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Translated by P. E. Pusey
St Cyril of Alexandria Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 115 Pages
Page 16
It appears to have been a tradition of heresy over against the tradition of faith. Of the last two stages of the heretical tradition there is no doubt. Of both it is clear from the fragments of their writings still extant. S. Cyril speaks fully as to Diodore of Tarsus [66], 'by whose books,' he says, 'the mind of Nestorius was darkened.' Leontius says [67], that 'Diodorus had been to Theodorus the author and leader and father of those evils and impieties.' In the 9th century the Nestorians counted Diodorus, Theodorus and Nestorius their 'three fathers.' A Nestorian Patriarch elect promised, ' [68] that he would adhere to the true [Nestorian] faith, and the Synods of East and West, and the three fathers, Diodorus, Theodorus, Nestorius.' An eminent Syrian writer in the century after S. Cyril, Simeon Bishop of Beth-arsham (who had the title of honour of, 'the Persian Preacher or Philosopher ') says, that Paul of Samosata derived his heresy through Artemon from Ebion; that Diodore derived his from Paul, and Theodore from Diodore and Paul [69]. Theodore held the true faith of the Holy Trinity, which Paul did not; but the heresy on the Incarnation was in much alike.
In an Adjuration publicly put forth by the Clergy of Constantinople at the beginning of the Nestorian heresy and published in a Church, a parellel was drawn between the teaching of Nestorius and that of Paul of Samosata on the doctrine of the Incarnation. The parallel ran [70];
Paul said, 'Mary did not hear the Word;' Nestorius, in harmony, said, 'Mary, my good man, did not bear the Godhead;' [the Anathema approved by Nestorius denied that 'Mary bare God' not 'the Godhead.'] Paul, 'For he was not before ages.' Nestorius,---- 'And he assigns a temporal Mother to the Godhead, the Creator of times.' Paul, 'Mary received the Word and is not older than the Word.' 'Nestorius, 'How then did Mary bear Him Who is older than herself?' Paul, 'Mary bore a man like unto us.' Nestorius, 'He Who was born of the Virgin is man.' Paul,---- 'but a man in all things superior, since He is from the Holy Ghost, and from the promises, and from the Scripture is the grace upon Him.' Nestorius said, 'It saith, "I saw the Spirit descending like a dove upon Him and abiding on Him," which bestowed upon Him the Ascension. "Commanding, it saith, the Apostles whom He had chosen He was taken up through the Holy Ghost." This then it was, which conferred on Christ such glory.' Paul said, 'that neither He Who is of David having been anointed be alien from Wisdom, nor that Wisdom should dwell in any other in like way, for it was in the Prophets and yet more in Moses and in many Saints, and yet more in Christ as in the Temple of God.' And elsewhere he says, that 'other is Jesus Christ and other the Word.' Nestorius said, 'That it was not possible that He Who was born before all ages should anew be born, and that, according to the Godhead.' See, the transgressor is made manifest, saying, that He Who was begotten of the Father was not born of Mary. See, he agrees with the heretic Paul of Samosata who says that 'Other is the Word and other Jesus Christ' and is not one, as the right Faith teaches.
66. [t] Ep. 1 ad Succens. p. 135. d e: see below p. 321 note. Photius saw it in various writings of his, "These were contained therein [in the codex] various essays of Diodore of Tarsus on the Holy Spirit, in which he too is convicted of having been sick beforehand with the disease of Nestorius." cod. 102 p. 86. Bekk.
67. [u] Contr. Nest. et Eutych. L. iii. de Nestorianorum impietate secrcto tradita principio. Bibl. Patr. T. ix. p. 696.
68. [x] Assem. B. O. iii. 1. p. (233 arab.) 236.
69. [y] Assem. B. 0. i. 347, 348. quoted in Card. Newman's Arians of the 4th. Cent. p. 24. ed. 4.
70. [z] Contestatio publice proposita &c. Conc. Eph. P. i. n. 13.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/cyril-alexandria/against-nestorius.asp?pg=16
