Nestorius, foreseeing the Storm that the Dispute between him and Cyril was likely to raise in the Church, had, in order to prevent it, applied to the Emperor Theodosius for the assembling an Oecumenical Council, even before he received the Letters of Celestine and Cyril, which I have mentioned above; and, upon his Application, the Emperor had summoned a Council to meet at Ephesus by Whitsuntide of the following Year 431. The Letter, which Theodosius writ on that Occasion, was dated the 19th of November 430. and addressed to all the Metropolitans, who were thereby injoined to attend at the Place and Time appointed, and bring with them such of their Suffragans as might be well spared from the Service of the Churches in their respective Provinces. |His Letter to Cyril.| Besides the circular Letter to all Metropolitans in common, Theodosius writ to Cyril in particular, to let him know that he looked upon him as the sole Author of the present Disturbances, and therefore expected that he would not fail to attend the Council at the time appointed; that from him he would admit of no Excuse; that his punctual Compliance with the present Order was the only means of regaining his Favour, and inclining him to think that it was not any private Pique, or Animosity, but a Persuasion that he was defending the Truth, which had prompted him to act, as he had hitherto done, so contrary to all the Rules of Modesty and Discretion. In the same Letter he reproaches Cyril, and in the sharpest Terms, with Pride, Arrogance, and Presumption; and even charges him with having attempted to sow Divisions in the Imperial Family. But this Charge was groundless, having no other Foundation, but Cyril’s having written apart to Pulcheria and her Sisters, which the Emperor supposed to have been done with a Design to raise a Misunderstanding between him and them[[1621]].
Irregular Proceedings
of the Council.
The Council met at the Time and Place appointed, pursuant to the Emperor’s Orders. But every thing was transacted in that Assembly so contrary to all the Rules of Justice, and even of Decency, with so much Prejudice and Animosity, that they seemed to be all actuated by the Spirit of Cyril, and to have met with no other View than to gratify his private Passion and Revenge. Cyril presided, who was the Party concerned, and the avowed Enemy of Nestorius. They began their Sessions before the Arrival of John of Antioch, and the Bishops of that Patriarchate, who were supposed to favour Nestorius, though they had certain Intelligence of their being within a sew Days Journey of Ephesus; nay, they would not even wait for the Pope’s Legates, and a good Number of Bishops who were coming from Italy, and the Island of Sicily. Nestorius, and Count Candidianus, whom the Emperor had sent to assist at the Council in his Name, earnestly begged them to put off the Sessions only for Four Days longer, assuring them that John and his Suffragans would reach Ephesus within that Time. But all in vain: they were determined to condemn Nestorius, right or wrong; and therefore could by no means be prevailed upon to wait the Arrival of those who, they apprehended, would oppose, and perhaps might intirely defeat the End for which alone they seemed to believe they had been assembled. Nestorius was summoned to appear the very next Day, and clear himself before the Council of the impious Doctrine with which he was charged. He refused to comply till the Orientals, that is, those of the Patriarchate of Antioch, were arrived; and, upon that Refusal, the Council met very early next Morning, read all his Letters and Homilies, condemned the Doctrine they contained, approved the Doctrine of Cyril, whose Letters were likewise read; and closed this very remarkable Session with pronouncing Sentence of Deposition and Excommunication against Nestorius, in the following Terms; |The Sentence they pronounced against Nestorius.| Our Lord Jesus Christ, against whom the most wicked Nestorius has leveled his Blasphemies, declares him, by the Mouth of this Council, deprived of the Episcopal Dignity, and cut off from the Communion of the Episcopal Order[[1622]]. This Sentence was signed by all the Bishops who were present, pasted up in the most public Places of Ephesus, and notified to all the Inhabitants by the Criers of the City. It was no sooner known than the whole City resounded with loud Shouts of Joy, the Streets were illuminated, and the People, crouding to the Church where the Council was held, attended the Bishops, with lighted Torches in their Hands, and great Acclamations, to their respective Habitations, the Women walking before them, and burning Perfumes[[1623]]. It had been as dangerous for Nestorius to shew himself in Ephesus, at this Juncture, as it was formerly for St. Paul, the Ephesians being no less devoted now to the Virgin Mary than they were in the Apostle’s Time to their great Diana, and their Superstition no less mischievous, though the Object was changed. The Virgin Mary was the Patroness of Ephesus, the Ephesians believing then that they possessed her Body. But it is now believed by the Church of Rome, that she was taken up Soul and Body into Heaven, and the Festival of her Assumption is kept with great Solemnity on the 15th of August, being preceded by a Vigil or Fast. |In what terms they acquainted Nestorius with the Sentence pronounced against him.| The Council took care to acquaint Nestorius with the Sentence which they had pronounced against him; and the Note, which they writ to him on that Occasion, shews but too plainly, that they were swayed in all they did by Passion alone. For the Note was thus directed; To Nestorius a second Judas[[1624]].
Such is the Account which the Antients give us of the First Oecumenical Council of Ephesus, one of the Four, which Gregory the Great received with as much Veneration as the Four Gospels[[1625]]. |The Council of Ephesus unworthy of that Name.| But notwithstanding his Authority, we may, perhaps, with more Truth, apply to this Council than to any other what Nazianzen writ of the Councils of his Time; viz. that he had never seen an Assembly of Bishops that ended well; that, by assembling, they had always heightened rather than cured the Evil; that in such Assemblies, Passion, Jealousy, Prejudice, Envy, the Desire of Victory generally prevailed; and that those who took upon them to judge others, were, generally speaking, swayed by some private Grudge, their Zeal being owing more to the Ill-will which they bore to the Criminals, than the Aversion which they had to their Crimes[[1626]]. As to the present Assembly, it may be justly questioned whether it deserves the Name of a Council, or ought not rather to be styled a seditious and tumultuary Conventicle of Men, assembled with no other View but to revenge the private Quarrel of their Head and Leader. For they met against the Will of the Imperial Commissioner Count Candidianus, who represented the Person of the Emperor; nay, upon his acquainting them, that it was the Will of the Emperor they should wait the Arrival of the Oriental and Western Bishops, they drove him by Force out of the Assembly. |Is protested against by the Imperial Commissioner and Seventy-six Bishops.| Candidianus, seeing the Emperor’s Orders thus trampled under foot by the riotous Bishops, entered a Protest against their Proceedings, and declared them null. This Protest was addressed, To Cyril, and the Bishops assembled with him[[1627]]. Nestorius likewise, Seven Bishops who were assembled with him, and Sixty-eight more, all protested against the Meeting of the Council till the Arrival of the Orientals: so that Seventy-six Bishops, who were then actually in Ephesus, protested against, and absented themselves from the Council. |They act contrary to all Rules of Justice and Religion.| As therefore neither the Orientals, nor the Western Bishops, were yet come, the Assembly was composed only of Egyptians and Asiatics, who were intirely devoted to Cyril. But how irregular soever their Meeting was, their Method of acting, after they met, was no less irregular. Cyril, who was the Party concerned, and the avowed Enemy of Nestorius, received the Depositions against him, examined the Witnesses, gave what Explication he pleased to his Words, and delivered his Opinion the first; which was acting in open Contradiction to the known Laws of Justice and Religion. In the first Session several Things were transacted, that might have given full Employment for several Sessions. How could they examine, in so short a time, the Twelve Propositions which Cyril required Nestorius to anathematize, Propositions that were capable of so many different Interpretations, that were afterwards so differently interpreted, and occasioned endless Quarrels and Disputes, some admitting them as Catholic, and rejecting the opposite Propositions as heretical; others admitting the opposite Propositions as Catholic, and rejecting them as heretical, without being able to agree in any thing else but in anathematizing and cursing each other? How could they compare the many Passages out of the Homilies of Nestorius, with the different Contexts, in order to find out his true Meaning? To examine so many different Propositions, all relating to a Subject above our Comprehension, and in Terms hardly intelligible to the most speculative Understanding, to declare which were Heterodox, and which Orthodox, which were agreeable, and which disagreeable, to the Doctrine of the Fathers (for the Scripture was out of the Question), and all this in a few Hours, was, it must be owned, a most wondrous Performance. But the Orientals were at hand: John of Antioch was a Man of great Credit: it was apprehended, that the many Bishops, who were then in Ephesus, and had absented themselves from the Council, might join him, and he Nestorius. Dispatch was therefore to be used, and the Business of many Sessions transacted in one, that Cyril might have his full Revenge before their Arrival.
The Conduct of Cyril
sharply censured by
his greatest Friends.
It was in this Light that the Conduct of Cyril and the other Bishops appeared to St. Isidore of Pelusium, a Prelate of great Learning and Sagacity, and one who professed a particular Friendship for Cyril. For, being informed of what had passed at Ephesus, he was so shocked at the Conduct of his Friend, that he could not help censuring it with great Severity. Your Conduct, said he, in a private Letter to him, and the Tragedy which you have lately acted at Ephesus, are Matter of great Surprise to some, and Diversion to others. It is publicly said, that you sought only to be revenged on your Enemies, and that you have therein imitated your Uncle Theophilus; and, indeed, though the Persons accused may be different, the Conduct of the Accusers is the same. You had better have continued quiet, than revenged your private Injuries at the Expence of the public Peace, and Tranquillity of the Church, by sowing Dissensions among her Members, under the Colour of Piety and Religion[[1628]]. Theophilus, whom Isidore mentions in his Letter, was Bishop of Alexandria, Uncle to Cyril, and at the Head of the Faction that deposed Chrysostom[[1629]].
The Orientals arrive.
Five Days after the Deposition of Nestorius, John of Antioch and the Orientals arrived; and great was their Surprize, when they were informed by Count Candidianus, who came to wait on them, of what had passed. John had always advised Nestorius to allow the Title of Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, for the sake of Peace; but could not think him an Heretic for disputing it. But, as to the Doctrine of Cyril, he looked upon it as rank Apollinarism; and, as such, had caused it to be confuted. |They insist upon the Points that had been so hastily decided, to be examined anew. Which being refused by Cyril, they assemble apart.| No wonder, therefore, if, upon hearing that the Doctrine of Cyril had been declared Catholic, that the Doctrine of Nestorius had been condemned as Heretical, and he excommunicated and deposed for holding it, he insisted, as he did, upon their agreeing to have those Points examined anew, and more maturely, before he would assist at the Council. This Demand he thought the more reasonable, as Cyril had assured him, by a Letter dated but Two Days before the Meeting of the Council, that they should not meet till his Arrival. But Cyril, as we may well imagine, would by no means consent to it; which so provoked John, that, after several expostulatory Letters between him and Cyril, he assembled, at last, his Orientals apart, and, with them, such as adhered to him, about Fifty in all. In this new Council, the Proceedings of the other were examined; and, being found repugnant to the Canons, and owing merely to Rancour and Passion, they were, by the whole Assembly, with one Voice, declared null. |The Two Councils
anathematize and
excommunicate one
another.| The Orientals did not stop here; but, after a strict Examination of the Doctrine of Cyril, they declared it Heretical; and, in virtue of that Declaration, pronounced Sentence of Excommunication and Deposition against him, against Memnon Bishop of Ephesus, a zealous Stickler for his Doctrine, and against all the Bishops who should communicate with either, till they had publicly retracted their Errors. The Blow was soon returned by Cyril, and those who sided with him; the Orientals were all declared Nestorians, and, with Nestorius, deposed, excommunicated, anathematized. |Both recur to
the Emperor.| War being thus declared between the Two Councils, Expresses were immediately dispatched, by both, to the Emperor, and their Friends at Court; for they were both sensible, that the Doctrine of those, who had most Friends there, would, in the End, prove the most Orthodox. The Emperor read, with great Attention, the Accounts transmitted to him by both Parties, and would have approved and confirmed the Proceedings of the Orientals, had he not been diverted from it, first by his Physician named John, and afterwards by Acacius Bishop of Berœa, who happened to be then at Court. |He approves the
Deposition of Nest-
orius, Cyril, and
Memnon.| For the present Theodosius contented himself with approving the Deposition of Nestorius, of Cyril, and of Memnon, who, he said, well deserved such a Punishment, as being the chief Authors of the present Disturbances; for, as to their Faith, he added, I believe they are all Three alike Orthodox. Which was true; and more than both Councils had been able to find out.
All three arrested
by the Emperor’s Order,
who endeavours, in
vain, to reconcile
the Bishops.
The Emperor, having taken this Resolution, dispatched Count John to Ephesus, with Orders to drive the Three Incendiaries, Nestorius, Cyril, and Memnon, out of the City, and persuade the Bishops to assemble in One Council. Count John, soon after his Arrival, caused the Three Bishops to be arrested and confined; but could by no means bring about an Accommodation between the Two Parties; the Orientals obstinately refusing to communicate with the Friends of Cyril, till they had anathematized his Doctrine; and his Friends no less obstinately requiring the Orientals to anathematize the Doctrine of Nestorius, before they would communicate with them; so that John was obliged in the End, notwithstanding all the Pains he took, to acquaint the Emperor, that he had found the Minds of the Bishops so soured and exasperated against one another, that it was impossible ever to reconcile them. |He orders both
Councils to send a
certain Number of
Deputies to Con-
stantinople.| The Emperor, upon the Receipt of his Letter, dispatched an Order to both Councils, injoining them to send a certain Number of Deputies, both the same Number, to Constantinople, where he proposed to have the Points in Dispute impartially examined. In Compliance with this Order, the Two Councils sent each Eight Deputies, who immediately set out, with proper Instructions, for Constantinople; but, arriving at Chalcedon, on the opposite Side of the Bosporus, they were stopped there, by an Order from the Emperor, it not being thought safe for the Orientals to enter Constantinople, the Monks, who were very numerous in that City, having prejudiced the Populace against them. |He hears them at Chalcedon.| They arrived at Chalcedon in the latter End of August; and, on the 4th of September, the Emperor came to the Palace of Ruffinus, in that Neighbourhood, and there heard both Parties, with great Patience. |Is, at first, favourable
to the Orientals and
Nestorius; but after-
wards declares
against them.| He was, at first, so favourable to the Orientals, that they thought themselves sure of Victory; and even writ to their Friends at Ephesus, desiring them to thank him for the Kindness he had shewn them. But, to their great Surprize, the Face of Affairs changed at once. They had been already admitted Four times to the Emperor’s Presence, and heard by him with much Kindness: but, in the Fifth Audience, which they thought would complete their Triumph, the Emperor, after receiving them with great Coolness, told them, abruptly, that they had better admit both Memnon and Cyril to their Communion, and abandon the Defence of Nestorius. They were thunderstruck with such a Proposal, and strongly remonstrated against it. But Theodosius, deaf to their Remonstrances, returned the next Day to Constantinople, carrying with him the Deputies of the adverse Party, in order to have a new Bishop ordained by them, in the room of Nestorius. Soon after his Return, he issued an Edict, declaring Nestorius justly deposed, reinstating Cyril and Memnon in their Sees, and giving all the other Bishops Leave to return to their respective Churches, they being all alike Orthodox[[1630]]. This was declaring the Council dissolved; and it was dissolved accordingly; but the Disturbances which it occasioned, were not composed till many Years after.