Nestorius, The Bazaar of Heracleides (1925) pp. 336-380. Book 2 Part 2.
Concerning what was done in the time of Flavian.
Now after Proclus Flavian became bishop of Constantinople, a man who was used to comport himself with uprightness and with reverence, but had not the ability to speak in public and to expound his discourses. He then who was accusing all the bishops, he who / was left behind alone of the rest of the others who had passed away, that is Eutyches, took heart, and, because he was not a bishop, set himself by means of the authority of [his] Majesty [to behave] otherwise----as bishop of bishops. For he was taking charge of the affairs of the church, making use of Flavian who, by reason of the greatness of his humility knew not the things which were being prepared, as of a minister in [the execution of] the things which were being commanded at Constantinople, while he was driving out of the church as heretics all those who were not holding these views of his; but those who were aiding him he raised up and aided. But apart [from this] he was making use of the authority of the Emperor, a reliable authority, and he was unwilling that two natures should be predicated of Christ even in saying, and was mocking at the Fathers who spoke thus, blaming them as hypocrites who by hypocrisy were dissembling the truth or [who] like heretics expressed these [views] of mine, since the doctrines of those men ought not to be embraced in the judgement of the faith. Thus, while he was confirming and preparing these things by the authority and by the commands of [his] Majesty, all the East was disturbed at these things and there was no place that had not been stirred up, because he had set aside all things as things / that were happening in schema; and already he was openly constraining them either to say things which they wanted not or to suffer wrong and to receive punishment.
For Flavian had heard that the churches were disturbed |337 anew over these things and the monasteries were divided and the people were rising up in parties, and that already the fire was kindling in all the world owing to those who were going and coming and were preaching various things that were full of impiety. And he 1 sent unto him,2 as they say, requesting him and beseeching him to spare the churches of God which were much distraught by the disturbances which had taken place aforetime and for which those things sufficed which had been settled while there was peace, and not to stir up against him 'that which was not stirred up against those who were before me, lest it should be supposed that it was not stirred up against them out of fear, whereas [it was so] in my own days because of the greatness of [my] negligence; for I confess that I am a miserable man. But what couldest thou have befall thee more than others? Yet, on account of my humility, even thou directest the episcopate and I have done everything that thou hast commanded without declining.'
But the other 2 on the contrary was saying: 'I aid thee / in the episcopate and thou oughtest to rejoice in the change: that these things, as they were being [done] out of hypocrisy, against them that [were] before thee will take place in thy days without hypocrisy. For now, to be sure, it is supposed that men have been purified from these [heresies] of Nestorius, whereas they have clung to his [views]; and we are supposed to have had a personal enmity towards the man and not [one conceived] on account of his impiety, since we have indeed condemned him but have let his faith flourish. Yet we ought entirely to drive out the things which he has said and confessed; for he was not sent away as confessing two natures distinguished from one another and [that] each of them was by itself Son, but because he confessed two whole natures and one prosôpon of two, which of constraint are called two natures in that the Son is named Son in each of the natures.' 3
But when Eusebius of Alexandria, who was bishop of Dorylaeum [and] who was regarded as a confessor because of |338 the words which had been said [by him] against me,4 had come unto Eutyches, he 5 indeed praised the freedom of speech which had been [taken] by him against me in the things which were done against me. He said: 6 'It would be suitable to thy freedom of speech itself to extirpate those who are encouraged by the impiety of Nestorius, and for this reason God himself has sent thee, not indeed as though thou lackest aught, for everything has been prepared beforehand by the Emperor, but indeed so / that thou shouldcst exult in thy affliction, if this too should come to pass by means of thee. But thus, if thou dost approach the Emperor in blaming those who need to accept two [natures], either therefore, thou sayest, that the things which were taking place at the Council in thy days may not be suppressed. . . .'
But the other, supposing that he was neither disturbed nor yet angered at these things, but that he was quite calm, says unto him: 'Be thou silent, and labour not in vain, ye who want impossible things to take place, while neither all the Council which was at Ephesus nor Cyril himself, howbeit he was in agreement with the Easterns, has suppressed them. And afterwards again an agreement was [reached] concerning these very things, and one let be the things which were well [able] to be retained. For it is not possible that there should be taken from the church [the right] that two natures should be predicated of Christ without confusion, [those] of the divinity and of the humanity, consubstantial with his Father in the divinity and consubstantial with us in the humanity. . . .' And Eutyches became perturbed against him and said: 'God confound thee, who [affirmest] that even formerly Nestorius had said naught against God, but that [he was] turbulent and vainglorious! For how [is it] that he who says the [same] things as Nestorius, can rise up against Nestorius? For these |339 words are his whom you have delivered up with much labour.' But Eusebius said / unto him: 'I know not what thou sayest: for I dispute not with him because he has predicated two natures, [n]or has the Council blamed him for this, but because he distinguishes and places [them] in sundry parts, God by himself and man alike by himself who make use of and are spoken of similarly only in honour and in equality alike. And in this way thou sayest [that there are] two natures and that the holy Virgin is not the mother of God, because God made the very birth of his flesh his own.' 7
And Eutyches says: 'Thou liest concerning it, because you hold his views without being supposed to be clinging unto his [views]. For he was proclaiming ten thousand times: "I say not two sons, I say one; I say not two natures, nor two sons, for the Son of God is twofold in the natures. For this reason she bare not the Son of God, but she bare the humanity which is Son because of the Son united thereto." And again: "Since God is not to be distinguished from him who is visible, how therefore do I distinguish the honour of him who is not to be distinguished?" It was not then because he had said simply two natures nor because he [had] said that the natures were not united, for [he said]: "I confess the twofold [nature], but I adore two in one because of the union", but that even after the union / he says [that there are] two natures and that the Son is twofold in the natures and says that the union resulted in one prosôpon and not in one nature. But you also, acting impiously, say this and nothing more; and all hypocrites ought to be extirpated. For I acknowledge after the union not another ousia in our Lord nor even do I surely conceive that our Lord, who is our Lord and our God, is consubstantial with us; but he is consubstantial with the Father in the divinity.'
And Eusebius says unto him: 'Does Nestorius speak thus, as thou sayest, or not? I am not now for my part concerned to investigate, but this I say: that he who says these things speaks correctly and thou, who confessest not with the |340 orthodox and, speaking of the flesh which is consubstantial with ourselves, either suppressest it or changcst it into the nature of the divinity, [dost not.] For this reason we ought to subject to inquiry those things which thou sayest [are the views] of Nestorius and whereof thou accusest the Council and Cyril of surely lying against him, since they imagine so; and thou confirmest the accusation of that man, that he imagines that the truth is so. Every one anathematizes this opinion as impious, and I shall prove [it] at a convenient time; for, if there is not a [human] nature in our Lord, / neither is he also consubstantial with us; the very ousia of the flesh has thereby been suppressed.' And Eusebius accused him of these things before Flavian and before the Council which was assembled with him at Constantinople and [Eutyches] confessed them and continued making a show of his impiety, confessing that the body of Christ was not consubstantial with us as though [resulting not] in two natures but in one nature.
This had stirred up the Emperor, and he had not wanted him 8 to be thrust out by deposition, but he was not heard. He therefore prepared all things for the deposition of Flavian and for the restoration of Eutyches. He commenced by attaching to him[self] the bishop of Alexandria and the bishop of Rome by written accounts of what was done against Eutyches;9 and one agreed and one agreed not [with him]. For the bishop of Rome had read the things which were done against Eutyches and had condemned Eutyches for impiety; but, when I found and read this account, I gave thanks unto God that the Church of Rome was confessing correctly and without fault, although they 10 were otherwise [disposed] towards me myself. But he 11 caused also the rest of the bishops to secede from him 12 and made them hasten unto Eutyches, insulting those who [remained] with Flavian, and without having vouchsafed liberty of speech before him[self] and before the chiefs; and they were surely rebuked, yet were they surely not heard / touching that for which they were |341 rebuked; but men were rising up with insult against them and seizing them and constraining them. And he caused the clergy also to secede from him, constraining and persecuting them in what was not given unto them for their sustenance; and the [charges], which he had commanded should not be exacted of the churches when he respected the church and God, in furious anger he commanded should be exacted of them with implacable abuse. And prelates were openly seized and rebuked before the crowds, and every bishop who was not of the party of Eutyches was seized; and he commanded every tax upon the possessions of their churches which had been remitted unto them by him and by the emperors before him, [even] the tax of all these years, to be exacted of them at one time; and of those who were nobles or of the family of noble persons he exacted openly, in return for the honour which was theirs, a quantity of gold----by which very [means] he commanded vengeance to be exacted of Eusebius, the accuser of Eutyches, without mercy. For these two [means] were employed [together] with all the assaults of hunger and of usury and of captivity, things which were innumerable, and he made the Roman nobility fall at his knees and groan.
/ And while Flavian was overwhelmed with all these things, he was keeping the feast of the Passover, during which the Emperor entered into the church. But he 13 looked not upon him as an enemy and he took the holy Gospel to have mercy upon them, while all the bishops and clergy were assembled with him and the [newly] baptized in their attire, while the people were crying [aloud] with him. And he fell upon his face and prostrated himself in the church, beseeching them to accept him making his defence, since he supposed that he respected the Gospel. But the other 14 dismissed him with scorn, menacing him as having acted insultingly in that he did it, while the bishops and clergy besought [the Emperor] with him and the [newly] baptized prostrated themselves upon the ground amid the voices of the people; and they persecuted |342 them as if [they were] acting insultingly towards [the Emperor], and he withheld himself from that time from entering into the church, and he commanded that whatever was due should be exacted with insult and [that] no respite should be granted unto him, so that he was consequently constrained to send [word] unto the Emperor that he had not possessions of his own, because he was poor, and that not even the possessions of the church, if they were sold, would suffice to [pay] the quantity of gold which was being exacted of him. But he had the holy vessels of the church, which he and the emperors his ancestors had placed [therein], and [he said]: 'I must melt them down, because I am driven [to do so] / by force.' But the Emperor then said: 'I want not to know [this], but the gold I do want in any way whatsoever.' And because of this he took out the vessels of the church and they were melted down openly, so that there was weeping and outcry among all who took part for these exactions that were being made, as though [they were being] subjected to persecution.15
But after the Emperor heard the things which were taking place, he was angered exceedingly and bitterly and furiously and as though indeed he 16 [had] brought about these things to scorn him. And he commanded that an Oecumenical Council should be assembled against him and that the deposition of Flavian himself should be undertaken. But Flavian, after he had been closely pressed by all sides and had seen that everything that he was doing and saying he was doing to his own blame and to his rebuke, and [because] he had no aid from [his] Majesty----for since, as they say, that came through the choice and zeal of his sister,17 [and] she was unwilling to show authority in aught in internal affairs, he had been [filled] with suspicion that on her account he was being wronged----he purposed to resign from the episcopate and go unto his monastery and dwell there; and he drew up a document of abdication and |343 gave [it] in. And after the Emperor knew that he had done this, he sent for him to come back unto him, as though he had done it to slander himself and to blaspheme against him; and [he sent word] that, if he should not return unto his church, he would fall into danger, [saying]: 'For I have not / commanded a Council to be held as if to wrong thee, but for [the purpose of] a true examination and the satisfaction of the truth in the things that are required.'
But, when he came back, he 18 immediately suborned accusers to say that the records which had been [drawn up] in Constantinople [of the things done] against Eutyches were false. But the accusers were those that took refuge with Eutyches [and] who were they that had written down the things which were done against him, and they were accusing themselves much more than Flavian, so as to be rather praised and not judged. By means of the liberty [accorded] by the Emperor they were doing all things by force, so that suddenly there came about the decease of Flavian, distressed so that he had no respite in all the accusations against him and was amazed and perished. But because he was capable of resisting, he 1 gave himself up to various absurdities and was doing all things desperately. For he anticipated also the bishops, who were undecided and who ought to have sat on the bench of judges, and he won them over and made them his own, such as the Bishop of Ancyra [and] him of Caesarea in Cappadocia, sending for them and, as though he was vexed at what was done against / Eutyches, interrogating them whether what was done against him was in truth done; and he said that the things which were done by the Council were deficient and that they remained accusers, and [he added]: 'We want to examine them before the governor and before your Pieties,' and he made them take heart thereby, so that they should not accept what was being [done] but should submit all things for arbitration to the wisdom of the Emperor.
But all these things were being done so that there might be no examination of the faith but [that] Flavian might be |344 deprived as a result of what was prepared outside [the Council] and [that] they might accept the [doctrines] of Eutyches, without examination. If Flavian then had said unto him these things, and that Christ is of two natures, and that the natures subsist after the union as things that have been united without confusion, and [that] he is consubstantial in the divinity with the Father and consubstantial in the humanity with ourselves through [his] mother, these then abbreviated his sayings and changed what the judges ought [to have heard], and condemned him as one that imagined the contrary. He was a man [worthy] of aid on account of his having been surely calumniated. But if they had deprived him as one that said not these things but as one that even then still persisted in these very [views] of his, confessing that he imagined thus and was attached unto the heretics who imagined not thus, wherefore do you abandon the examination concerning him and put into [the minds of] them that are outside [the thought] that there is in them / [cause for] suspicion, because they were brought about by the accusers? For they it was that wrote [against him] and they showed great zeal in what was being examined.
For suppose that something was deficient in the sentence of judgement by these or by those; perhaps even his 19 having been deprived by them was surely deficient. For what reason then have you not examined it in regard to its having been deficient, in [that for] which they have truly deprived him and in what he has not in truth agreed with them? For he who says: 'They have surely failed against me, who have been surely calumniated,' denies that he has said the things on account of which he has been accused and deposed. But if he has confessed that they were not two natures that were united and further [that] the bodily frame of our Lord was not consubstantial with ourselves, and even now is showing that he abides by the same [views], what is its having been defective, as though indeed these things are not sufficient to prove him possessed of a strange opinion? But by any means on the one hand he had denied the things that he said, on the other |345 hand he strengthened himself thereby against his accusers who deprived him. This then was already examined and he [had] also accepted the judgement. What other judgement or examination ought there [to have been] more than that which the bishop of Rome had pronounced? For he, when he had accepted what was done by the two parties, praised indeed the one but condemned the other by divine / inspiration, and had not simply passed sentence on them. And because they felt scruples before the bishop of Rome, they turned back to the bishop of Alexandria as to one who liked to run with them and was an enemy of the bishop of Constantinople.
Concerning what was done in Ephesus against Flavian.
For again indeed they had reached Ephesus, which is appointed and destined for the deposition of the bishops of Constantinople; and further the bishops of Alexandria and of Ephesus consented together and were aiding one another against the bishop of Constantinople. The bishop of Rome was not [there], nor the See of Saint Peter, nor the apostolic honour, nor the primacy dear to the Romans, but he of Alexandria sat in authority and made him of Antioch also to sit with him; and he of Rome----and we mean Julian, who represented the holy bishop of Rome----was asked if he was in agreement with the holy Council and wished to read in this account what was done at Constantinople. He,20 as / one that had authority, then asked and spoke as though even passing sentence against them. Yet they 21 conceded however unto him their intended purpose, not that he should accept that which they wished nor yet that he should give unto them the primacy, but that, if the bishop of Rome should agree with him, he should accept him as an addition to his party, and otherwise, supposing he were found [to be] against them, he might remove him afar as one that had not authority even in a single [thing], wanting to prove unto every man that they should not look unto the bishop of Rome, since he was not able to aid him of Constantinople. For after Julian had said: 'For this |346 do we wish, that the deed which was committed should be read out, if the letter of our father Leo has first been read,' afterwards indeed Hilary the deacon of the holy bishop of Rome said: 'After these records which you now want to read had been read before him, he! then sent that which he sent.22 When he had heard these things and there was naught that he ought to say, he 23 passed the opposite sentence concerning them: that 'this indeed was a procedure pleasing [unto him], that the things which were done should be read out and then the writings of the pious bishop of Rome.'
Wherein then is the procedure pleasing indeed that in the first place these things / and then the others should be read and, when they are read, the decision that thou wantest should be passed upon them? For what [reason] hast thou afterwards commanded things to be read when thou leavest no room to read them? Then thou commandest them to be read whose purpose thou wantest to make void! For thou didst know, thou didst know accurately what was sent concerning these things unto the Emperor and unto the Empress 24 and |347 unto Flavian himself, and contrariwise thou wentest by the road which led towards the Emperor and whercunto thou wast subjected, and left that which conducted towards God, and didst concern thyself very little therewith. But I have said too little: that is, [I have omitted to say] that thou didst not reckon it anything at all and didst despise him.25 And thou didst even sweep aside the adjurations of the bishop of Antioch26 who adjured thee with frightful adjurations, by the holy mysteries, not to show thyself zealous for the deposition of Flavian nor for his harm. 'It is right to look not to what would be for the consolation of the Emperor but to what will arise therefrom.' For I will examine and I will gratify the Emperor; [it is for us] to be eager not for defeat but for victory, because otherwise we cannot aid him, however much we show ourselves eager, when the Emperor strives with him and is angered [against Flavian]. And he is so altogether angered that he will turn unto chastisement unless we give [him] this room to appease his rage.' Thus by these words / he deceived him 27 and brought him under his control, and so he led him by this word which he had said as though with a bridle. And he27 accepted him and took part with him in the rest of the other [affairs], and he warred on his side and also [helped him to] deprive him 28 and the others and whoever in whatsoever manner was supposed to think the [same things] as Flavian. And concerning these things it seemed thus unto the Emperor. For I pass over the things, which were being directed against my own person 29 and [that] of Flavian, and all that they were wanting in order to drive out those who wanted not at all to anathematize us. However, they deprived him28 too by the same [means as me]. But others, who were injured, were deprived without judgement; for they saw not the judgement nor the place of judgement, nor was [the right of] defence nor speech granted unto them. Except him who had been pleasing to the Emperor and to Eutyches, these were depriving and driving them out of their cities. And |348 those who [were followers] of him of Antioch, had much defence [to make] before men concerning him to whom this was not conceded; for he was therefore sore beset without [hope of] aid by the very [means] wherewith he [had] acted against others, suffering for the same things and not on behalf of others. And [conduct] which had not even any reverence, from which there was no escape, that is his injury and the transgression of his adjurations, brought him to all these things. For he1 made him of Antioch, / who indeed was of such an opinion [as Flavian], an instrument against the bishop of Rome and against the bishop of Constantinople, since it was not quite forgotten by him 30 whether he held such an opinion; for they had written many times to one another concerning these things. Yet he made use however of the holy bishop of Antioch, such as he was, and he made use [of him] until he made him useless and unworthy of the work of the episcopate, and he cast him aside and deprived him, while [his] adjurations were still on his tongue, either [as] one that was useless to him or because he was frightened of him, seeing indeed that he had fallen into the temptation of having transgressed [his] adjurations. For this reason he had deprived him in this very [way] whereby he might be able even otherwise indeed to exact his vengeance. But he was frightened not only of him,31 in case he had this [same] opinion [as Flavian], but also of the Emperor, and he was doing all things [possible] lest, after carrying out by [means of] him all these things according to his wish, he should afterwards turn round and hate him as untruthful and transgressing [his] adjurations and [as one] who was committing all things unjustly to appease him who was in authority, and then would also work against him and cast him aside.
For it was even like this [that he was behaving] for the sake of him whom he was appeasing [and] whom he was drawing nigh unto him[self], and he was both / aiding him and advancing him in what he wanted. And he was doing all things [possible] and persuading every man to believe that he had undying love for him, and, when he was supposed |349 to love him the more when he was gathering the fruit of whatever he wanted, straightway he cast the man aside and then came to hate him 32 and turned away from him and wronged him; and he delivered him unto his enemies to be insulted as a man that had done very wrong and had sinned against his will, and he insulted [him] and transgressed against his adjurations. And for this reason, since he had known him, he had also wished to tempt him that he might be sinned against [by the very means] whereby he [had] sinned, in such wise that he might thereby become [his] master and slander the man before every one. And a trial of these things was made by this very man; for these things took place no long time before.
Concerning what happened about Cyril when the gold was exacted from him.33
For Cyril, who had given many things because of us, when he had gathered the fruit for which he had given [them], because the Emperor knew that he still had money, was indeed pledged in written documents [to pay] two thousand pounds [in] gold, as they say, that what was done against me might be confirmed. But because they had been confirmed / and he who had imposed upon him the condition that he should give [this sum] unto him,34 that is, John 35 had passed away with insult and in contempt with him who had laboured with him for what was done against me at Ephesus, and because some thing which he had done in his writings [had] come unto him, that he should take also that which was left, and should release the man,36 what did he34 do, according to what men say? He wrote unto him 36 a friendly letter,37 beseeching him to hear him and to come with him as far as Ephesus, because he was under a vow touching himself and touching what was done at Ephesus, to bring [it] and to complete [it] within [the church of] Saint John, |350 for the sake of an [holy] death through his intercession. And [he said]: 'If there is aught that I have not done well because I knew not, I want to be rebuked by thee and I will render unto thee the honour which I owe unto thee,' indicating his 38 flight from Ephesus and what he had done against him; and he wanted him to correct these things because of those who were rejoicing at his flight from Ephesus and who were supposing that he hated him and was striving on behalf of Nestorius. And he 39 required his return [unto Ephesus], so that every man might be convinced and not suspect these things, 'lest they that oppose [thee] should be [buoyed up] by a vain expectation, [and that] we may make them subject unto thee'.
But the other,38 since he knew naught thereof, had zealously / done the work, and he filled ships with all [kinds of] things and presents, as though for the Emperor and for the Imperial family and for the chief persons as much as was sufficient according to their rank and according to their honour. And he had come unto Ephesus and had given his presents and was honoured and caused every man to be amazed, and according to his honour he was in the mouth of every man. He was so honoured with all honour that he sat with the Emperor upon the first throne----and I mean [that] of the Emperor----while the Emperor sat on the second; and this happened also within the palace and in the [imperial] chariot and in public, so that the seat of the Emperor might be sanctified by his sitting [therein]. And for this reason he caused him to enter also into Constantinople, so that the brothers of the Emperor and the household of the Emperor and the city might be sanctified by his coming. But after he had here also satisfied the cupidity of men with presents and consequently had nothing [left over], he 39 then commanded that the gold should be exacted, the two thousand pounds, which he was pledged by written documents [to pay] and which he could not deny without being further deprived of his honour if he were to deny [them] and be convicted. But after he knew and perceived that the suffering which |351 had come upon him [was] a great wrong, he gave pledges for these [two thousand pounds] and sailed across the sea amid storms and in a great disturbance / and fled, lest he should fall in with other wrongs by reason of the accusers who were accusing him. . . .
But again I revert there to the just judgement of Dioscorus, who had received from Cyril the primacy and a hatred for the bishop of Constantinople. For their aim was not this, to attain the truth, but in every way whatsoever to strengthen themselves. For before Flavian had entered into the assembly, as they say, the other * had taken the seat and the place of the bishop of Constantinople and had made the others precede him, so that he sat at the end, as if [treated] with contempt. But he thought indeed nothing like this and sat down; but the other himself,40 wanting to make a show of his tyranny, in the first place made this stir----and thou didst it that it might cause suffering unto him of Rome, as they say----and he arose and constrained him 41 and made him come and sit upon his own throne. And then the Counts, who had been charged with this, restrained the bishops who were assembled and were wanting to speak for him2 outside what was asked of them by the bishop of Alexandria, who had the power of authority. / And those that had come from outside to [bear] witness to all the things which happened aforetime and [who] were able, in respect to the conviction of Eutyches of having said these things also before his accusation, to prove that there had been no calumny----and I mean the enclosed [monks] in the monasteries and all those who were supposed to have come on behalf of Flavian----they made to hide themselves and be in alarm because of their coming, as though they had vainly and boldly given themselves up on behalf of him who had been deprived by the Emperor from Constantinople.
But all of those with Eutyches----they were monks----were in [the enjoyment of] great liberty and authority, in such wise that whatever men wished to be [done] by authority |352 was done by means of them, so that also they delivered unto the chiefs themselves and unto the inhabitants of the city all those who were indicated unto them. For every man was made subject unto them, and they were ministering unto them whether they were willing or whether they were unwilling. For what was being done was displeasing unto many of them, but they were constrained and [were] weeping. And by every means they were doing the things which were commanded; and they were carrying off men, [some] of them from the ships and [others] of them from the streets and [others] of them from the houses and [others] of them while praying from the churches, and were pursuing [others] of them / that they fled; and with all zeal they were searching out and digging after those who were hiding in caves and in holes in the earth. And it was [a matter] of great fear and of danger for a man to speak with the adherents of Flavian on account of those who were dwelling in the neighbourhood and keeping watch and were as spies to see who entered in unto Flavian.42 And on account of this they were going and taking part with the adherents of Eutyches, [some] of them indeed since they feared to bear ill-treatment, and [others] of them since they had been the first to depend upon his own aid, and were speaking and lying much; and all that they were saying unto him against the other 43 was approved and [such things] were said unto him as if for [his] pleasure.
But they had dissociated from him 43 Eusebius, bishop of Dorylaeum, who was the accuser of Eutyches, and they had neither let him come in nor defend himself;44 and they had also dissociated [from him] all the Council which had heard [him] and which had set him 45 aside at Constantinople [and] which ought to have spoken with him and established the things which it did. And they isolated him from all sides and made all of them his accusers, who suffered from fear lest they should bear ill-treatment; for both if a man were not |353 persuaded and if he were persuaded, it was by all means certain / that he would bear ill-treatment if he did not belie Flavian and become a partisan of Eutyches. But thus they were beforehand in settling him 46 and stripping him on all sides and placing him [in a position] without hope and without freedom of speech, so that there was even no speech [left] in him. For all of them prepared themselves as if not to hear him but by all means to condemn him, and they brought him into the assembly, insulting him and not letting him defend himself against [the things for] which he was rebuked. And before the presence of the Counts, who were in charge, they were stirring him up and instigating him, commanding him not to speak. But hear however this speech also which was [extorted] by force and by constraint for [a proof of] the mockery of the trial of this man.
For when the records [of the things] which were [done] in Constantinople against Eutyches and the agreement and the signature[s] of the bishops opposed to Eutyches, and especially [that] of Selcucus, bishop of Amasia, who had condemned him, were read, they examined him neither by any judicial process nor by any [regular] procedure, so as to exact of him the acknowledgement 47 of his signature, [in order to discover] what his view was 48 and whether it had been correctly put by him; but they passed sentence without examination and as if as the result of a labour confused / [and] indiscriminate, which was uncontrolled and unruly. They were crying out '[These] things are not [the concern of] the bishop of Amasia; divide thou not the indivisible!' in such wise as thereby to dismay the man and so that he should agree with those who were accusing him.49 And by this demonstration |354 they [wished also to] make others fear and deny the sentence which they [had] passed and calumniate Flavian in one and the same manner; for this [treatment] was common unto all those who accepted him and agreed with him.
There ought therefore to be also a common judgement [both] of those who had condemned him l and [of those who] agreed with him and had repented of the signature which had been signed against Eutyches, but they were however doing these things in order to show that they ought by all means to condemn Flavian, as though he had modified their words and the decision of their judgement, nor was it [possible] for them to make [their] defence otherwise. But, that they might accuse Flavian, Dioscorus, the instigator of this examination, while putting to silence the unruly crowd, was crying aloud in his [own] unruliness: 'Be silent awhile; let us hear also the other blasphemies. Why do we blame only Nestorius? There is many a Nestorius.' Not one convicted him of holding these views of mine, nor yet did he allow [any one] to calumniate him in me, / but indeed he 50 spoke of me as well as of him; for the other too----he was of them that speak correctly----was however saying: 'I speak in one way and he in another,' and was denying that I said these very things, either because thou knewest it not or out of fear. Without therefore having given unto him a chance to defend himself, he anticipated [him] and condemned him, lest, when he defended himself, the truth should be established concerning the things whereof he was accused: [that is,] that they were not the doctrines of Nestorius but of the Divine Scriptures and of the holy Fathers who [had lived] before the three hundred and eighteen and of those after them. For it was possible through him in all respects to prove that they 51 were orthodox. |355
So therefore that these things might not be examined, in that they could not deny that they were [the views] of the orthodox, and that, in accepting them as [those] of the orthodox, they might not again let go that which they were zealous to do, [that is,] to condemn Flavian and acquit Eu-tyches, they passed over these words and went on to accuse him of other things, as though he was surely modifying the decision of the judgement. And they gave him [permission] to defend himself on this charge and not on that on account of which and by means of which Cyril and the Council of Ephesus were exposed. For among the things which they had said, the adherents of Cyril and of Eutyches culled / what was in agreement with them and chose what was pleasing unto them, and the partisans also of Flavian [acted] similarly in opposition to the former. But Cyril was the father of many heresies and used to say this and that and otherwise at the same [time], in such wise that, when they made use of what was contrary, [it was impossible that] they should not distort those things which happened in the time of Cyril and what happened at Ephesus. And of necessity they 52 supported my own words [so as] to suppress what was done against me and that there might be no chance for [the execution of] what was being done against Flavian on account of the accusation of Eutyches. For these reasons they 53 would not allow Seleucus himself to make [his] defence, nor even support what was written by him. But in short they had recourse to such an outcry that no one else dared to make a defence but [only] to say what they wanted against Flavian, [that is] that the things which were brought about by the decision of the judgement of Eutyches were [being] modified by him [and] that they would accept such a signature without a word. For thereby has their aim become known unto every man, but [even] is it known from the signature of Atticus.54
/ Now Atticus 54 was a countryman and a rustic unable even |356 to [understand] evident things; for he was a confidential servant,55 and had been brought up within the house like slaves, and had been given to the great palace of the imperial household; and, since he had thus the licence of influence and greatness, he had been elected among the bishops, though he was not learned in nor understood ways and triflings and schemings such as these. And they had constrained him lyingly [to] say that it was surely modified, and he constrained them to say and to make known unto him the violence, since he understood not what they were saying unto him. For Atticus the bishop had said: 'Immediately I entered Constantinople and looked upon the hearers and the monk who was saying: " Sign, my lord," I said unto him: " [Wait] awhile; allow me to see." And I heard him reading something lying. And after these things he said unto me: " Sign, my lord." I said: " I cannot sign; truly indeed I know, but I cannot say aught; I say however that if any one believes not as the three hundred and eighteen Fathers at Nicaea and those at Ephesus, let him be anathema in this world and in that to come." ' And Dioscorus, as before a child that is accused, commanded Atticus to deny [these charges] and to belie himself, and he said what he wanted [him] / to say, [that is:] 'These things therefore which have been read are lies and trifling.' And Atticus knew not what he wanted him to say and said: 'I know not,' because they had suggested unto him to say [that] they were lies and trifling, and Atticus knew not. Again he asked him otherwise, suggesting unto him: 'Hast thou not said these things?' and hardly, as they goaded him on, did Atticus know what he wanted him to say; and Atticus said: 'No.' And again they wanted to confirm what he wanted him to say. Dioscorus grew confident to ask him about the same things [and] he even said: 'I have heard what has therefore been said by thee.' He said what he wanted [him] to say and to teach, because he was afraid lest he should reply to him one thing for another. And Atticus says: 'I have heard.' And |357
Dioscorus suggested unto him, saying: 'Then thou hast not said them?' And Atticus, suggesting [the same thing] as he who was prompting him, said also the same things: 'Have I not said [it]? ' Thus both before the Emperor and before other men he made use of the same artifice so as [to ensure] that they would deny their own signature and act against Flavian irreverently and unjustly. He accepted indeed the things which [were said] by them / without examination and the things which had been said under [stress of] evidence, [that is] that they 56 had been modified, he accepted without hesitation.57 |358
But he wanted Flavian to speak against them, and they allowed him not, since he was quite [overcome] by constraint such as this and by violence, but they wounded him, as the Counts say, so that he should surely not speak until the signature against him was complete and the [affairs] of Futyches were thus confirmed, and that for which they were zealous wholly attained; for they were therefore assembled as for a dead man. For when that which was done against Eutyches was read in the records and Flavian had spoken against them, they said: 'He Is surely lying about our own signature,' and they wounded him, as men say. Then, after the decision of the judgement and the sentence against him had been promulgated, as was pleasing unto them, Dioscorus had commanded him to speak, and he said: 'If the godly bishop Flavian knows aught that would aid him, let him say [it] in written documents.' What ought he, who knew that in all things his just words had been repudiated with violence such as this, to have said? And they were therefore commanding him as in sport to say, in addition to what he had said: 'Thou hast inhibited my just words, in that thou hast accepted every calumny against me without hesitation.
/ Yet in order that this too might be proved to have been [done] in sport, they had set down in the records for [our] instruction, even though they were unwilling, in what way they [had] checked all his just words: that Dioscorus said unto Flavian: 'The holy Council knows if I have inhibited thee,' and Flavian spoke openly of the violence which had been [done] unto him, [saying:] 'I have not been let alone nor is it permitted unto me even to speak,' so that it was also known that these things which were said were [said] in mockery. He 58 said: 'Say what would aid thee,' and he said that there |359 was no trifling or lying in the affair of the records; and 'both my lord Eusebius and my lord Thalassius, who signed and examined [them] with me knew [it]'. And Thalassius and Eusebius repudiated his statement, [saying] that they had not examined [them]. Then consequently, in that they were addressed only in mockery, namely, after the sentence, Thalassius said these [same] things as Dioscorus: 'There is no one restraining thy Saintliness from speaking,' and Dioscorus mockingly replied unto each one of the bishops who perceived this artifice, saying: 'My lord Eusebius, say whether these things have not taken place, and examine, so that he may be found guiltless. But hast thou indeed restrained him from speaking, and, further, dost thou urge him to speak? ' And, after he had spoken unto him, he 59 again said the same things: / that this affair had been before my lord Thalassius and my lord Eusebius, when also my lord Magnus the privy councillor 60 was present, and had been examined, and naught such as this was found [in it]; every single one of the bishops who were there present [and] those who heard [the case] would say as before God whether it had been said lyingly.
Dioscorus again mocked him, [saying] that this to be sure was no defence, and the other supposed that he was in truth offering him [leave] to speak, having let him examine these things. And again, deriding, he 61 turned to face Stephen and said unto him: 'Hast thou prohibited him?' and unto all of them: 'Speak, all of you.' And thus he made sport of the man himself who was not versed in nor knew the wickedness and the wiles of the Egyptians but supposed that they were [filled] with piety and were eager to speak more than the truth in the interests of those who were misrepresented by slander. And consequently, after he 59 knew what they were doing and that there was not [any] urgency at all for defence nor for proof, he became quiet and bore witness before every man, saying: 'By the aid of God I am not affected by aught of what you have done unto me; for I have neither confessed aught and thought at all otherwise, [n]or do I confess [otherwise now].' And he then was silent [and ceased] to answer / a word unto |360 him as if unto an evident heretic. And for this reason he had incited him to speak, and he 62 persisted in this confession. He suffered naught that he ought not, nor was he like unto the bishops of this world of his time who agreed in all that men were demanding of them, nor did he even change the likeness of his opinion but persisted in giving himself up to suffer; nor was he resolved nor even purposed to say: 'I am a simple man and I am far from this exactitude; and also aforetime we were instructing and persuading Eutyches, and I have condemned him as indeed I was persuaded [to do] by his accusers who were supposed to know something, having been persuaded by the opinion of many and not by myself; and now, if it seems [good] unto all of you together and you have examined [and found] that these [opinions] of Eutyches are [those] of orthodoxy, I too am persuaded of that whereof all |361 of you are persuaded, and I will sign with you in order to cling to those of orthodoxy; and reckon me also with the party of those bishops who need to be condemned!'
For all things would have been brought to an end by this discourse, as well as the anger of the Emperor who clung to the slander and was zealous for tyranny, for which reason indeed he had caused the Council to assemble. But he had not been persuaded, even in Constantinople, when all of them / were persuading and beseeching him to do this, nor yet in Ephesus, where consequently the wrong was nigh at hand, when he was on the verge of death and it was being said by every man that only this was for him [a means of] escape from death, while he saw all of them fleeing from him and taking part with Eutyches and being rescued thereby. And I was a proof for him that neither deprivation from the bishopric of the city nor yet silence sufficed for me not to give them a cause for change, but [that] the cause wherefore I was suffering wrong [was] altogether that I was heard to be [still numbered] among the living. For, as long as thou art alive, expect death from the wicked; therefore, that thou mayest not surrender the faith, let all these things for [thine] endurance be [ever] before thine eyes. For immediately after [his] deposition was suspected, he was carried off as if by bears and by lions by the Counts before whom this deprivation took place in such a way that he was both dragged away and hurled down, and some were saying and even doing [one thing and others] another. And he was isolated and perturbed by all of them, and his spirit was vexed. And they delivered him up to the soldiers and commanded them to lead him away and remove him from the holy places. And they led him away and incarcerated him, / a man who was fainting, in prison. And before he came unto himself and was revived and was breathing fresh and pure air and taking nourishment that strength might be a little [restored] in him, they delivered him up unto the officer and threatened to send the man away, bruised.
And he was unable to endure the hardship of the journey. The Emperor was as one that desired not his life but wanted |362 to punish him and not to keep him alive. And thus they brought him down by force and gave him to a man [that was] a murderer so as to destroy him and to send him without mercy, in word indeed unto his [own] place, but in reality unto destruction. And thus he was dragged away and led off, [with strength] sufficient only to survive four days, as men say, while every day his soul was being released from his body, and they counted his decease [as] a festival for them[selves]. And wrongs were being increased against all of them who agreed with him and his fellow believers. And further I [was] among the first in severe persecutions and in flight and in exiles and in commands whereby authority was given in every place unto them to do what they were purposing; since I and Flavian certainly thought the same things. And authority was given unto the people to lead off and to hale away and to deliver up. Slaves / were accusing their masters by the same [means], and authority was given unto them [to do so] by the command of the Emperor;63 and all their eagerness was to lead their own souls into error as well as the souls [of those] who conceived or thought that God the Word is immortal. And they were saying things more impious than these in such wise as to constrain [men] to say that it was his ousia, [that] of God the Word, which died. And he 64 had given unto them authority against every man while the chiefs were not trusted nor the bishops nor all this world nor enemies nor slaves; but, as though they fell short of their cupidity and their zeal in regard to those who called God the Word immortal and impassible, they set up those who were more eager to scrutinize and to search out, to seek for those who were fleeing. And all these [terrors] overtook them; and the suspicion and the expectation of sufferings were worse for them than the sufferings; and it was evidently a Pharaonic struggle against God.
/ Enumeration of some part of the ills which happened in the world because of the transgression against the true faith of God impassible, with a prophecy.
But after these things began to take place concerning the |363 faith and in respect to the discussion against [the doctrine] that God the Word was not immortal and impassible, it therefore [came to look] as though the immortal God the Word himself had no care for them;65 for those [who thought] therefore that God the Word was not immortal had begun to be overthrown and brought to subjection in one way and another and some of them in all ways and there was none to turn aside the wrath.
What happened in [the way of] earthquakes and wars.
1. They had been worn out with pestilences and famines and failure of rains and hail and heat and marvellous earthquakes and captivity and fear and flight and all [kind of] ills, and they came not to perceive the cause of ills such as these; but they were the more inflamed and embittered against any one who dared to call God the Word impassible, as though they were suffering these ills because men called God the Word himself impassible and immortal; and there was no place of refuge.
/ 2. A twofold upheaval on the part of the barbarians and the Scythians, who were destroying and taking every one captive, had shaken them and there was not even a single hope of rescue; and hitherto they understood not that all this was not simply human.
3. And therewith he 66 had also shaken the earth with earthquakes, the like of which there was none that remembered. 67 For thus the earth was shaken, as a thing that was being overturned and burst open or inevitably destroyed. But when again it ceased [from trembling] and was firm as aforetime, it was like unto a thing that a man had grasped, [torn] out of its natural place; he indeed who shook it was also shaken therewith. [It was] not only to the eyes that it showed its shaking which shook it and the stability that established it [anew in its place], but it brought all men themselves to perceive [it] and through the greatness of all |364 [these] things it brought knowledge to the minds [of men] more than speech [would have done].
4. The barbarians indeed had drawn nigh and had assailed the Romans and reduced them to all despair.
5. But in Constantinople, the imperial city, the towers of the wall which were built with it had collapsed and left the wall [isolated], though it had not suffered any [injury] from the things whereby it had been shaken, and they remained as things that have not been shaken, while there was not / even a single indication in them of the earthquake; and even [in some] of the places in the midst of the walls the stones had started out of the whole building and from the parts adjoining the building; even the lime had been shaken out.
6. And some things appeared openly in one part of the city [in one way, and others in another part] otherwise, and things had not been shaken by a common earthquake but to convince men that he who was doing these things was immortal and had authority over them.
7. About the Forum of Theodosius the Great. For even the stones which were bound with iron and lead had been torn up, being borne up into the air and remaining suspended awhile and then falling; and, when those that were about to meet them were coming out, they immediately fell. And ten thousand other things and many [there were] which were happening in other countries and were being heard of and were a great cause of trepidation and fear, so as to bring men, though unwilling, to supplication and to the beseeching of God to have mercy upon them, not however as he wished; for some were beseeching him [for some things and others] for others, according to their [own] calculation, and were praying unto him for what they possessed. And this one was saying: 'God that has suffered and died for us' and was beseeching [him], while yet another [was praying] otherwise, as though they were saying that which was honourable unto them. For they were [filled] with wrath and with anger against / those who dared to call | him] immortal and impassible; and for this reason did afflictions and fears which |365 were very fearful crowd the more upon them, while their wrong deeds recoiled upon them, so that there was no time for them to have leisure to act wrongly towards the pious who were among them.
Concerning 'Holy God'.
But, since he wished to bring them to perceive their blasphemy and to desist therefrom, because they came not thereto, God himself gave unto them a manner of intercession ----for he who should do this had not been found----whereby they should say: 'Holy God, holy [and] mighty, holy [and] immortal, have mercy upon us.' 68 And every one assented with one mind thereto and left off the things for which they had yearned [and] for which God had not yearned. And they wrote this down in the basilica and in public 2 and set it up thus: 'Glory and thanks to the holy one and to the immortal, God the saviour of all'; and they had almost succeeded in confessing God immortal; and that to which they clung they denied not, but this was sung in every place. But after the earthquake had ceased and a few wars were arising, they roused themselves again and revealed themselves against God; and they were dissembling the confession [of faith] in God, as persons that remembered not the [formula] 'God the holy one and mighty and immortal', who was able / to bring wars to peace even without human might, wherein was his might and except for which there was not [any kind] of preparation [for war]; and they have made trial of this thing in fact. Now indeed they have ceased even from [this] supplication.
But a little before their war with these barbarians the very cross alone used to teach them and bring them to believe in God, who more [than all] swept warriors away without a weapon. But before this, when the barbarian was stirred up by an army, he threw himself into holes and fastnesses. For, |366 because the people of the Scythians were great and many and formerly were divided into peoples and into kingdoms and were treated as robbers, they used not to do much wrong except only as through rapacity and through speed; yet later they made them a kingdom and, after they were [established] in a kingdom, they grew very strong, so that they surpassed in their greatness all the forces of the Romans. And God showed them that he was not become weak, against whom they had already agreed together and whom they had made subject unto suffering and unto death. And they strengthened the persecutions against them that confessed God holy and mighty and immortal, and they let be him in whom they hoped and [by whom] they were rescued from death; and he gave them the knowledge / to repudiate the death of God but to acknowledge him and to confess that he is immortal.
But, because this had taken place and they had not been converted to glorify the God who rescued them but blasphemed and constrained every man to confess the death of God but shunned [the term] 'immortal' as impiety, the barbarian again was stirred up against them, massacring and swarming over all the land of the Romans and overturning everything. And they had no means [of escape] nor refuge but were stricken with fear and had no hope. And he had closed them in and made them insufficient in everything that they were doing for their salvation; and, because they understood not their former salvation, he had sent this man whom he had taken from pasturing sheep, who had protested against the privy [purposes] of the heart of the Emperor. And already he had been stirred up by God, and he commanded to make a cross; and as though indeed he 69 believed him not, he made [it of] wood with his own hands and sent [it] against the barbarians. But he had planted another cross also within the palace and another in the forum of Constantinople in the midst of the city that it might be seen of every man, so that even the barbarians, when they saw it, fled and were discomfited. And the Emperor himself, who was already |367 making ready / to flee, gained confidence to remain, and the nerves of the city, which was enfeebled, grew firm and all things happened thus.
For when the barbarians had fled in discomfiture, while none was pursuing them, and the Emperor was mightily heartened to engage in thought for his empire, and the city was mightily filled with encouragement, they found none other cause of [this] sudden change----because there was none else doing this: to discomfit the one and encourage the other ----except only the cross, which had been set up, of him who was crucified in nature and in truth, that is, [of] the bodily frame which had been crucified naturally. And it is known unto us that we should not be ashamed to say that he died, and not God who made mighty the bodily frame, weak and passible and mortal, which suffered and died by lifting up [upon the cross]. For this reason also the wood whereon he was crucified was [a means] to salvation. For, as though for one that believed not and repudiated the crucifixion of the mortal body which can save, he commanded to make the cross of wood, to effect thereby salvation such as this in the city and amidst the barbarians, in such wise that it is not doubted that it is a crucifixion of the body which has given life to all the world, and not of God who by the lifting up of the body and the cross has effected such a miracle as this.
/ But because they had feigned themselves wise in this, as though the divinity was crucified and not the body, they were still left in opposition to the pious, who were saying that the crucifixion was not of the divinity but of the body of the divinity and [that] for this reason he saved us through the cross. Again God raised up anew the vehemence of the barbarians and earthquakes against this Pharaonic intention. And again, because he sought to restrain them from [the persecution of] the pious and from [inflicting upon them] the sufferings which they caused them to bear----for then only were they revived and set free----by both of them he taught [them] that the impious thought, wherein was [contained] the confession of [his] death, was not pleasing unto him. |368 For, although they supposed that that which [had been caused] by the barbarians was death [caused] by men, yet they could not suppose this of that which was being [caused] by the earthquake. But, after they had not even so come to a perception of the glory of God incorruptible, and were imputing death and suffering and weakness unto him in manliness and immortality such as this, he had then taught them by the words themselves 70 not to impute blemish and decay unto God, because he is holy and free from all sufferings and even without weakness, he who by a weak cross quitted himself manfully like a man and was [endowed] with all manliness. So then impute not death / unto him who is alone immortal and by our own death has proved that he is immortal by means of the confession of the holy and of the mighty and of the immortal.
But because they abode not by what they had been forced to confess and had not believed in God the mighty and immortal, who is able to make even wars to cease, they had [not only I become the slaves of the barbarians and been subjected unto slavery to tribute unto them by the confession of written documents, but were also giving [it] unto those who were warring on his side. And there was naught that he, who showed the barbarian [to be] master and the Romans slaves, did not. And thus the supremacy had changed over unto the barbarians, as though the Romans themselves had not God who [is] over all, holy and mighty and immortal. For this reason the rest also of the peoples fled unto him but fled from the Romans, so that they were not even able to rescue themselves. And because they had thus set up the supremacy, as though they had no urgent need for divine aid and had not come to themselves, they remembered not even the very confession of the holy one and the mighty and the immortal which they had taken into their mouths; but contrariwise they were again maintaining the sufferings of the divinity, by means of which they were showing that not one of these [attributes] was his. For with the sufferings and the death this also was assumed: that he was neither holy / by |369 nature nor immortal by nature nor mighty by nature, until God had again restored [some] of them, whether they wanted or whether they wanted [it] not, for the reputation of their impiety and for the defence of those who had suffered wrongfully and for the instruction of those who in anticipation were praying unto Flavian and Eusebius, whom they would have killed.71 Because men made compensation unto God, having confessed him [to be] both holy and mighty and immortal, both by law and by commands and by penalties they confirmed [their actions] against those who confessed God the Word [to be] holy and mighty and immortal and [punished them] with despoilment and exile and death, until Theodosius, who had raised himself up against God, was taken from [their] midst; and the mouth [of every man] was opened to confess and to glorify and to adore God the holy and mighty and immortal, speaking without fear.72 For not he who calls Christ God passible and mortal confesses Christ [to be] God, but he who speaks of Christ in his divinity which he is in his nature and confesses God impassible and immortal and mighty and holy in his nature but passible in his humanity, in that he confesses that he is by nature man.
But some will say: 'What participation hast thou with Flavian and with what has been done against him and on his account? For / thee every man has anathematized and denounced, and what thou addest after this thou toilest to thine [own] evil name and to thine [own] accusation and not to a simple and just defence.' That which I say unto him above and below and always is that it concerns me not to |370 have mercy upon any man such as these, but to be very anxious whether through my own anathema they are rescued from blasphemy and [whether] those who are rescued confess God holy and mighty and immortal, without changing the image of God who is incorruptible unto the image of man who is corruptible and mixing paganism in the midst of Christianity, but confessing God himself as is his image and confessing man as is his image, in such wise that the passible and also the immortal arc confessed in the image of their natures, so that Christianity confesses not a change of God nor yet a change of man, [after] the likeness of the impiety of paganism. But let yea be yea and nay nay in truth, so that Christ in truth and in nature may be confessed to be the saviour and the saved, God and man, who is in nature immortal and impassible as God and mortal and passible in nature as man. He is not God in both the natures nor yet man in both the natures. Therefore my own aim and my zeal is that God may be blessed and glorified even on earth as in heaven. / But may Nestorius be anathematized; but may they say what I pray them to say concerning God. For I am of those who [are] with God and not of those who [are] against God, who scorn God himself in the schema of piety and make void [the fact] that he is God. For he was for the things [for] which I war, and they that war with me against him; and for this reason on his account I am pledged to endure and to suffer everything, so that by my own anathema would that every man might be [ready] enough to be reconciled unto God, because there is naught greater or more precious unto me than this. Nor would I have declined to say the contrary of what I used to say, if I had known that they were wanting [me] to say the contrary of these things which I used to say in everything whatsoever and [that] they were of God, and [that] I should thereby be honoured before God on account of the [attributes] of God which I have regarded as God and not as man. . . .
But otherwise again [it is the case ] that I have not merely said the things touching Flavian, but I have cited them for a proof of what was done against me with impiety and with |371 injustice, in such wise that certain men arc not deceived by the name 'Council ' but seek [to learn] the things which took place with all truth and judge [some] of them before God, although they took place otherwise. For Satan is disguised in the schema of an angel of light 73 and deceives / men [in order] to remove them afar from God. But further, since I have judged in my mind that to hide the dispensation which came about through the might and the wisdom of God without showing and revealing them unto all men is a great peril and [fraught] with all impiety and ingratitude----for he had done them on their account, that he might undo the schemes of them that were confirming their impiety and causing it to shine forth, and expose them bare, while I was not believed in what I was saying, whereas they were doing and had also done this in their assembly in the Council----all of which [it was] that I was suffering, and they believed me not. But it was not possible to refute and to undo these things which had been done in the Council, but the will to impiety was [stronger] than the will of God, by means of which the impious were convicted of being impious and the pious of being pious; and they contended unto death and preserved that sincerity of mind which was owing unto God. For when the time [was] not that under discussion which came by the patience of God [and] wherein some suffered and others caused them to suffer, the impious were not revealed [as] impious 74 nor they that were worthy of such forethought as this [as worthy thereof, forethought] which had turned them aside from the contest against God, in which operations he was warring and fighting against them and restraining them from kicking against / the pricks of God; and yet not even so were they converted from their iniquity, while the pious had not been dispersed nor yet discouraged, while God was patient, from suffering throughout their whole lives, having adhered unto the purpose of |372 God. For this reason one finds that diligence and aid have been relaxed by those who had taken it 75 up, and they have neglected what has been [entrusted] to them and diligence has been [only shown] by them in making pretence without knowledge concerning what ought to have been corrected, things which were disregarded and set aside by them. For it would have been right to cut short the things which were wrongly [done] and not to hide them. Those things then which [came about] as for correction were of God; what concealed them was not of God but of those who were undoing his [work].
For for what reason do you suppose that they who possessed the inhabited world [as] their home became the spoil of the barbarians? Was it not because they made not use of the supremacy which was given unto them as was right, that the peoples might know the grace which was given unto them, in such wise that they might learn as slaves what was required, because they learnt not as masters? For what reason again heard they the word of the Gospel, not from the orthodox but from the worshippers of creatures? 76 They were / brought into subjection neither to the supremacy of the Empire nor yet under the religion wherein they were, that they might know that, when they took the supremacy of the Empire, they preserved not even in the Empire the supremacy of their religion in God; for this reason also they were not supreme in aught else, in that the supremacy changed over to [their] enemies. For whereby they neglected the Gospel, by these very things were they rejected from the supremacy; and they took part also in the faith of the worshippers of creatures and were distinct [only] in name and in the use of the term 'consubstantial'. As these3 confess the created and the uncreated and say 'consubstantial' in one way as if in praise and attribute the nature in another way by the distinction of the created and of the creator, thus also those 77 |373 attribute the nature in one way unto the passible and unto the impassible, the created and the uncreated, and say 'consubstantial ' in another way in name alone as something [said] in praise, since they hold supremacy and religion in opposite senses without straightforwardly confessing the nature. For until even the [term] 'in nature' is freed from suspicion and has taken away the supremacy from the fear and the fear from the supremacy, [the supremacy] being supported by God, so that he may be glorified in heaven and on earth and [that there may be] glory in heaven and peace on earth in the government of the affairs thereof, God ceases not to guide us and to teach us, just as those / who teach children, making use of plagues and of protests which ought to teach us and to convince us that we err, and defending the silent and proving their victory.
For what have I done of these things which have happened as they have happened and not God himself? For because they have betrayed the tradition of the Fathers and have closed the mouth[s] of those who exacted the rights of the Fathers, so for this reason [some] of them have inclined unto Arianism according to what has been confessed [by them], and [others] of them unto Manichaeism, and [others] of them unto Judaism, and [others] of them unto other [errors, both] new and old. God has raised up of them and among them their own [judges], as he used to raise up judges from among the Jews, to confute them for their transgression against God, that is Flavian, who was representing me [in that] whereby he ought to have been my enemy, as indeed he was unto me both unwittingly or for some other reason, and Eusebius, who used to war against me. They have confessed without any cause for alarm, having warred against the adherents of Cyril, who were blaspheming and seeking to gain their ends. And God abandoned them not until they showed hostility unto Cyril; since these indeed were citing his words against those, and those again were choosing those things / which were opposed to these and setting them against |374 them; and they were mutually disputing, the one [side] with the other. And these were saying that they were Manichaeans since they referred all things, even the properties of the flesh, unto God the Word. But these too were accusing those of holding my opinions, since I too say these [same] things, and of referring the properties of God to the nature of the divinity and the properties of the humanity to the humanity; and they admitted that the union took place in prosôpon and not in the nature. And every man was within a very little of disputing with his neighbour, protesting against him on my account, as though I was surely calumniated. And these my [words] were quoted with all zeal; and these were refuting them that were saying that I predicate two sons, as indeed was never said by me; and those were confuting them that were predicating one nature for calling God himself passible, as I was saying that they said.
Who was it that constrained them to say these [same] things as I, when through the commands [of the Emperor] their reading was prohibited,78 since they were warring of themselves to discuss them with all zeal? And, when I was silent, and the authority to say them [had been] taken away from me, and I was not believed, God raised up those [men], who were believed when they said these [same] things as I, / which were the truth, without there being any suspicion therein of their having said these things out of friendship or out of love for me. And God brought not these things about on my account. For who is Nestorius? Or what is his life? Or what is his death in the world? But [he has brought them to pass] because of the truth which he has given unto the world, which was suppressed from deceitful causes, while he has also confuted the deceivers. And because they were [filled] with suspicion about me and were not believing what I was saying, as one that dissembles the truth and represses exact speech, God appointed for this [purpose] a preacher who was guiltless of this suspicion, Leo, who used to preach the truth undaunted. And, because the anticipation of the Council caused many to wonder and even the Romans |375 themselves,79 [so] that they believed not the things which I was saying and which were left without examination, God allowed these things to come to pass contrariwise, that he might cause the bishop of Rome,80 who was exercising the direction of the plotting of the Council in Ephesus against me, to pass away, and [that] he might make him 81 agree with and confirm what was said by the bishop of Constantinople.
And he who was able | to do] everything, that is Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, was reckoned as naught. I say indeed, as naught, since he had recourse to flight and was looking out [means] not to be deprived and banished into exile.82 [These things took place] that through what they suffered / they might believe also what had been committed against me by the Egyptian in the former Council. And, because of the sham friendship of the Emperor and of the chiefs of the imperial household [toward me], I was suspected of constraining the Council, which stirred me not to be remiss in the truth, and of being constrained to agree with the Emperor because of what was committed against me, since, because they had held no examination about the truth, they suspected me of being a blasphemer. But God, in order that he might prove that the love which the Emperor had for me was treacherous, and [that it was felt by him] not for the truth but for the sake of [my] possessions, proved it by his 83 aid in [the affair of] Eutyches and in [that of] Flavian, whereby it was seen that he gave not [permission] for an assembly to be held, and those who were assembled permitted not aught to be said except what they were commanded [to say]; but they condemned themselves also in fear and in ignominy.
Again, because they supposed that my [doctrine] had been summoned to examination and to judgement, but [that] I was surely trifling [in saying] that they [had] summoned me not to judgement but to deposition and to a snare of destruction |376 and of death, God, in protesting against them as being murderers, [even] God allowed Flavian to enter the Council and to suffer what he suffered at their hands; for it is evident that these were those things which the other had also committed against me aforetime. And, because it was supposed that those who had been bishops were disposed / to do naught outside the judgement which was pleasing unto them, either on account of the Emperor or out of fear or because of disturbances, God again exposed them as doing the contrary and confuted them before every man; and they let nothing be to which they bore not witness, but by all of them he had refuted the causes of error and preached them upon the roofs in such wise that there was not even a single excuse [left open] to those who feigned themselves without knowledge. Yet, just as Pharaoh was confuted by God by means of all things, and remained without excuse for not having been willing to be convinced either by the logic of words, or by the deeds themselves, or by the protest[s] of men, or again by the things of God, and for having died in his blasphemy, so also they remained without excuse. . . .
When therefore I had seen that these things were brought to pass by God, would you have wished that I should be silent and hide such a dispensation of God as all this? .... The prophets of God, who had been cursed as lying prophets by lying prophets as if by [true] prophets, would not have been distinguished [from the latter], unless they [had] consented to be cursed by lying prophets for the sake of God; the sons of those men would not have been worthy of the glory and the instruction of the prophets if they [had] kept agreement with the lying prophets. Nor would those of the Jews who became / Christians have been saved and rescued if they had kept to the oppressive judgement of their fathers against Christ as if [it had been delivered] by holy and righteous men. They would not have become the apostles of Christ if they had adhered 'to the whole crowd of Jews and to the priests and to the teachers of the law and to the chiefs as [unto true] teachers of the law and prophets. They would not have believed in Christ nor even have died |377 for Christ, if they had supposed death and contempt [to be] not honour but contempt, nor yet would they have now been honoured by the crowds and by chiefs and by lords, if they had not endured death and shame at the hands of chiefs and peoples; they would not have been worthy of such as this on the part of emperors and chiefs and of powers, if they had kept the commands and the laws of emperors and of judges and of chiefs. Our fathers would not have been reckoned orthodox in this and doctors, if they had sought to flee from the condemnation of the Council of the heretics and to say the things which they were saying, and had been hypocrites. We should not have been worthy of the instruction resulting from the labours of these men, if we had accepted without examination the agreement [which was reached], as if by a Council, against them.
And, that I may speak briefly, Meletius and Eustathius 84 would not have been bishops of Antioch, if they had accepted the choice and the judgement / of the Council of the heretics against them, nor would Athanasius 85 be bishop of Alexandria if he were to accept the judgement of those who deprived him without hesitation and as [if it proceeded ] from the orthodox. John 86 would not be bishop of Constantinople, if he were to accept the judgement and the deprivation which was [promulgated] against him without examination as [if it proceeded] from a Council; nor again would Flavian have been bishop of Constantinople, if he were to agree to the pronouncement of the Oecumenical Council which deprived him as a pronouncement [proceeding] from an [Oecumenical] Council. Every one, of whatsoever city it may be, who has suffered therein on my account, would not be giving light, even as the sun, if I |378 had looked towards my accusers and not towards God and [if] also I had not been deemed worthy to be [given a share] in those things, every single one of which had been [brought to pass] by God; for this affair was not mine but Christ's who made me mighty. But every man will give account unto God concerning the things which he has said or brought to pass or done to cause scandal, or [wherein] he has been zealous with all zeal to make scandals to cease; but if, when a man does everything, he who is scandalized is not to be persuaded, let him be scandalized on his own account and not on account of him who says and cries out unto him and is not heard by him.
But, because many were blaming me many times / for not having written unto Leo, bishop of Rome, to teach him all the things which were committed, such as came to pass, and the change of faith, as if unto a man who is correct in his faith, especially when there had been given unto me, [even] unto me, a part of the letter relating to the judgement concerning Flavian and Eutyches, wherein it was revealed that [he feared] not the friendship of [his] majesty, for this reason I wrote not, not because I am a proud man and senseless, but so that I might not hinder from his running him who was running fairly because of the prejudice against my person. But I was content to endure the things whereof they accused me, in order that, while I was accused thereof, they might accept without hindrance the teaching of the Fathers; for I have no word [to say] concerning what was committed against me. And further I wrote not for the purpose that I, to whom for many years there was not one [moment of] repose nor human solace, might not be suspected of surely fleeing from the contest, fearing the labours [thereof]; for sufficient are the wrongs that have come upon the world [and] which are more able than I to make the oppression of the true faith shine forth in the eyes of every man.
But, because thou blamest me as though I have failed to say clearly the things which have occurred, O chief of the saints, / Sophronius, hear therefore also the things which thou |379 knowest and testifiest concerning the truth of the things which are said. For immediately, as indeed thou art persuaded, thou hast first seen that death has carried off the daughter of him who was then reigning,87 and thereafter, thou seest, that demon, the chief of adultery, who cast down the empress with insult and contumely.88 Again [thou seest] that the cities of Africa and of Spain and of Muzicanus and great and glorious islands----I mean Sicily and Rhodes and many other great ones----and Rome itself have been delivered over for spoil unto the barbarian Vandal. 89 Yet there will however be in the first place and at no longer distance [of time] a second coming of the barbarian against Rome itself, during which also Leo, who has indeed held well to the faith but has agreed to the things which these have unjustly committed against me without examination and without judgement, will deliver up with his own hands the divine vessels of the sanctuary into the hands of the barbarians and will see with his [own] eyes the daughters of the emperor who is reigning at that time led into captivity. 90 But I have endured the torment of my life and all my [fate] in this world as the torment of one day and lo! I have now already got me / to [the time of my] dissolution, and daily every day I beseech God to accomplish my dissolution, whose eyes have seen the salvation of God.
Conclusion. Rejoice for me, O desert, my beloved and my foster-parent and the home of my habitation, and my mother |380 [the land of] my exile, who even after my death will guard my body unto the resurrection by the will of God. Amen.
Finished is the writing of the book which is entitled the Bazaar of Heracleides, composed by [him who is] illustrious among the saints and all-blessed, my lord Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, a witness every day and the pride of orthodoxy, a true preacher of the glorious Trinity. And unto Yahweh [be] unfailing glory. Amen.
[Selected footnotes]
3. 4 There is no new paragraph marked here in the Syriac text,
4. 1 See B. J. Kidd, A History of the Church to ad. 461, iii. 202; Cyril, Adv. Nest. i. 5 (Migne, P.G.L. lxxvi. 41 d); and Evagrius, H. E. i. 9. For the text of Eusebius's alleged protest see Labbe (Mansi), iv. 1008.
6. 3 This is presumably the conversation to which Eusebius referred at Constantinople; see Labbe (Mansi), vi. 656 a. No other record of it seems to have survived.
7. 1 Here clearly Eusebius ascribes to Nestorius the teaching commonly known as 'Nestorianism', and is shown to have been mistaken in so doing.
9. 2 The letter to Rome is mentioned in Leo, Ep. xxiv, Labbe (Mansi), v. 1341 b.
15. 1 Cp. Evagrius, H. E. ii. 2; Niccphorus Callistus, H. E. xiv. 47.
17. 3 Viz. the emperor's sister, Pulcheria. She was consistently favourable to Flavian, but from 441-50 she was out of favour with Theodosius who was under the influence of the eunuch Chrysaphius. Flavian had neglected to bribe Chrysaphius, as Eutyches was careful to do. Cp. p. 97, n. 1.
20. 3 Viz. the bishop of Alexandria.
23. 2 Viz. the bishop of Alexandria.
24. 5 Presumably Eudocia. See Nicephorus Callistus, H. E, xiv. 47.
26. 2 Domnus, nephew and successor of John of Antioch.
27. 3 Viz. the bishop of Antioch.
31. 2 Viz. the bishop of Antioch.
32. 1 Literally: 'and then was (or became) hating him'.
37. 7 Literally: 'a letter of love'.
42. 1 Cp. the speech of Eutyches quoted on p. 346, n. 3.
44. 3 Cp. Labbe (Mansi), vi. 644 B-645 B.
47. 2 Literally: 'establishing'.
48. 3 Literally: 'how it was supposed by him'.
49. 4 Cp. Labbe (Mansi), vi. 685 b.
51. 4 I.e. the views which he was accused of holding.
52. 1 Viz. the adherents of Flavian.
53. 2 Viz. the adherents of Eutyches.
54. 3 So the Syriac text, reading 'Atticus' passim for 'Aethericus '.
55. 1 Literally: 'trusted', i.e. (probably) a eunuch; see p. 272, n. 2.
56. 2 I . e. the ὑπομνήματα of Flavian.
57. 3 The following account of the conduct of Aethericus at the Latrocinium is given in the Minutes of the Council of Chalccdon in Labbe (Mansi), vi. 688-9:
63. 1 Cp. the Sacra Lex Theodosii in Labbe (Mansi), v. 417 a.
65. 1 I . e. for those who denied that God the Word was immortal.
67. 3 For these earthquakes see Evagrius, H. E. i. 17; Philostorgius, H. E. xii. 8-10; Nicephorus Callistus, H. E. xiv. 46.
68. 1 The account of the miraculous revelation of the Trisagion is given in John of Damascus, De Orth. Fid. iii. 10, and in Niceph. Callist. H. E. xiv. 46, in a form consistent with Nestorius's references to the matter. For the use of the formula at Chalcedon see Labbe (Mansi), vi. 936 c.
71. 1 Nau translates 'qu'ils avaient tués'; but see Nöldeke, Syriac Grammar, § 277. Eusebius of Dorylaeum had been deposed, but not killed. He was exiled and escaped to Rome where he was welcomed by Leo, who mentions his deposition in Letters lxxix and lxxx, dated 451. See Labbe (Mansi), vi. 907-36, 107 B, 110 B; Liberatus, xii (Galland. xii. 140); Gest. de Nom. Acac. (Galland. x. 668).
72. 2 Theodosius died on July 28th, 450, and was succeeded by his orthodox sister, Pulcheria, who took Marcian as her husband 'vir gravissimus, et non solum reipublicae, sed etiam Ecclesiae necessarius. Huius edictis apostolicae sedis auctoritatem secutis, synodus Ephesina damnatur, et apud Chalcedonem celebrari concilium episcopale decernitur; ut correctis venia mederetur, et pertinaces cum haeresi depellerentur.' Prosper, Chron. in Migne, P. L. li. 602; cp. Chronicon Paschale in Migne, P. G. xcii. 812.
74. 2 The Syriac has: 'as not impious', but the repetition of the negative is probably due to the influence of the Greek original. See p. xiv.
75. 2 I.e. the discussion of the faith.
77. 4 Viz. the Monophysites. Nestorius's point seems to be that in ascribing sufferings to God the Word, the Monophysites deny him consubstantiality with the Father, and thus resemble the Arians. So Nau.
78. 1 Cp. Labbe (Mansi), v. 413-20.
79. 1 Literally: 'the prosôpon of the Romans'.
80. 2 Viz. Celestinus. Nestorius apparently ignores Sixtus III.
82. 4 Dioscorus was deposed and exiled at the Council of Chalcedon. Nestorius shows no knowledge of this, but only mentions earlier precautionary measures. See introd. p. x.
84. 1 Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch, 324-31, returned from Nicaea a strong supporter of the Nicene faith, and was deposed and exiled through the influence of Eusebius of Caesarea in 330 or 331. He died in exile at Philippi in 337.
Meletius, Bishop of Antioch, 361-79, was deposed by Arian influence; the Arian Euzoius was appointed in his place, and schism followed.
85. 2 Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, 326-73, was exiled in 336, 340, 356, and 362.
86. 3 John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, 398-404, was exiled in the latter year through the intrigues of Theophilus of Alexandria.
87. 1 This cannot be Eudoxia, the daughter of Theodosius and Eudocia, for she was still living in 455 (see the Cltronicon Paschale in Migne, P. G. xcii. 817 a), but must be her younger sister Flaccilla, who died in 431. See Du Cange, Hist. Byz. (Paris, 1680), p. 71.
88. 2 Theodosius had Paulinus executed in 444 on suspicion of adultery with the Empress Eudocia; see the Chronicon Paschale, Migne, P. G. xcii. 801-5.
89. 4 According to the Chronicon Paschale (Migne, P. G. xcii. 797 c, 801 a, d). The Vandals entered Africa in 428 and Sicily in 439.
90. 5 John of Malala is probably wrong in placing the capture of Eudoxia and her daughters before the death of Theodosius (Migne, P. G. xcvii. 545). According to the Chronicon Paschale, they were taken by Gensericus who entered Rome in 455 (Migne, P. G. xcii. 816-17), but he was persuaded by Leo to spare the lives of the citizens and the buildings, though the city was plundered and the sacred vessels carried off which Titus had brought from Jerusalem (Prosper, Chronicon, Migne, P. L. li. 605-6).
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