Nestorius, The Bazaar of Heracleides (1925) Preface to the online edition
Here are a few notes compiled from Bedjan and Nau, which may supplement the information in the translation presented here.
I. Life of Nestorius (by Paul Bedjan)
Bedjan gives a summary of the life of Nestorius. Material in quotes is from a Syriac Life supposed by Nestorius himself, which he found in a Persian manuscript, and of which he says, "it was made from manuscript 134 of the library of the American missionaries at Ourmiah. The manuscript was written in 1558 AD." Page references are to this manuscript. I have translated Bedjan's words fairly literally.
Nestorius was born at Maras in Turkey (then Germanicia, in the province of Syria Euphratensis). His teacher was Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia. He embraced the monastic life at Antioch, where he had been ordained priest.
When he was called to the see of Constantinople in 428, he delayed his journey for two days, which he spent with his master. On their parting, Theodore said to him, "My son, I know you; I know that no woman has ever brought into the world a man so zealous as you; this is why I counsel you to moderate your zeal against the opinions of others . . . I rejoice in your enthusiasm, but I will be grieved if you perish at the hands of wicked men."
Nestorius made the presumptuous reply, "Master, why do you speak thus? If I lived in the times of our Lord, he would answer you: 'do you others also wish to depart?' The advent of our Lord is all we need to eat; the stomach that can digest this is nourished; that which does not is uncomfortable."
After he arrived at Constantinople he was consecrated bishop on 10th April 428, and, ascending his episcopal throne for the first time, he addressed the following famous words to the emperor, "Sire, give me your empire purged of heretics and I will give you the kingdom of Heaven. Give me power over the heretics, and I, I will subjugate the Persians who make war on you."
"The inhabitants of the city, hearing this bombast, were very annoyed. But Nestorius, five days later, gave the order to set fire to the churches of the Arians. Many houses also were caught in the flames, which was a great affliction to the people."
Nestorius boasts however of being very patient with the heretics.
"He abolished the circus games, the theatres, prohibited shouting, singing, dancing and the other amusements to which the Romans were devoted. This made him hated in the city.
"After Nestorius had the ornaments which the emperor's sister Pulcheria had given to the church removed, under the pretext that she had not completed what she had promised, she lent her influence to Cyril against him. Nestorius then had the portrait of her which was painted in the church effaced."
Nestorius says that he resigned as bishop of Constantinople. This is confirmed by the author of his life, who adds, "the tribune John was sent to Ephesus and presented the resignation to the emperor, who accepted it, and the seven bishops then returned home."
"After his resignation, he obtained as a great favour permission to return to his monastic cell at Antioch, and stayed there for four years. He was not unknown: his convent was close to the city, and the inhabitants visited him for instruction. The patriarch John became jealous of his popularity and wrote to the emperor. 'A woman cannot be the wife of two husbands,' he says symbolically, 'that is to say, a city cannot have two bishops. If Nestorius is to reside here, order that I be sent elsewhere.' The emperor, at the instigation of his sister Pulcheria, then sent him [Nestorius] into exile at the Oasis," in the Thebaid.
The history of the church does not mention this jealousy of John of Antioch, but it tells of the evil that the insubordination of Nestorius caused in the people who were sent to him, an insubordination in which he behaved increasingly like a heresiarch. This led the patriarch and the bishops of the East to make peace and union with those of Alexandria, a year after the Council of Ephesus, in condemning Nestorius and his teaching.
"After the death of Theodosius, Marcian was chosen emperor; he recalled Nestorius and the 26 bishops who were exiled at the same time with him. To his friends, who urged him to return, Nestorius replied, 'The desert pleases me by its aridity.'" (p.521)
The church histories and this Syriac biography agree that Nestorius only held the see of Constantinople for 3 years; he lived in a cell at Antioch then for 4 or 5 years; in exile in the Thebaid for 15 years. In the Bazaar he speaks of the death of Theodosius on the 28th July 450 AD. The author of his life, together with Zacharias Rhetor (according to Philoxenus of Mabbug, Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis II, p. 40, 55) pretends that he was called to the council convoked on the 17th May 451 AD. If we believe these statements, Nestorius must have lived in Africa from 436 to 451, which would be the year of his death.
Assemani correctly denies this famous invitation of Nestorius to the council. The idea was an invention of the Monophysites, in hatred of the Catholic Church and St. Leo, who sought to represent all that happened there as Nestorian. In fact the celebrated council of Chalcedon again condemned Nestorius as a heretic.
The Bazaar speaks explicitly of the death of Theodosius (p. 506), but makes no mention of Marcian who succeeded him on the 24th August, that is to say 27 days later. Had Nestorius really been invited to Chalcedon, he would certainly have boasted of it in his writings, as despite repeated condemnations over 20 years, he continued always to complain that he was being misrepresented!
On the next to last page of the Bazaar , the author speaks of the Vandal barbarians who had invaded Sicily and even Rome. He adds with the air of a prophet that they will return, that Leo will be obliged to give them the sacred vessels with his own hands, and that he will see with his own eyes the princesses, the daughters of the emperor, led into captivity. Here Nestorius, who knew the celebrated letter of Leo and who speaks at such length of the Robber-synod of Ephesus in 449, is silent about Marcian, silent about the Council of Chalcedon at which he was again condemned, and mentions only two invasions of Rome by the barbarians. History tells us that Attila invaded Italy in 452, and was turned back by Leo; that Genseric came from Africa via Sicily and pillaged Rome in 455 and captured two imperial princesses. For these reasons it is necessary to believe that these great events were added after the event by a forger who wanted to give the halo of a prophet to the founder of the sect. In the manuscript, indeed, this last chapter has the title "Prophecy."
All this leads us to suppose that Nestorius died in 450 or 451.
A longer biography is given by Nau, with references.
II. The manuscript
The information that we have is rather unsatisfactory. Bedjan writes:
Nestorius wrote in Greek. His works were condemned to be burned, so only a few sermons and letters have reached us, in either Greek or Latin. In the catalogue of Syriac writers drawn up by Ebedjesu, bishop of Nisibis, at the end of the 13th century, we see that Nestorius' work On Tragedy , his Heracleides , his letter to Come, his liturgy, a volume of letters, and another of sermons still existed in Syriac translation. Today only his liturgy and the Bazaar survive.