To what this Change
was owing.
The sudden Change in the Emperor, with respect to the Orientals, is ascribed by Acacius Bishop of Berœa, to the Gold that Cyril caused to be prodigally distributed, on this Occasion, among the Courtiers. For Acacius writes, that one of the Eunuchs of the Court, by Name Scholasticus, dying possessed of great Wealth, the Emperor found a Note among his Papers, acknowleging the Receipt of large Sums remitted to him by Paul, Cyril’s Nephew, in Cyril’s Name[[1631]]. It is true, we are not bound to give Credit to Acacius, as Du Pin observes. But in what other Manner can we account for so sudden a Change, for such an inconsistent Method of acting? The Emperor thinks both Parties equally Orthodox, and yet declares Nestorius justly deposed, and restores Cyril and Memnon to their Sees; and that soon after he had appeared more favourable to the Friends of Nestorius than to those of Cyril. To what else could this be owing, if it was not the Effect of Bribery?
The Pope’s Legates, viz. Arcadius, Projectus, and Philippus, the two former Bishops, and the latter a Presbyter, did not arrive at Ephesus till some time after the Condemnation of Nestorius; but they signed the Judgment that had been given against him, being directed by Celestine to agree in all things with Cyril. |Cyril did not preside as the Pope’s Legate.| Cyril presided as Bishop of Alexandria, the first See after that of Rome. While he was absent, Juvenal Bishop of Jerusalem supplied his room; a plain Proof, that he did not preside as the Pope’s Legate; for if he had, his room would not have been supplied by the Bishop of Jerusalem, but by Them. Besides, if Cyril had been vested with the Character of the Pope’s Legate, what Occasion had there been to send Three more? |The Council as-
sembled without the
Approbation of the
Pope.| Bellarmine and Baronius both allow this Council to have been assembled by the Emperor; but with the previous Approbation, say they, and by the Advice of Celestine. That the Council was convened by the Emperor, is past all doubt, it being said, and repeated above twenty times in the Acts, that they were assembled by the Will of the most religious Emperors. But of Celestine not the least mention is ever made by any of the Fathers, not even by Cyril. The above-mentioned Writers found their Assertion on a Letter of St. Austin, and on the Acts of St. Petronius. But both these Pieces are now universally rejected as supposititious.
The whole Dispute
about Words.
As to the Dispute, which occasioned the assembling of this Council, the contending Parties seem to have agreed in the Substance, and to have only quarreled about Words: at least the Emperor thought so, as I have observed above; and, what is more, Nestorius himself. For in the Letter which he writ to Celestine, acquainting him with the Resolution Theodosius had taken of assembling a Council, he only told him, that it was for some important Affairs of the Church; adding, that as to the Dispute between him and the Bishop of Alexandria, it was not a Matter of such mighty Moment, as to require the Decision of an Oecumenical Council. And truly both Nestorius and Cyril, so far as we can judge from their own Words, acknowleged One Person in Christ, and Two Natures, the Natures distinct, but inseparably united; which was the Catholic Belief. Now the Subject of the Dispute was, whether, in virtue of that Union between the Human and Divine Nature, the Properties of the former might, or might not, be ascribed to God, and those of the latter to Man. The Negative was maintained by Nestorius, and the Affirmative by Cyril; the one rejecting as blasphemous, and the other admitting as orthodox, the following Expressions; God was born, God suffered, God died, Mary was the Mother of God; which was plainly disputing about Words only, or Expressions. It is true, Cyril charged Nestorius with the Doctrine of Paul of Samosata, for rejecting them; and Nestorius, Cyril with that of Apollinaris, for admitting them; but neither owned the Tenets, that were by the other ascribed to him: so that Cyril was only a Heretic of Nestorius’s making, and Nestorius of Cyril’s: Nestorius acknowleged a real Union between the Two Natures in Christ, and Cyril a real Distinction. But they did not, and, perhaps, when they were once warmed with disputing, would not, understand one another. |Nestorianism an
imaginary Heresy.| Nestorianism, says a modern Roman Catholic Writer[[1632]], is but an imaginary Heresy. Had Nestorius and St. Cyril understood one another, they had agreed, and prevented the Scandal which their quarreling brought on the Church. But the Greeks have always been great Disputants; and it was by them that most of the first Heresies were broached. The Subject of their Disputes was, generally speaking, some metaphysical Speculation; and their Method of handling it arrant Chicanery. From equivocal Terms they drew false Inferences, and from Inferences passed to Injuries. Thus they became irreconcileable Enemies, and, forgetting Truth, sought only to hurt one another. Had they but coolly explained their Thoughts, they had found that in most Cases no room was left, on either Side, for the Imputation of Heresy.
Nestorius and Cyril
agree in the Sub-
stance.
In the present Dispute Cyril, the more to oppose, or rather to provoke, Nestorius, affected to use, on all Occasions, not only the Expressions, which I have mentioned above, but others that seem to involve a still more apparent Contradiction; viz. The Eternal was born in Time, the Impassible suffered, the Immortal died, Life died. At these Expressions the Orientals were no less shocked than Nestorius; and therefore separating themselves from the Communion of Cyril, whom they concluded to have fallen into the Errors of Apollinaris, they insisted upon his either condemning or explaining the Expressions he used, before they would admit him to their Communion, or any, who communicated with him. He chose the latter; and then it appeared, that they had been all fighting the whole time in the Dark; for by those Expressions Cyril meant no more, than that Christ, who was God, was born, suffered, and died; that Mary was the Mother of Christ, who was God; the very Doctrine and Expressions which Nestorius had been all along contending for, and Cyril had been combating with so much Warmth. But Nestorius was already deposed by the Faction of Cyril, and Maximus chosen and ordained Bishop of Constantinople in his room.
What meant by the
Communication of
Idioms.
The Expressions of Cyril were approved by the Council of Ephesus, and have therefore been adopted by the Church of Rome. But her Schoolmen, well apprised of the Objections to which they are liable, to excuse them from Blasphemy, have been obliged to recur to what they call a Communication of Idioms, in virtue of which the Properties of both Natures, say they, may be ascribed to the Hypostasis or Person, in whom both Natures were united. Thus we may say, according to them, God was born, God suffered, because the Person, who was God, was born, and suffered. Thus indeed they excuse the Expressions of Cyril from Blasphemy: but still it must be owned, that the Expressions used by Nestorius, Christ was born, Christ suffered, Christ died, were at least far more proper. |The Expressions of
Nestorius more pro-
per than those of
Cyril.| For, after all, this Communication of Idioms is, in Fact, nothing else but a rhetorical Figure: so that Cyril spoke like an Orator, and Nestorius like a Philosopher: the Expressions of the former were, in a strict Sense, false and blasphemous; those of the latter, in the strictest Sense, true and orthodox. Tropes and Figures serve only to disguise the Truth, to lead Men into Errors, and therefore ought to be laid aside by all who seriously inquire after Truth, or explain it to others. I shall conclude with observing, that if by a Communication of Idioms the Properties of the Human and Divine Nature may be ascribed to the Person, in whom those two Natures were united; the Properties of the Body and Soul might, by a like Communication, be ascribed to the Person, in whom the Body and Soul are united: so that it might be said, with as much Propriety, Man is immortal, Man will never die, because the Soul is immortal, and will never die, as God was mortal, God died, because the Humanity was mortal and died. The Case is parallel, and the Communication of Idioms must justify both Expressions, or neither.
A particular Reason
for rejecting the Title
of Mother of God.