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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 30
Yet the confusion was already not slight. S. Cyril says to a friend of Nestorius;
'[133] There is no one from any city or country, who does not say that these things are in every one's mouth, and, what new learning is being brought into the Churches?'
To Nestorius himself he said, '[134] the books of your exegeses are circulated every where.'
Vanity probably precipitated the condemnation of Nestorius. He had a low estimate of the abilities of S. Celestine.
'[135][ ]The Egyptian [S.Cyril] terrified,' he says, 'by the dread of being convicted, and seeking for some trouble to stand him in stead, betakes himself to Celestine of Rome, as one too simple to penetrate the force of dogmas. Finding moreover the simplicity of that man, he childishly circumvents his ears with the illusions of letters.'
It did not occur to Nestorius that Divine truth is seen by simple piety, not by proud intellect. He was not aware also, that S. Celestine had a deacon who, like S. Athanasius when a deacon at Nicaea, possessed that intuitive perception of truth which was afterwards to be developed on these very subjects; him, who became S. Leo the Great, who entrusted the letters of Nestorius to be translated and refuted by Cassian [136].
To this S. Celestine, of whom he thought so lightly, Nestorius wrote two letters [137], ostensibly to consult him about Julian and other Pelagians, but in reality to propound his own heresy in as plausible a manner as he could. He began by laying down,
'We owe to each other brotherly conference, as having to fight in harmony together against the devil, the enemy of peace. To what end this preface?'
Julian and others, alleging that they were Bishops of the West, complained both to the Emperor and to him, that they were persecuted being orthodox; so he, being in ignorance of the merits of the case, asked S. Celestine to inform him. 'For a new sect claims great watchfulness from true pastors.'
In the second letter, he says that he had 'often'[ ]written about these Pelagian Bishops. He himself might have known (S. Celestine reminds him) since Atticus his predecessor had written to S. Celestine, what he had done in their matter. In both letters, he speaks of his efforts against 'something akin to Apollinarianism:' in his second, that he is at much pains to 'extirpate' it. S. Cyril, in his letter to Juvenal [138], says that Nestorius wrote this letter to the Church of the Romans, hoping to carry it away with him.
133. [p] ad quend. Nestorii studiosum Ep. 7. p. 31.
136. [s] de Christi Tncarnatione adv. Nestorium. Libb. 7.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/cyril-alexandria/against-nestorius.asp?pg=30
