‘On Riches’ attributed to Pelagius, native Briton writing about 390-410AD
In his many works, Pelagius also wrote that man has free will and can keep himself free of sin by an act of free will.
Pelagius also wrote treaties on:
On Nature
On Free Will
On the possibility of not sinning
On Riches
On Evil Doctors
On Bad Teachers
Orthodox Augustine of Hippo invented the ‘Doctrine of Original Sin‘ to counter Pelagius‘ ‘sinlessness’, and orthodox Jerome accused Pelagius of ‘quoting pagan heresy’.
Pope Anastasius proclaimed Pelagius‘s writings heretical, the first ever proclaimed heresy, and Pelagius has remained a heretic to the church to this day.
Thus socialism of a coherence and urgency that was hardly to be met again before the end of the eighteenth century was suppressed by the early Church fathers.
Thereby, they managed to grab rule and power unchallenged from the embers of the falling Roman Empire which collapsed in 410AD.
Pelagius: Life and Letters
The Boydell Press ISBN 0 85115 714 9