Nestorius, The Bazaar of Heracleides (1925) pp. 96-130. Book 1. Part 3.
WICKEDLY thou hast separated off a party and there was not any one to contend / against me; on my account thou hast obtained by [thine] authority the documents from a number of bishops, every one [of whom] was as one dumb and deaf. Thou hast assembled a company of monks and of those who are named bishops for the chastisement and disturbance of the church, and there is none of the chiefs who has hindered [it] that it might be prevented. An assembly such as this which was sent came and appeared as a guard against me in the Imperial Palace. Thou hast all the support of the Empire, whereas I [have] only the name of the Emperor, not [indeed] to overpower [you] nor to guard [me] nor for my own help, but rather as if to [ensure] my obedience. Because indeed I made not use of the support of the church nor of the support of the chief men nor of the support of the Empire, I am come to this extremity. But I, who had the chief men and the Emperor and the episcopate of Constantinople, I, who had been long-suffering unto heretics, was harassed by thee so as to be driven out; and thou wast bishop of Alexandria and thou didst get hold of the church of Constantinople----a thing which the bishop of no other city whatsoever would have suffered, though one wished to judge him in judgement and not with violence. But I have endured all things while making use of persuasion and not of violence / to persuade the ignorant; and I looked for helpers, not for those who contend in fight and cannot be persuaded.
You have further with you against me a contentious woman, a princess, a young maiden, a virgin,1 who fought against me |97 because I was not willing to be persuaded by her demand that I should compare a woman corrupted of men to the bride of Christ. This I have done because I had pity on her soul and that I might not be the chief celebrant of the sacrifice among those whom she had unrighteously chosen. Of her I have spoken only to mention [her], for she was my friend;2 and therefore I keep silence about 3 and hide everything else about her own little self, seeing that [she was but] a young maiden; and for that reason she fought against me. And here she has prevailed over my might but not before the tribunal of Christ where all [will be] laid bare and revealed before the eyes of him in whose presence our judgement and theirs will come in the days that have been appointed by him. But I return again to that point to ... .4 I shall meet Apollinarius and his dogma. What he holds thou knowest not. However to those who know not I say: Him 5 he confesses consubstantial with the Father and thereby he obtains the impression that he agrees with the Divine Scriptures. It is not possible to see his [views] exactly. In that, in fact, the Son is consubstantial with God the Father, he disputes / against the Anomoeans and is ignorant that he initiates a dispute against the orthodox on [the point] that he is not consubstantial. But he distorts it, [as may be seen] from this, since he says that there is a union of the nature of God the Word and of the flesh, as he has learned from the Arians, he agrees with that which the Arians say, that the Son is not like the Father in nature, in that he confesses that he suffered the sufferings of the body by natural sensibility; for the same could not be by nature impassible and passible, even though he were to unite a soul without intelligence to the body, for he is united to the nature in the body as well as in the soul and he suffers in very |98 nature his own natural sufferings of the nature. Although they speak of mixture and change and composition and the completion of the nature, in every case they bring it to this very thing: for he who suffers in the natural union is not the same in ousia as he who accepts not sufferings; but, in consequence of the natural union, he also falls under sufferings, for he is the nature in which he has become through natural union. But he disputes against Paul 6 and Photinus, in that he is the Word in nature and in hypostasis and is eternal; but he erred in referring the things of the body to God the Word by a natural union. For in that he disputed against the Anomoeans, [saying] that the Son is consubstantial with God the Father, and against Photinus and Paul,6 / [saying] that he is by nature and hypostasis homoousian with the Father, unwittingly he was accounted as [one of] the orthodox; nevertheless by not having applied that which was befitting but, like an enemy, having brought to naught even that which was well said, he pulled down that which he was supposed to be building upon the faith.
And further he disputes on these two points with those who confess rightly, as though he was in charge of the company of the orthodox, and he exerted himself to bring his error into the church, and he has introduced controversy. Now this question came not about in the East and had long since vanished from the church which I found in Constantinople; and it began not in my days either in Constantinople or in the East, for I had not yet been born when the question arose concerning these things and was settled; and again the inquiry received not [its origin] in Constantinople from my words but in the time of my predecessors. Why then dost thou calumniate me, saying 'He has posed this inquiry', and call me an inventor of novelties and a cause of disturbance and war, me who have posed absolutely no such inquiry but, to be sure, found it in Antioch? And there I taught and spoke concerning these things and no man blamed me, / and I supposed that this dogma had long been repudiated.7 But |99 in Constantinople, when I found that men were inquiring and in need of being taught, I yielded to their persuasion as the truth required. For factions of the people who were questioning this came together to the bishop's palace, having need of a solution of their question and of arriving at unanimity. Those on the one hand who called the blessed Mary the mother of God they called Manichaeans, but those who named the blessed Mary the mother of a man Photinians . . . .8 But when they were questioned by me, the former denied not the humanity nor the latter the divinity, but they confessed them both alike, while they were distinct only in name: they of the party of Apollinarius accepted 'Mother of God' and they of the party of Photinus 'Mother of man'. But after I knew that they disputed not in the spirit of heretics, I said that neither the latter nor the former were heretics, [the former] because they knew not Apollinarius and his dogma, while similarly the latter [knew] the dogma neither of Photinus nor of Paul.9 And I brought them back from this inquiry and from this dispute, saying that: 'If indistinguishably and without extrusion or denial of the divinity and of the humanity we accept what is said by them, / we sin not; but if not, let us make use of that which is very plainly [affirmed], that is, of the Word of the Gospel: Christ was born and the Book of the generation of Jesus Christ. And by things such as these we confess that Christ is God and man, for of them 10 was born in flesh Christ, who is God above all. 'When you call her the Mother of Christ, [Christ] by union and inseparate, you speak of the one and of the other in the sonship. But make use of that against which there is no accusation in the Gospel and settle this dispute among you, making use of a word which is useful toward agreement.' When they heard these things, they said: 'Before God has our inquiry been solved.' And many praised and gave glory and went away from me and remained in agreement until |100 they fell into the snare of those who were seeking for the episcopate.
Now the clergy of Alexandria, who were in favour of his 11 deeds, persuaded them [of Constantinople] as persons deceived that they should not accept the word 'Mother of Christ', and they were stirring up and making trouble and going around in every place and making use of everything as a help therein; for his clergy were sending word unto him, so that he also became their helper in / everything, because long since he had been wounded by me; and he was in need of an excuse, because he had not been helped with what are called 'benevolences ': and he was frightened of me because I had not helped his clergy. For report went out concerning me and grew strong, that I was neglecting----which I was not----him who was being injured. If the report is true or if it is false is clear unto God. It stirred up, however, the accusers of this man 1 and made them take heart to utter against him before the Emperor charges that should and that should not be said, uttering [them] and asking for me to be judge. But because they were sent unto me and I had no cause to decline, I sent for his clergy, demanding to be informed what the matter was. But they grew angry, saying: 'Thou admittest every accusation against the patriarch and punishest not forthwith without examination the accusers as calumniators. Knowest thou also surely all these things, that it is easy for them in this way to accuse . . . .12 of Alexandria; not without constraint have we taken away from thee such authority, for it would be nothing else than an incitement to bitterness in accusation, so long as it were advantageous unto thee to keep him as thy good [and] loving friend and not to have him as thine / enemy, [even] him who is renowned for greatness and who is among the great.' Then I said unto them: 'I have not any need of affection which would make me guilty of injustice, but [only] of that which works the things of God without acceptance of persons.' This I said, and they said unto me: |101 'We will make this known then unto the patriarch'; and since then he has been mine enemy without reconciliation and has been ready for anything. And first he brought about a cause of enmity that he might renounce me as an enemy and, according to his custom, make use of fraud against his accusers and draw a veil over the accusations against him; and thus he, who had preferred a request that the judgement should be entrusted to others, did this. And you have learnt from this that the things which I have said unto you are true and not trifles. What he sent to his clergy who were meddling in my affairs in Constantinople is clear unto all men.
The letter of Cyril to his clergy in Constantinople.13
I have received and read the copy of the request which has been sent by you, as one which ought to be given to the Emperor and which you did not want to forward / without my consent. But since there are therein many accusations against one who is there, if he is a brother and if it is right that we ought to call him such, forward it not at the present time, lest he rise up against you and state before the Emperor my accusation [of him] as an heretic.14 But otherwise at the same time as you renounce his judgement, you shall state also the nature of his enmity, and, if they are utterly roused up [to proceed] to judgement, you shall forward it to other chief men.
Nestorius. On account of these things this man became my enemy. But hear thou also the rest of the letter that you may see that he was acting not for God nor for the fear of God nor for the faith, but on the contrary, although he knew the faith, he passed over it because of his enmity |102 toward me; and he disturbed and troubled everything in order that . . . .15 these things of his might vanish and be dispersed.
The rest of the letter of Cyril.16
Read then the copy, and its return......17 use; and if you see that he continues to wrong us, truly stirring up every kind [of trouble] against us, zealously inform us, that I may choose some pious bishops / and monks and send them in good time. For I shall not give sleep unto mine eyes, as it is written, nor slumber unto mine eyelids nor rest unto my temples so long as I strive in the contest which is for the salvation of all.
Nestorius. You have heard clearly how he has confessed, even without any schema; he supposes it in fact a wrong that there is any investigation against him; if I stir not up trouble against him to do him wrong, he also will not stir up trouble against me and he is striving in a contest for the salvation of all. But I am friendly and pious and blameless towards him in everything; but if for the sake of a just judgement I disregard thy 18 blaming thou then becomest embittered and callest me impious and an heretic. And thou callest up bands of monks and bishops and sendest [them] against me to the Emperor, and they accuse me, while thou art striving for thine own salvation and not for the contest of all, but rather in a contest against the salvation of all. And thou hast troubled and confounded and deceived all; and thus hast thou persuaded them to become thine instrument[s] of wrong, in |103 order that they may neither see nor hear nor be convinced, although one should tell them myriads of times that thou busiest thyself to do these things not for the salvation of all but that thou mayest escape from thine accusers. For what enmity have I with thee, that thou dost suppose / that I do these things to wrong thee? For I have had no word with thee concerning anything, neither concerning things nor concerning possessions nor concerning judgement nor concerning [any] comparison nor about any other cause, neither before I became nor after I became bishop of Constantinople; but in all things were we distinct from one another, as Alexandria is distant from Constantinople, and the interests of the latter are distinct from those of the former. But there was one cause, which even he himself has clearly proclaimed: that I have not helped thee to rise up against thine accusers, whether they be truthful or not. Seeing then that thou art thus perplexed and hast thus made thyself ready, it is known that they are right. For thereby alone is this to be known, [and so] thou 19 mayest know that the enmity is his who is prepared for all these things; but also [thou mayest know it] from his letter unto me.
The letter of Cyril unto Nestorius.20
Our colleague, Nestorius, the reverend and godly, Cyril greets in our Lord. Some men, beloved and worthy of belief, have come unto Alexandria and have made known that your Holiness has been much angered against us and has stirred up all that was fair 21 in order to afflict us. / When I wished to learn the affliction of your Piety, they said |104 that a letter had come to some holy monks, and men from Alexandria were carrying it around, and that it was the cause of this hatred and affliction. I then was astonished that your Piety had not considered further; for no letter had formerly been written by us before the disturbance which took place concerning the faith. But whether things were said or were not said by your Piety we are not persuaded. There are in any case pamphlets on doctrine which certain men carry round, and we are wearied with making inquiry with a view to setting right those things which are distorted.
Nestorius. This is the first letter of friendship which was written to me; and learn therefrom whatsoever had been previously deposed against me. Tell the cause for which thou hast spoken: 'this disturbance arose concerning my teaching, so that our works when read stirred up all Alexandria as well as all the monks of Egypt.' But I leave out both Rome and the cities which are under her; 'and I stirred up all the rest of the East,' so that thou wast constrained to compose the letter to the monks so that from there thy letter was dispatched also unto me in order that I might be afflicted thereby; thou knewest indeed that I was afflicted. Wherefore didst thou not write first unto me a letter of friendship, / which would have instructed me concerning the disturbance and concerning the cause of the disturbance and concerning its cessation, as a friend unto a friend, or as unto a bishop or as unto a brother, or as on account of a stumbling-block in the church, or as though thou wert convinced that the teachings were mine own, or as though thou hadst not known and hadst required to be instructed and wouldest have parted company with blasphemy and impiety or wouldest have counselled me what ought to be done? But thy letters against us [were conveyed] to Alexandria and disturbed the monks, and they reached also Constantinople, and thou hast filled all the churches and all the monasteries with disturbance against me, so that even the unfeeling have been roused to feeling; but wouldest thou have wished that I should not be stirred? For what reason were these things, unless thou wert working and |105 making ready with all zeal to bring about enmity? For thou wrotest unto me a hostile letter which testified unto me that thou wast mine enemy, and not mine alone, since also thou hast divided and removed far from me whosoever rejoiced in disturbance; and others also there are whom thou hast withdrawn from me, either because of their lack of feeling or because of their ignorance or because of their simplicity without discernment; thou hast stirred them up / in order that under pretext of their souls thou mightest show thyself zealous to set them aright, because thou hadst pleasure in them, or that either I might desist from listening to thine accusers and those who were ready to accuse thee, who were already armed against thee, since, if that were to come about, it would then be easy for thee to do whatsoever thou wouldest in regard to the possessions, or otherwise in oppressing me thou wouldest make believe that for the sake of the fear of1 God I was thine enemy and that for this cause I had declined mine office as judge. And this is not hidden but is evident unto all men and is spread abroad unto every place in consequence of that enmity which thou hast brought about, because thou didst want all men as witnesses; though indeed I say not anything nor blame any of the things that thou hast prepared. Every man is entitled to receive instruction. For also thou art risen against me as against an impious man and thou art bringing about every disturbance and every stumbling-block; yet thou dost consider all this as nothing and makest ready easy solutions, saying 'let us show kindliness and say this word whereat the Church has stumbled, that is, call the blessed Mary the mother of God'. For he says not 'thou art obliged' but 'thou wilt show kindliness': not on account of that very thing but on account of those who because of their weakness were not able to examine those things which were said by thee and who stumbled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . / . . . . . . . . . . . saying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 |106
Sophronius. But we became worn out with waiting, since many were dead or sick and in want of many things, and thus we were constrained to assemble together and to lay down conclusions.
Nestorius. How long? say I. Until you had done those things wherewith you were engaged and labouring and [concerning which] you were afraid lest all the Council should be [assembled] and your judgement should be seen? Until then you were sick and dying and you were unable to take nourishment; but afterwards how remained you a long while without enduring any of these things, unless because you were free from the care of these things? For this reason you have disregarded and disdained Candidianus who would have hindered an incomplete Council from being [held]. For you had the strength to do these things, without having convinced by those means whereby you might have succeeded in convincing those who are not believers; and you have accounted as nothing the testimony and the oaths before God and before the Emperor whereby you have sworn to do nothing but to wait for the Eastern Council / which was nigh at hand. For there were some who were persuading the Emperor, and you did not keep the word of God. And then before the command of Candidianus you heard the testimony which the bishops who were not assembled in your incomplete Council addressed to you; they were sixty-eight in number, nor were any of them contemptible nor unknown,23 but [they were] metropolitans; and Candidianus also came with them and had testified beforehand unto them concerning the things which had lately been done.
Testimony of the bishops who did not associate themselves with Cyril.24
The faith indeed of the true religion is known first from the preaching of many holy books and [then] by the |107 assembly at Nicaea of the holy fathers, on whose limbs were the scars of sufferings according to their number. But by reason of diverse inquiries and disputes the faithful and very Christian 25 Emperor has summoned by his letters the priesthood of the orthodox from every place unto Ephesus, being zealous in this also, according to his custom, out of enthusiasm for the truth's sake, and we are all assembled by the grace of God, except that there is lacking unto our assembly the holy and godly John, bishop of Antioch, / whose coming also is close at hand, as his letters, which have just been written unto us, and the governor [and] the prefects, who have been sent by us unto him, have made known unto us, and other godly bishops from the West. But your Reverence has made known unto us that it is burdensome unto you to attend here and that you are anxious to hold any examination which the Emperor wills even before the coming of the godly bishops whom we have mentioned. For this reason we have sent this letter unto your Reverence that you |108 should await the coming of the excellent bishops our colleagues and that you should not receive at haphazard any whose deposition has been enacted nor those who have been or are coming under sentence of suspension from their bishoprics. For it is known what the holy canons ordain on this account, and those who transgress them are condemned to no slight punishment, which cannot by any means be transgressed by the Holy Council. May your Reverence then know also this, that everything which is done in boldness by bold men will be found to recoil on your boldness through Christ the Lord of all and through the holy canons. / Signature of the bishops.
Nestorius. But read also the admonition which was given by the illustrious Candidianus, Count of the Household, that you may learn also from this the violence which they wrought irreverently and shamelessly and that he 26 may no longer deceive [you]. But after the testimony of the bishops who took as their plea the [fact that] they to be sure were in difficulties in that the bishop of Antioch together with the Eastern bishops was close upon coming at the gate as the governors who were sent to their provinces who reported these things learned from the letters of John----when they heard [the testimony] they made disturbance as with one accord, crying out and shouting and hurling insults, in order to bring forth the bishops who had been sent unto them and to cast them out, so that even the blows with which they attacked them were heard by Count Candidianus. But after they had so reverently driven them out, they returned against him that they might capture him, laying hands upon those who in consequence of hunger and sickness were not able to stand up, and they heard not the things which he spake unto them nor even the letters of the Emperor which were |109 sent unto them all! / And he commanded them that the Council should not be [held] incomplete, but [that] the things which were [done] by the Council should be settled in common by vote. But, like a wise man in the midst of fools, he seemed surely to have become a fool in saying that, for they were not willing to hear. He commanded them to read this imperial command before them, which ought not to have been read before all the bishops had been assembled. When he had done this, account was kept of nothing.27
Of the contents of the letter, which were as follows:
We have commanded Candidianus, the illustrious Count, to come unto your holy Council, without participating at all in those things concerning which inquiry takes place among you, since we have thought that he who is not accounted of the assembly of the bishops ought not to interfere in an inquiry touching ecclesiastical regulations and in an inquisition concerning the faith.
He said not, in fact, that he should not participate in the assembly but in an inquisition touching the faith, being ordered not to allow the Council to be [held] incomplete before the assembly of all the bishops took place. Because then he was constrained to read this----it ought not to have been read before the coming of all the bishops----they drove out him who came from / this side with much outcry and hisses and threats that he should be delivered unto death if he participated in the common inquisition of the Council. And they then named themselves authoritatively a general Council, for that those who were present were to be sure so many; and those who had not participated with them in the inquisition testified unto them, saying unto them: 'we ought to wait for those whose coming is close at hand'----that is, for the chief of the Council. And that the Count who had been charged with the maintenance of order among them might not participate with them, they said that he |110 should not be present at the inquiry touching the faith nor at the inquisition touching ecclesiastical things. But in everything they were acting by their own authority and were not obeying the imperial command which made known clearly unto them that he had been sent for this reason, that he might check the disturbances and the dissensions which were taking place. But hear also the letters of the Emperor which were sent by the hand of Candidianus.
From the writ 28 of the Emperor.29
Previously indeed we have written what was right, that your Piety should be assembled in the city of the Ephesians; but since it is right to provide also for the maintenance of order in the deliberation which will take place in your assembly concerning the inquiry for which you are assembled, / this also we have not overlooked but have admonished you to be in all things untroubled; and we are persuaded that your Piety is not in need of external assistance that you may be zealous for peace; but this has been our [duty], not to be neglectful in solicitude for an inquiry touching |111 the truth, that is to send Count Candidianus to your Council, without participating at all in those things concerning which inquiry takes place among you; since we have thought that he who is not accounted of the assembly of the bishops ought not to interfere in an inquiry touching ecclesiastical ordinances and in an inquisition concerning the faith; but he will expel from the city those seculars and monks who are there assembled for this purpose and are with you, because such men ought not to be found in your assembly, lest they excite disturbance and thereby make void whatsoever you duly examine and rightly do. He will be careful too that no one shall introduce division so as to cause dispute, lest from this cause your inquiry and the sincerity of true deliberation among you be delayed. But with patience each shall hear whatsoever is said and each shall be ready to reply or for reply to be made to him and thus by questions and by replies and by solution the inquiry touching the true faith shall be judged without any dispute and by the common examination of your Saintliness it will reach a happy agreement without dispute.
/ Nestorius. They did not press for this to be read nor yet were they willing to hear him who was telling them that 'they should be careful that no one should introduce division so as to cause dispute, lest from that cause the inquiry concerning the true faith and the true deliberation among you should be delayed, but that with patience each should hear whatsoever was said and that each should be ready to reply or for reply to be made unto him, and thus by questions and by replies and by solution the inquiry touching the true faith should be 'judged without any dispute, and the common scrutiny of your Saintliness should attain a happy agreement without any dispute'. Because they knew these things, they allowed them not to be read, for they hid this word, which, as a divine prophecy, showed clearly the things which were being done by them. Or was it that the Emperor, owing to a sign of the things which had been done by him, divined what he 30 was ready to do and set it down beforehand in his letters? For even slight symptoms suffice to give a small indication of the habits of the soul, although things like these have not yet already been [done] |112 by him, while those from which it could have been known have not yet already been brought to light. God however has brought to light all that concerns him for that to become the judge of them for the things which / were about to take place, that they might not suppose that because they had done this in ignorance and were ignorant of the manner of the inquiry and of the inquisition, [therefore] they said incidentally the things which were [proved] false by what had been said. Will then a sincere inquiry be settled [even] by sincere inquirers through division and through that which causes dispute, or through impartiality and patience on the part of the hearers towards what is said? And [will a sincere inquiry be settled] by merely laying down the subject of inquiry, or by the giving and receiving of replies on either side, and their being examined by questioning and unravelling, until the inquiry which is being examined is [settled] without dispute? Shall we with haste or without haste find a solution and an answer in harmony therewith when we are asked a question? Which of these things has been said untruly? But this command was not pleasing unto thee 31 because thou didst wish to conquer and not to discover the truth.
But what shall I do now? Shall I accuse Candidianus of not having observed the imperial letters and of having caused such a disturbance of bishops against bishops their colleagues as well as against him who was charged with keeping watch over them and with the maintenance of order? But he strained himself to persuade with words those who were not inclined to hearken unto words, who were in need of some one who would control them against their will according to the imperial command, which was acknowledged by all men to be just; and otherwise it was not seemly more should be [done] than that he should / carry out his message, speaking and having answer made to him by question and answer. However that which was done with intent to deceive was considered by them as a sport. I have not anything more to say; for he called them to witness by his commands that they should do nothing before they were all assembled together according to the |113 imperial command, but they were not willing to hearken even unto the command of the Emperor. Hear then also his own admonition.
The admonition which was uttered by the illustrious Count Candidianus that they should not assemble before all the bishops were assembled.32
To the holy Cyril, bishop of Alexandria and Metropolitan, and to the bishops who have assembled together with him, |114 Flavius Candidianus, the great and illustrious Count of the most religious Household. Since I reached the city of Ephesus, nothing else have I demanded of the congregation of the holy Council except that the [questions] of the orthodox faith should be settled in peace and unity as the faithful, the victorious [Emperor] also has commanded: of this your Piety is aware. And it suffices me to bear witness to the truth that I am not more desirous of anything else than of this. But when I learned that you were ready to assemble together in the holy church without the will of the other bishops, when John, bishop of Antioch, had not yet come nor / the bishops who were with him, since one day before that whereon you were prepared to do this, I rested not from persuading and invoking each one of you not to think of holding a Council incomplete; and again on the next day, after you had assembled together in the holy church, I hesitated not in [my] desire to come unto you and I testified unto you what the faithful Emperor willed, although that was superfluous since you were already acquainted therewith from the letters which had been written unto you by his Highness. But although it was indeed so, I instructed you in our pious Emperor's own will, saying his will was this, that your faith should be defined without delay and confusion by all and in unity, and that he willed not that the Council should be held incomplete, because our orthodox |115 faith would be turned thereby to discord and dissension. And further, when your Reverence demanded that the faithful and godly Emperor's own writ, which had been sent unto the holy Council, should be read, at first I was opposed to doing so----and I decline not to say [so]----because those who had been commanded to be at the holy Council had not yet come and [were not yet] assembled. But when your Piety said that you were not persuaded of any of the things which the Emperor willed and had commanded to take place, it seemed / unto me that it was needful, although the presence of all the bishops was not [complete], to present unto you the august and illustrious letter. And further indeed, after the will of his Lordship was made known to you, I neglected not to exercise the same persuasion with you demanding of your excellency and testifying unto you that you should introduce no innovations before all the holy bishops were gathered together unto the Council, but that you should wait four days only for the holy John, bishop of Antioch, Metropolitan, and those who were with him, and those again who were with the holy and pious Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, in order that, when you were together and all the holy Council was assembled together, if there were anything of which there was inquiry or anything else of which there was dispute, for which we were superfluous, you, when assembled, together might investigate it. And then, by the consent of you all, it would be known who was found to believe improperly and outside the canons, [and] if you all rightly confessed and if you revered the faith of the holy fathers. Not only then have I surely counselled [you] but I have also persuaded [you] concerning these things. But because you have not accepted aught of what has been said, while I also have surely been driven out by you, / I have considered it needful by means of this testimony to make known unto you and by this charge to testify unto you that you should make no innovations, but that you should wait for the coming of all the holy fathers, the bishops, and that, when you were of the same opinion, that which concerned the holy Catholic Church should be judged. If any one, by the impulse of his own authority, should will to change anything of that which had seemed [good] to the pure and imperishable Principate, let him know that it is in his own self that he will be blamed and that he will prove no one guilty in aught. But I shrink not from saying these same things: that your Holiness is persuaded of and knows |116 whatsoever the pious Emperor wills: that in the presence of all the holy bishops who have been summoned by his authority everything whereof there has been controversy should be settled and the true faith revealed. But for this reason I have set at the head of this protest both the writ which has been sent to your holy Council and the letters which have been written to me by his Lordship in order that by means of all this, when you have learned his will, you may desist from those things which you have been zealous to do. / And know also that a copy of this letter has been sent unto our pious lord the Emperor.
Nestorius. When these things were set forth and read before them, did not their fury wherewith they were maddened deprive [every] man of his reason? Or had they reverence for anything? Or feared they the blame and the testimony? Or respected they their chiefs who were over them and the Emperor himself and those who were ready to judge them by the divine laws and by the definitions of the fathers? Nay, they disdained them all; for they had the things which had been made known unto them by [his] Majesty and all those things which [they were doing] against me were regarded by them as a sport. And, as I suppose, Candidianus knew them and was frightened by them; and by words alone would he have hindered them, but he dared not proceed to deeds and to afflict those who did such things. Whereon hast thou 33 trusted to do what even the barbarians dared not do of old? For suppose that it was [the case] that thou wast not my enemy nor my accuser; thou wast at any rate my judge, as thou hast made thyself with the rest of the others; I say that thou wast even more. And the time of judgement also drew nigh, wherein it was right that we should be judged; but those who were judges with thee came not, and you / were constrained to summon them. Thou wast willing to bring over to thine opinion all who were present; but I, who was demanding that the judgement should take place, I was testifying unto them all that they ought not to judge me before those who were summoned to the judgement had been gathered together. |117 There would have been every ground even for thy judgement if thou hadst not judged on the ground that thou wast summoned [as a party to the case]; 34 but, [thou wilt say], it would have been difficult for thee.----Thou hadst authority to go away and to do this, on the ground that thou wert not able to judge in thine own cause.----And '[it was] not that I came not' [you will say], 'but I was not able to go away'.----Thou oughtest to have instructed in this him who had the authority, and the office of judge would have been conferred by him; for no one believed that thou wouldst have conferred the office of judge on thyself. And so these things were done. Has not God constrained you to write those things when you excused yourself and accused Candidianus himself and John and Irenaeus,35 a man who lived in God and served him with his possessions and with his soul and with his body. And because the things that he did were not pleasing, they set themselves to accuse him----that you might learn from them their barbarous and savage and unrighteous boldness. When indeed those who had acted boldly against the law which Candidianus set forth unto them and the things which they had done against them had been referred to the Emperor, he made answer openly unto them all. It is / fair that you should hear it, in order that you all may learn therefrom at the same time how God has condemned them all for me out of their [own] mouth in the place of judgement.
Of the imperial letters which were sent by the hand of the governor Palladius.36
Our Majesty has learned from what the illustrious Count |118 of the most religious Household, Candidianus, has written unto us what has taken place in the midst of disturbance and improperly in the metropolis of Ephesus. when all the pious bishops unto whom I had sent [word] to assemble together had not yet assembled and the coming of the holy John, bishop of Antioch, with other metropolitans was very near; and,' further, when even those who were present had not deliberated with them nor come to agreement with one another; and, further, when there had not even been inquiry concerning the faith as there ought to have been or according to the letters which have always been sent by us. But the enmity of certain persons for certain others is well known, and for this reason they were zealous to act according to their opinions, without being able even to make use of a veil, or that they might be thought by people to have done what they did after reflection. Consequently it has seemed [good] / unto our Majesty that there should be no place for boldness and that whatsoever has been [done] by them improperly should be void. And first let the words touching the faith be examined that they may henceforth prevail, as it has seemed [good] unto us and as it has been decided and has been pleasing unto the congregation of the Council, since our Majesty accepts not those things which have been cunningly brought about by a preliminary finding. These [are the words] of the Emperor.
But hear also the report which they sent unto the Emperor, wherein they accused Candidianus of having misinformed them out of friendship for me and of not having made the truth known unto the Emperor and maintained that which they have done against me. For thereby you will know full well their audacity at the same time as their puerility; they played as with a child and disdained to excuse themselves before him. For they were rebuked [and asked]: 'for what |119 reason have you held a. Council incomplete before all the Council was assembled, inasmuch as you have shown thereby that not out of the fear of God but out of human enmity you did all this and you were not observant with a pure conscience that all the Council should be assembled.' And they made no answer whatsoever to these things, but the accusation stands as it was.
/ Of the report of Cyril which was sent unto the Emperor against the report which Candidianus sent.37
Hereby it is proved of us that no enmity whatsoever has stirred us up against Nestorius; but we have laid down the doctrine of the fear of God. After we have compared it with that of Nestorius, the latter seems to have met with refutation. And after the letters which have been written by Nestorius and after the interpretations which have been put forward by him, we have openly published the decision of the judgement, the holy Gospel having been placed in the midst, and we declare that Christ Himself, the Lord of all, was present.
Nestorius. [This is] like those who, being rebuked for the violation of oaths, would convince by oaths that they have not violated oaths and make no convincing reply concerning their acts. For they were rebuked [and asked]: 'For what reason have you transgressed the general rule and not waited for all the Council, as also you were summoned all together?' And they returned not any answer to this; and: 'for what reason, in addition thereto, have not the bishops who were present taken counsel in common with their colleagues / who were with them as to whether you ought all to have waited?' To this also they answered nothing. 'For what reason have you not done this by common agreement, but |120 have divided and separated in one Council of bishops those who were present from those who were about to come, so that through examination with them 38 the judgement touching the faith might be defined?' Nor to this returned they answer, but by anticipation without discretion and by agreeing to that which was pleasing unto them, being unwilling that they 39 should be judges with them, they made them for themselves adversaries of the faith. For thou hast not refrained from thy boldness wherewith thou hast been occupied from the beginning and on account of which thou hast drawn also the bishop of Rome into the rebellion and hast made void the oecumenical Council. In the face of all these things they were deaf and speechless. For what reason heard you not this; that 'you shall not hold a Council incomplete before all the bishops are assembled '? For what reason did you not wait for them, [when] the Count who was sent was restraining you and persuading you to wait for the bishops who were near and not far off? And you made no answer unto any one of these things. If Christ had been sitting [there] and if you had been persuaded that he was sitting with you, would you have done these things, and would you have made a participation in your impiety----Christ on whom you thus / trample, as if he, who would have exposed you so openly, could not confute you? For how [in that case] would you have supposed that your unrighteous and hidden purpose would be surely revealed, you who were the first to testify unto the bishops of your impiety and also unto the Count who had charge over you of the things which he has in truth forwarded in the report for the instruction of the Emperor?
But for all those who want to learn your reputation through the letters of [his] Majesty or through your own reports, all these things will confirm them as being without doubt true: that you participated not in the opinion of those who were present and that you detached yourselves from the bishops |121 who were absent and from those who were present, in that you were not willing to wait fourteen days more. And I sat neither saying nor doing aught, and 'in your midst sat Christ', who compelled you all so to speak and to act in my presence. 'No enmity at all against Nestorius has stirred us up.' When I was not present, my own enemy judged my words and compared them with those that he wanted and as he wanted, and I should have accepted from them that they preserved no enmity at all against me! Who will dare to say / this when he sees all the impious and bold acts wherewith I have been oppressed by them? And will it not rather seem a sport? For do you say these things to him who would have convicted you for them and for having acted in enmity toward me? Nay, [you speak] after the likeness of those who smite a man and strip him and say unto him who would rebuke them to be sure for their sport: 'Surely we were making sport, and did this not in enmity but in friendship'; but they cast him out wounded and naked. Thus also have they done unto me, being reproached and reproaching; but the judge of all will not so make sport. For although in all this I have no human tribunal, I have that of Christ.
But we demand of your Highness that none of those who value the love of man above the fear of God should be accounted worthy to be received. For we have perceived that the reverend John, bishop of Antioch, has some such a wish as this, seeking rather to gratify friendship than to consider aught that is advantageous unto the faith; and that, in addition to this, not fearing the threat of your Highness and not being stirred by enthusiasm for the faith which has been delivered unto us from above, he has delayed the holy Council twenty-one days / beyond the appointed time which has been granted to us by your Highness, and we have been constrained, we of the orthodox party of the holy Council, who love only the faith, to inquire into those things which appertain unto the fear of God.40 |122
Nestorius. Have they not openly made known their will without keeping [it] dark, [showing] that not because they were wearied and worn with sickness and with death and with the poverty of their lives did they not come for the judgement, but, because they feared judgement by all men and before all men, they made a judgement, before the bishop of Antioch came? For what advantage unto me was a delay of twenty days or what gain would it have brought unto you? For that which would have been done after twenty days could also have been done as well before as after them all. All the more, in fact, if he had entertained friendship toward me, he ought surely to have been the first to rejoin me, and he would have persuaded many of those who were turned away from me and he would not have let you do that which you have done, because you would have been restrained by him. But, in order that there might not be an examination, thou hast made use of all means that judgement might be corrupted. So let it be. You ought then rather to have waited for it, so that there might be an examination and that you might not give me a cause of escape; but not one whit of this is true. Suppose then that I concede / unto you that you waited for the judgement to take place, for what reason did you not act according to the command of the Emperor? For you would have shown that you did not wait for this reason;41 but you waited not. Therefore your anxiety from the beginning is evident from all these things; since he acted so because he feared to come to examination and to judgement, and, because he was grieved thereat, he was devising means to arrange all these things. If then thou hadst been confident in what thou wrotest, and if those who would have testified for thee had been on thy side, that is, the Father and the Divine Scriptures, thou wouldest have rebuked me for having done |123 that which I have done in enmity and not in truth, and thou wouldest have blamed me for having disturbed the world for nothing, when I raised the inquiry of the heretics and of the orthodox. Thou oughtest to have written these things unto the Emperor and all the other things, if it is on account of this that thou dost suppose that the things which thou hast done have taken place, as well as that I fled from judgement because I was not confident in what I had written. But they have done this as things done in enmity and not in truth; they have fled from judgement, and fabricated a story, that 42 judgement and examination took place, when none of these things occurred. Let him come; let him be judged; let him make answer to the things wherewith he is rebuked and let him hear the answer to the things wherewith he rebukes, and let the judgement of both of them take place without hindrance. / Yea, before the Trinity, on whose behalf I have shown all zeal, for what reason indeed do others stumble at the things wherein I am confident? These things brought low thy might, for thou knewest that they were true and convincing; but thou spakest not and thou hadst not confidence nor didst thou feign to quote the fearful and terrible saying that 'there will be a judgement and account will be given and answer will be made by question and answer', for thy voice was enslaved to thy conscience. But what then?
We entreat and we beg of your Highness, in order that the weight of the burden of the Council, which is [filled] with enthusiasm for God, may be known, to send for the most noble Candidianus and five of the holy Council, that they may vouch for what has been done before your Piety. For those who imagine other things apart from the correct faith are clever at veiling the planning of their deception, so that certain even of the holy bishops, in that Nestorius has dissembled his deception, have been cajoled and made participators with him and have given their signature. But when they had asked exactly and had found that his blasphemy was evident, they withdrew from him and were present at the holy Council.43 |124
Nestorius. Because he 44 fled from the Council, lo! were you not evidently in need that the Emperor should send for five of / the bishops to expound that which was done? But you said 'with Candidianus' and not 'with the bishops their colleagues' who would have rebuked you on equal terms; and [you demand] five against one, and that one a secular, in order that they may bring forth the holy Gospel and swear by it----they who are five and bishops----and that they may be accepted as truthful against one secular, for much has been made void by you in the examination of this problem. When, in fact, Candidianus has come, what more or less will he have to say than that to which you have previously testified and that which he has referred to the Emperor? Or what more have those five [to say] than that which you have written concerning him----that he entertained friendship toward him 45 and that for this reason he has referred false reports to you? But what need was there for you to swear to your opinion? Was it for this reason that you wrote concerning Candidianus and the five bishops and demanded that neither Nestorius nor Cyril should come? These were the very causes of the disturbance; and they ought to have answered one another, but thou wast not confident because there was no basis of truth in thy discourse. The fear of my words, in fact, was not due to anything else more than to the truth. Suppose indeed that Candidianus had come and had said that you waited not for all the Council, though you / knew that they were near, and that he had testified unto you beforehand and that he had read out before you the letters from the Emperor and that he had made a request of you but that you were not |125 persuaded: what else would he have said? Wherein then would you have refuted him? Would you have refuted him for this, that he spoke a falsehood concerning you that he might entertain friendship toward me? It was not so.46 You did not do so.1 But if you have done so, let them come and let judgement take place, although Candidianus would have lied. But in your own Records you have stated that the cause wherefore you waited not for all the Council to be assembled was that 'we were constrained',47 as if you were there alone; but in the report which you sent unto the Emperor you said that 'we have perceived that the reverend John, bishop of Antioch, has this wish, to seek to entertain closer friendship' and on this account you were constrained not to wait; so that, if you had known that he agreed with you, you would have waited for him, and there would have been no constraint [laid] upon you because of the place. And in your Records, which you drew up against me, you said that I stood by those very things which I had written and said from the beginning and had also written openly unto thee;48 but in that report which you wrote unto the Emperor, you wrote on the contrary that 'he is indeed surely hiding under a shadow the impiety that he has', 'for those who imagine other things apart from / the correct faith are clever at veiling their plans, so that certain even of the holy bishops, in that Nestorius has dissembled his deception, have been cajoled and made participators with him and have given their signatures to the things which have been done by him'. How then was that which concerns me to be veiled? |126 And again you have openly said 49 that 'Nestorius has disputed; when we found that he manifestly imagined otherwise [than in accordance with the correct faith], we deprived him. For also even in Ephesus the metropolis he has not dissembled his purpose, so that he has no need of other accusers, but daily 'he proclaimed, in preaching the doctrine before many, that which was alien to the faith. And every one of these things we have entered in the Records which have been drawn up in order, that they might be made known unto your Piety.'
Nestorius. In the same [place] they say the contrary. He then who received all these things, that is, the Emperor, knew that they had acted contrary to his command, while that also which they said against me was a foolish and base mockery, for they have not returned answer unto that wherewith he blamed them: 'For what reason have you dared to hold a Council incomplete, contrary to what you were commanded, before the bishops of the whole Council were gathered together?' They say / nothing else than that 'it was pleasing unto us', though they say it not openly because of the outcry [which would arise] against the word among those who chanced to hear of it. 'For what reason did you not wait for the coming of John, bishop of Antioch, when you knew that his advent was nigh?' They had nothing else to say than that 'we were unwilling to hold the examination with him'; but [it was] rather because they knew that he agreed not with them. But suppose that John ought to have been judged because he delayed and came not in time; he ought not to have been judged by thee but by the Emperor who had jurisdiction over him. And first the bishops from Rome ought to have been punished for not having come when they were summoned: how then dost thou adhere unto them? In the same way as thou hast treated the latter so also thou shouldest have treated John. But thou demandest of John that he should do possibilities and impossibilities, when there |127 was one cause for which he delayed which was accepted from him by all men, except by thee thyself, who art far from all affection for mankind and from all the sufferings of human nature. Thou blamest not thyself, not even when thou art rebuked by the Emperor, and dost thou feel no scruples that, when thou neededst to have waited four days at the most for them, in order that the Council might take place without dispute, thou didst not hear but didst rather choose of thyself to cause trouble? As the kind / of fishes which are called cuttlefish, which go from clear waters into troubled waters that they may not be caught, so hast thou also acted. [These methods] are laughable, when one gives any thought to them, and men are surely not deceived when they demand [satisfaction] from thee because of them, as when men, playing with little children who struggle with them, seem indeed to be surely struggling and yet let themselves be conquered by them. For these are not the words of one who excuses himself but rather of one who is surely playing; [yet] the Emperor is not one who would surely play with thee, and thou dost not persuade him who justly rebukes thee nor [reply] to the things wherefore he rebukes thee. His power is relaxed because there has been bribery.
But they say: 50 'We, who have assembled and have canonically issued in agreement a sentence of deposition against the heretic Nestorius, are more than two hundred bishops who have assembled from the whole world, the whole West being in agreement with us.' And what does that mean? You were, in fact, more than two hundred bishops who were in agreement with thee in all things whereof thou wast making inquiry; thou didst, in fact, demand of them by no means to tell the truth. For to the report of the bishops who are with me are affixed the signatures of bishops whose cities are known beyond doubt; how many of these / hast thou verified? For suppose that we were, as thou dost say, thirty bishops or, if thou wilt, ten or as many as thou dost wish; does the number establish the truth of the orthodox and a true Council, |128 or [ensure] its enacting and maintaining what is right? What then has the Emperor censured in thee and blamed in thee? 'We have assembled an oecumenical Council in order that generally and by general consent the inquiry concerning the faith may be confirmed before all men. And thou hast known our project and hast willed to divide the Council that there might not be a general examination, and that the faith might not be confirmed before all men clearly and accurately by the general consent of all men. But now all the pious bishops, to whom I have sent [word] to assemble, have not assembled, while the coming of John, bishop of the great city 'of Antioch, together with the other metropolitans, is very nigh. Further, even those who were present have not deliberated with them nor have agreed with one another; nor further has there been [held] the inquiry concerning the faith as it ought to have taken place or according to the letters which have been at all times sent by us.' 51
You have written unto him either as unto one who has surely erred or as those who play or as unto one who was playing with you, since in whatsoever you have said unto him you have said nothing else unto him / than whatsoever he said ot his own purpose: that you have done all things without waiting for those who were far off and without having deliberated with those who were present, but [that] you have separated yourselves from those who were with you, and by yourselves you have made examination. You have, indeed, separated yourselves from those who were ready to come for a general examination, and you have not examined the things which concerned the faith in the right manner, those things concerning which there was inquiry being brought forward by question and being solved; and so you would have exculpated yourselves in the eyes of all men. If then you had not done this, you would justly have made excuses in the report to the Emperor; but if you deny not the things which the Emperor has accused you of having unrighteously done, and if you put them in your defence, what else rather is to be conceived than |129 that which men think of an idle talker, or as if men told tales in play to their playmates and had the assurance to write them down? You call that an oecumenical Council which was separated from the bishops who were waiting until the whole Council should assemble, in defiance of him who has rebuked you because of it, and thou wouldest have persuaded them that all authority should be given unto those who by reason of their great numbers transgressed justice against those who observed / the [commands] of the Emperor and of the truth and of the whole Council, for no other reason than that owing to their great number they surpassed those who observed the commands. But you would not have dared to say this except to those who were your playmates for whatever reason it might be.
So I come to speak of the present. But perhaps some one will say: 'Busy not thyself much with that, but inform us how they deprived thee not justly, after what has been written by thee and by Cyril?' 'For if all those things which ought to be examined are examined, what art thou advantaged? For thou art rebuked even by these men, yea, even by all men. In this let us rather investigate above all what we ought properly to imagine, and let us not be turned aside from orthodoxy either by the premature decision of this man or by reason of thine own sufferings.' But I was not willing to recount and to tell my own concerns nor again to accuse others, and especially when the Council is named; but the faith also was corrupted and calumniated on account of mine own self in such wise that that of the heretics was confirmed by the judgement and examination of the Council.
Constraint therefore is upon us to prove how their assembly and their judgement were carried out, and to prove unto all men from those things which all men confess to have been written that there was neither judgement nor examination, that we may not / be bound as by the judgement of a Council. The things which God has not allowed to be hidden but has laid bare by their own hand, by those who have done and have written down the things which happened----these [are the |130 things] which we also are writing down and are explaining unto those who rise up and dispute with us whether these things are so; so that, if one lights upon the documents of the Council which have been drawn up by them, one learns that they are so and not otherwise, and one knows the calumny which was [uttered] by the Council against the orthodox and [the things] which were repudiated by those who were in truth orthodox as [were] those which were [directed] against Athanasius and Eustathius and ten thousand others. Let us see then in order how the Records have been drawn up by them against me.
[Selected footnotes]
1. 3 Viz. Pulcheria. Suidas, under Pulcheria, says ... This passage is discussed by Neander, Church History (Eng. Trans. 1855), vol. iv, p. 160. See too the references to Pulcheria in the Letter to Cosmos of Antioch, in Nau, Appendix I.
2. 1 Pulcheria was famous for her orthodoxy, and in particular for her anti-Nestorian zeal. Cp. Labbe (Mansi), vi. 590 d. Presumably Nestorius is here thinking of her later support of Flavian against Eutyches, for he claims Flavian as the exponent of his own views. Cp. pp. 342, 353-5, 362.
3. 2 Literally: 'I keep in silence'.
4. 3 There is a lacuna in the Syriac text.
7. 3 Apollinarianism had been condemned at the Council of Alexandria in 362.
8. 2 Bedjan here marks a lacuna in the text.
12. 2 There is here a lacuna in the Syriac text.
13. 1 Nestorius quotes only the end of the letter, which is given in full in Labbe (Mansi), vol. iv, col. 1003 sq. [Greek omitted from online text]
14. 2 V reads: 'my accusation [of them] as heretics'.
15. 1 A lacuna is here marked by Bedjan.
16. 2 Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1008 c, d: The last eight lines of the letter are not quoted.
17. 3 Two words are illegible in the Syriac text; V reads: and he advised the return [of the letter], which is clearly incorrect. See the Greek text above.
18. 5 This rapid change of person is common when Nestorius is referring to Cyril.
19. 1 Here clearly not Cyril but Nestorius' reader.
20. 2 Labbe (Mansi), iv. 884 b, c. Nestorius quotes the first quarter of the letter: This was sent in June 429.
22. 2 The Syriac scribe has here inserted a note: 'From here one page has been torn out from the original.' It is clear from what follows that the missing passage must have contained a summary account of the injustice done to Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus through Cyril's refusal to wait until the whole Council was assembled before proceeding. This grievance of Nestorius is treated in detail further on.
23. 3 Literally: 'from unknown [ones]'.
24. 4 Latin version in Labbe (Mansi), v. 765: Dominis nostris fratribus & comministratoribus Cyrillo & Juvenali Episcopis Tranquillinus & Alexander & Helladius & reliqui Episcopi qui cum eis, in Domino gaudere. Nota quidem rectae glorificationis est fides quae a divinis & adorabilibus scripturis ab olim nobis est praedicata. Nihilominus haec ipsa nobis a sanctis patribus tradita est qui in Nicaena synodo congregati sunt, quorum tot passiones erant pro pietate quot membra. Quia vero propter nonnulla certamina piissimus & amicus Christi Imperator literis suis orthodoxos sacerdotes undique ad Ephesum convocavit, in hoc quoque imitatus proprium circa fidem zelum, & sumus pene omnes per divinam gratiam congregati, deest autem praesentiae sanctae synodi religiosissimus Joannes Antiochenus Episcopus, qui & ipse jam in januis est juxta quae nuper suis literis intimavit, & per eos quos praemisit praefectianos atque magistrianos nuntiata sunt. Similiter etiam nonnulli ex occidentalibus Episcopis synodo adfuturi, mandarunt autem vestrae reverentiae, tamquam qui graviter habent sustinere usque ad ejus adventum, & urgent de his quae visa sunt piissimo Imperatori, (ne audientia celebretur antequam praedicti Deo amicissimi Episcopi sint praesentes,) hujus (rei) gratia has ad reverentiam vestram direximus literas, ut sustineatis Deo amicissimorum comministrorum praesentiam, & nec eos qui depositi sunt suscipiatis quoquo modo, neque illos qui ab Episcopis suis vel olim sunt excommunicati vel nuper. Manifesta enim sunt quae de his definiunt regulae; & praevaricantibus se defixere increpationes non modicas, quae nullo modo queunt despici a sancta synodo. Et illud vero reverentia vestra cognoscat, quia omnia quae ab audacibus abrupte fuerint perpetrata, contra praesumentium retorqueantur audaciam & a Christo Domino & a divinis canonibus. ("There follow the signatures of sixty-eight bishops.) Compare the Letter to Theodosius, Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1232-6.
25. 1 Literally: 'Christ-fearing'.
27. 1 Cp. the two Contestationes of Candidianus and his Edictum printed in Lupus, Var. Pat. Epist., p. 33 sq., and Labbe (Mansi), v. 770 sq.
28. 1 Syr. saqra, a transliteration of Lat. sacra [epistola], a translation of θεῖον γράμμα.
29. 2 Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1117E.
32. 1 Labbe (Mansi), v. 770; Lupus, Var. Pat. Epist. p. 33: Coniestatio Candidiam Comitis, quam publice, mane audiens synodum celebrari, in Epheso proposuit: Sanctissimo Episcopo metropolis Alexandriae Cyrillo, et reverentissimis Episcopis qui cum eo sunt congregati, Flavius Candidianus magnificentissimus Comes devotissimorum Domesticorum. Quoniam ex quo in Ephesinam civitatem veni, nihil aliud deprecatus sum communem sanctamque synodum vestram nisi ut cum pace atque concordia quae ad fidem rectamque glorificationem nostram exponerentur (v. l. disponerent), sicut et Dominus noster jussit et piissimus Imperator, scit religiositas vestra; et sufficit mihi testimonium quod ipsa veritas praebet, quia nihil aliud egerimus praeter haec. Quoniam vero et dum congregandos vos esse in sanctissimam Ecclesiam praeter aliorum Episcoporum cognoscerem voluntatem, nondum veniente sanctissimo Episcopo Antiochenae metropolis Joanne vel his qui cum ipso sunt, non cessavi rogans ut id fieret quod dixi superius; et unumquemque sum contestatus ob hoc, ne forte parlicularis fieri synodus videretur. Extremo (v. l. externo) vero nihilominus, cum congregati essetis in sanctissima Ecclesia, occurrere festinavi, et ea quae visa sunt Domino nostro et piissimo Principi, licet videam (v. l. id jam) ex superfluo facere, dum semel nosceretis haec eadem ex literis divinitatis cjus directis ad vos. Verumtamen edocui dispositionem ejusdem Domini nostri et piissimi Principis hanc esse. Velle namque eum dixi fidem nostram absque ulla discordia ab omnibus idem sapientibus roborari, et nolle particulares quasdam synodos fieri, quod maxime in haereses et schismata convertere novit religionem nostram fidemque orthodoxam. Insuper dum reverentia vestra exigeret sacram Domini nostri et piissimi Principis, quae directa est ad sanctam synodum, relegi, prius quidem id facere non annuebam (nec enim dicere refutabo) eo quod non adessent omnes qui ad sanctissimam synodum jussi fuerant convenire; sed quia vestra religiositas inquit ignorare se quae praecepta sint a Domino nostro et optimo Principe, necessarium mihi visum est apparere, ut etiam non praesentibus aliis reverentissimis Episcopis omnibus relegerentur divinae atque adorabiles literae. Nihilominus vero et postquam vobis manifestavi quae sunt decreta divinitus, in eadem supplicatione permansi, deprecans reverentiam vestram et poscens nihil novum fieri priusquam cuncti sanctissimi patres atque Episcopi ad synodum convenirent, sed sustineretis quatuor tantummodo dies sanctissimum Episcopum Antiochenorum metropoleos cum aliis qui pariter sunt, necnon et illos qui cum sanctissimo Nestorio sunt; ut vestra religiositate pariter congregata, et omni sancta synodo collecta simul in uniim, si qua essent quae forsan in dubitationem venirent, a quibus nos sumus extranei, cunctis vobis praesentibus judicarentur, et tunc cum consensu omnium vestrum ostenderetur quis prave ac praeter regulas ecclesiasticas credere videretur an certe recte omnes pariter confiteri, sicut sanctorum patrum religio habet. Hacc igitur non semel sed etiam saepius admonens, et suppliciter postulans, nihil profeci. Verum quia nihil eorum quae a me sunt dicta servatum est, sed a vobis injuriose ac violenter expulsus sum, necessarium duxi hoc mea contestatione vobis constituere manifestum, et per hoc edictum clare dicere nullum vestrum novi aliquid facere, sed omnium sanctorum Episcoporum sustinere praesentiam, et sic communi consilio quae ad catholicam sanctamque fidem pertinent judicari. Si quis vero ex propria voluntate ductus ea quae ab immortali et optimo vertice jussa sunt commovere voluerit, sciat se sibi ipsi reputaturum quicquid evenerit, praejudicium vero se alii (v. l. ab alio) non inferre. Non enim pigebit me haec eadem denuo iterare. Quoniam vero, sicut vestra sanctitas novit, hoc placuit Domino nostro et piissimo Principi, ut sub praesentia simul omnium sanctorum Episcoporum quac ab ejus divinitate sunt convocati ea quae in dubitationem veniunt dissolvantur, propterea et sacra quae ad sanctissimum synodum vestram directa sunt, et quae ad me ipsum ab eorum divinitate sunt scripta, huic edicto praeposui; ut per omnia cognoscentes quae a Domino nostro et optimo Imperatore praecepta sunt, a tali praesumptione cessetis. Cognoscite igitur quod scripti hujus exemplar etiam domino nostro piissimo Imperatori transmissum est.
34. 1 I.e. 'There would have been every reason for thee not to have accepted the post of judge which had been offered unto thee.' Perhaps the text is out of order.
35. 2 Count Irenaeus, afterwards Bishop of Tyre. See Introd. pp.xxiv, xxv.
36. 4 Nestorius quotes about the first half of the letter; see Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1377.
37. 2 The Report is given in full in Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1421. Nestorius gives only a short extract. According to Labbe the Report was dispatched on July 1, 431.
39. 2 Viz. Nestorius and the bishops who had demanded that the Council should not be held before the arrival of John, bishop of Antioch, and his companions.
40. 1 Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1424 a.
41. 1 I.e. through fear of the discussion.
42. 1 Literally: 'they have fabricated, saying that. . .'
43. 2 Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1424 d. There are about ten lines omitted between the passage on p. 121 and this passage.
46. 1 Nau treats these two clauses as interrogative, though they are not so marked by Bedjan in the Syriac text.
47. 3 Cp. Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1237 a.
48. 5 Cp. Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1240 a.
49. 1 Nestorius only gives a free paraphrase of the letter.
50. 1 Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1425 c:.
51. 1 Nestorius is here paraphrasing the document given on p. 117. No new paragraph is marked here in the Syriac text.
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