Nestorius, The Bazaar of Heracleides (1925) pp. 96-130. Book 1. Part 3.
BOOK I. PART III.
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, 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; and therefore I keep silence about 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 ... . I shall meet Apollinarius and his dogma. What he holds thou knowest not. However to those who know not I say: Him 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 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, / [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. 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 . . . . 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. 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 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 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 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 . . . . 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.
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. 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 . . . . these things of his might vanish and be dispersed.
The rest of the letter of Cyril.
Read then the copy, and its return...... 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 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 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 .
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 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 of 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |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, 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 .
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 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 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.
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 of the Emperor.
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.