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Excerpts from books II and III, Translated by P. E. Pusey.
St Cyril of Alexandria Resources Online and in Print
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17 Pages
Page 8
Theodore from the same book.
" ' [19][ ]But if (he says) it were flesh which was crucified, how does the sun turn away his rays, and darkness and earthquakes overpower the whole earth and were the rocks rent and the dead arose?' What then do they say of the darkness that happened in Egypt in the time of Moses, not for three hours but for three days? what of the other miracles which were wrought through Moses and through Jesus the son of Nave who made the sun stand, which sun under king Ezechias even went back against nature? and of the remains of Eliseus which raised a dead man? For if what things befell in the time of the Cross shew that God the Word suffered, and they allow not that the things were wrought for the sake of a man: the things too which happened in the time of Moses for the sake of Abraham's race and those in the time of Jesus son of Nave and of king Ezechias will not be. But if those miracles were wrought for the sake of the people of the Jews, much more those on the cross for the sake of God the Word's temple."
CYRIL.
The [20] heaven is astonished for this and has quaked exceeding vehemently, saith the Lord. O wickedness past endurance! o tongue that speaks iniquity against God and mind that lifteth up its horn on high! seems it little to thee that the Lord of glory is fixed to the wood? Whom THOU sayest is neither true Son nor God, but WE believe that He is truly Son and G od, Creator and Maker of all things. For neither was God the Word Which is out of God the Father man simply but in human form, not suffering translation or change into flesh, but rather united thereto according to the faith of the holy Scriptures. He it is Who suffered in the flesh and hung on the wood, wrought miracles in Egypt, manifesting His glory through the all-wise Moses.
Theodore from the same book.
"Son [21] by grace he who is man out of Mary, by Nature God the Word. But what is by grace is not by nature and what is by nature is not by grace. There are not two sons. Be these enough for the body which is of us, sonship by grace, glory, immortality, whereby it is made the Temple of God the Word; be it not raised above its nature and let not God the Word in place of the thanksgiving due from us be wronged. And what is the wrong? to combine Him with a body and to suppose that He needed a body for perfect sonship. Nor does God the Word Himself please that He should be David's son, but lord; but that the body should be called son of David, He not only does not grudge but even came for this very end." [22]
19. [s] In these first words Theodore is citing an Apollinarian objection: compare with the passage S. Cyril's words against Nestorins, above pp. 175, 176. This whole passage is cited in the fourth collation of the Council amid other extracts of Theodore with an allusion to this work of S. Cyril in its title, The same from his book against the Synousiasts or Apollinarians which the blessed Cyril both put forward and answered, t. vi. p. 54. ed. Col. S. Cyril's citation of it and reply comes further on in the fifth collation p. 69 Col. and being a startling passage, part of it is cited (as n. 29) in Pope Vigilius' constitutum, Conc. v. 1334.
20. [t] This piece is also preserved in Syriac by Severus, in his treatise against John the Grammarian in the British Museum MS. 12157 fol. 215 with the title, The same from the first Book of what he wrote against Theodore of Mopsuestia fighting against God.
21. [u] This is also extant, in a different translation, in Leontius Byzant. against Nestorius and Eutyches Book 3, with the title, The same [Dioodore] from the same book [1 against the Synousiasts]. Gallandi, Bibl. Vet. Patrum, xii. 696. see above p. 343 note q. In the fourth collation of the Council it is cited with the title, The same Theodore, what S. Cyril put forth and answered, t. vi. 57 Col. Pope Vigilius likewise has it as n. 45 in his Constitutum, t. v. 1340. For quo, whereby it is made &c, the fourth collation gives quia, for that, Leontius, et quod, and that. The words, 'to suppose that He needs a body for perfect sonship,' belong to the Apollinarian error which Theodore is opposing: the next words are those of Theodore's own error.
22. See statement of Apollinarian errors, below p. 363 note b.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/cyril-alexandria/against-theodore-mopsuestia.asp?pg=8
