Some Writings on Predestination from 9th Century Polemic The texts, presented below, belong to several authors who participated in gth century controversy on predestination. These excerpts illustrate positions of key participants: Gottschalk of Orbais on "double predestination", his critics (Hrabanus Maurus and Hincmar, archbishop of Reims), who claimed that there is only predestination to good and Amolo, archbishop of Lyon, who thought that doctrine of predestination shouldn't drive people to despair and that is why Scripture and writings of Augustine should be interpreted with this rule in mind. Keywords: Gottschalk of Orbais, Hrabanus Maurus, Hincmar of Reims, Amolo of Lyon, predestination, "double predestination", reprobation, sin, foreknowledge, grace. Gottschalk of Orbe Short confession I BELIEVE and confess that the omnipotent and unchangeable God wantonly foresaw and predestined the holy angels and the chosen people to eternal life, and likewise, by His most just judgment, He predestined the devil himself, the head of all demons, with all his apostates, as well as all condemned people, that is, his members, to eternal deserved death on the basis of their future evil merits, perfectly foreseen by Them, because the Lord Himself says so in his Gospel: "The prince of this world is condemned" (John 16:11). Explaining this to people, St. Augustine openly said: "That is, he was irrevocably determined by the judgment of eternal fire"1. The Truth itself speaks of the condemned: "The unbeliever is already condemned" (John 3:18), that is, as the mentioned author explains: "He is already condemned"2. He says: "The sentence has not been executed yet, 1. Augustinus. In Iohannis evangelium tractatus. 95,4. PL 35:1873. 2. Id. De agone christiano. 27, 29. PL 40:305. page 251but already taken out"3. Also, explaining these words of John the Baptist: "No one receives his testimony" (John 3: 32), he says: "No one who is prepared for the wrath of the Lord is judged with the devil ... Read more