Council of ephesus. CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Council of Ephesus 2019-01-25
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The Council of Ephesus
And we show forth our diligence in preaching the same doctrines that they taught, beside which, according to the admonition of the Apostle, we are forbidden to add anything. Cyril also determined that since Nestorius had not recanted within the ten days fixed by the , he should be treated as being excommunicated. To them therefore to whom this preaching of the was , to them also let your defense of the same also be. By reading in a superficial way the tradition of those holy men you were guilty of a pardonable ignorance , you concluded that they said that the Word who is coeternal with the Father was passible. The whole business had been concluded in a single long session, and it was evening when the result was known.
What sort of offering would he need then since there was no sin for which offering might rightly be made? Why should he who submitted himself to voluntary self-emptying for our sake, reject expressions that are suitable for such self-emptying? But one thing in particular, and that indeed one of great importance, We specially desire that all should implore, under the auspices of the heavenly Queen. Yet we are not that while he remained , he also became man and subject to , according to the law suitable to the of the manhood. The Holy Synod said: Since Arcadius and Projectus the most reverend and most religious bishops and legates and Philip, the presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See, have said that they are of the same mind with us, it only remains, that they redeem their promises and confirm the acts with their signatures, and then let the minutes of the acts be shewn to them. So we shall confess one Christ and one Lord. The vigorous and zealous execution of all these decrees is enjoined upon the reverent bishops Valerian and Amphilochius and the other reverent bishops throughout the whole province. Nor can this point of Catholic truth be disputed on the ground that, if our Redeemer had no human person, then it would seem that some perfection would be wanting to His human nature, which would make Him as man less than we are. And assuredly, the same great Mother of God looked down from heaven on this spectacle, and smiling sweetly on these her children of Ephesus, and on all the faithful Christians throughout the Catholic world, who had been disturbed by the snares of the Nestorian heresy, embraced them with her most present aid and her motherly affection.
Dionysius expressly calls Mary h mhthr tou Qeou mou Contr. The letter began as follows: katafluarousi men , ws akouw , k t. It is not permitted to produce or write or compose any other creed except the one which was defined by the holy fathers who were gathered together in the holy Spirit at Nicaea. When the Eastern bishops more sympathetic to Nestorius arrived and learned that the council summoned by Emperor had been started without them, they set up a rival synod under and excommunicated Memnon, bishop of Ephesus, along with Cyril. But it was right that he, if he could truly prove the before-mentioned holy men to be heretics, both should come and prove the truth of that which, accepted as a true and indubitable crime, induced the temerarious sentence against them. As to the evangelical and apostolic expressions about the Lord, we know that theologians treat some in common as of one person and distinguish others as of two natures, and interpret the god-befitting ones in connection with the godhead of Christ and the lowly ones with his humanity.
On the other hand there was read the letter of , which was written to the already mentioned most and reverend brother of ours and fellow-minister, Cyril, and the Holy Synod was of opinion that those things which were taught in it were wholly alien from the Apostolic and Evangelical , sick with many and strange. For it is absurd and stupid to speak of the one who existed before every age and is coeternal with the Father, needing a second beginning so as to exist. Born at Germanicia, a town in Syria, he went to Antioch as a youth, in order that he be educated there in sacred and profane learning. We can hardly think that we understand it better than he who probably framed it, nay who presided over the Council which passed it. We all the of : we all as a : let all such as communicate with be , etc.
It is not an open question whether Mater Dei, Dei Genetrix, Deipara, mhthr tou Qeou are proper equivalents for Qeotokos. This very thing you have mentioned in your epistle written to our most holy and fellow-bishop Celestine of great Rome. And the word sarkikws in no degree lessens the dignity of his begetting and bringing forth; for it shews that his flesh was not simulated or shadowed forth; but true and like to ours. Since he is the Spirit of the power and wisdom of the Father, that is the Son, he is himself, evidently, wisdom and power. All the at the same time cried out: These are the sentiments φωναί of all of us, these are the things we all say — the accomplishment of this is the desire of us all.
We confess the Word to have been made one with the flesh hypostatically , and we adore one Son and Lord, Jesus Christ. Pope Celestine ordered the Council because of a certain wicked heresy being promoted in the East by the Bishop of Constantinople, Nestorius. The Synod immediately sent a deputation to meet him, consisting of several bishops and clerics, to show him proper respect, and at the same time to make him acquainted with the deposition of Nestorius, so that he might not be drawn into any intercourse with him. For you have made manifest the of the most and reverend CÅ“lestine, and his care for the. The Synod gives thanks to Cyril. He thus used the term christotokos Christ-bearer for Mary rather than theotokos.
The people of Ephesus, full of rejoicing, escorted the fathers to their houses with torches and. Cyril in Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biography; nor by Ffoulkes in his article on the Council of Ephesus in Smith and Cheetham's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. In this way the disputed questions should through their means be brought to an appropriate solution. Shortly afterwards John of Antioch and the easterners arrived: they refused communion with Cyril and set up another council. What else than that he would give you to preserve that which he has given you to preach? Yet it behooved him, when he had been once entrusted with the care, to cling to it with spiritual energy, and, as it were, to strip himself to strive against the troubles and gladly to endure the sweat for which he had bargained. And after it was read in Latin, Juvenal, the bishop of Jerusalem said: Let the writings of the most holy and blessed bishop of great Rome which have just been Toad, be entered on the minutes.
—We do not say that his flesh was turned into the nature of the godhead or that the unspeakable Word of God was changed into the nature of the flesh. . We all agreed, as did the most religious bishops Valerian and Amphilochius and all the pious bishops of the provinces of Pamphylia and Lycaonia, that what had been inscribed in the synodical document should be confirmed and in no way disobeyed, clearly without prejudice to the acts of Alexandria. Yet we are not ignorant that while he remained God, he also became man and subject to God, according to the law suitable to the nature of the manhood. Ultimately, in a scene reminiscent of modern-day spy movies, a messenger disguised as a beggar was able to carry a letter to Constantinople by hiding it in a hollow cane. These generous efforts have, almost everywhere, met with a willing and spontaneous response, with remarkable unanimity, from both Pastors and people; all which is a matter for heartfelt congratulation, because we are confident that it will prove to be a source of no mean benefits to the cause of Catholicism. Siricius, notary of the holy Catholic kaqolikhs Church of the city of Rome read it.
Unfortunately for Nestorius, the question had already been settled by Pope Celestine and only needed to be confirmed by the assembly to be enforced. For we do not say that the nature of the Word was changed and became flesh, nor that he was turned into a whole man made of body and soul. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent. By calling Mary Christotokos, Nestorius was suggesting that she gave birth to Christ, which was the prosopon lit. Desiring that there may be a liturgical monument of this commemoration, which may help to nourish the piety of clergy and people towards the great Mother of God, We have commanded Our supreme council presiding over Sacred Rites to publish an Office and Mass of the Divine Maternity, which is to be celebrated by the universal Church. So he came to be under the law while at the same time himself speaking the law and being a lawgiver like God. The mention of a , who seems to be the of , casts some on this story, for that did not arrive till later.
He is again cited, and this is counted as the third canonical summons. But I recall the promise of brevity that I made at the beginning and that both restrains my discourse and moves me on to the second subject of your reverence. The first session was fittingly concluded with a recitation of numerous patristic passages, dating as far back as Pope Saint Felix I 269-274 , each speaking with unquestionable clarity in setting forth the twoness of Natures and the oneness of Person in our Redeemer. The Emperor, still straddling the fence, sent an order summoning all the parties in the conflict to meet with him in Constantinople. Light-foot very aptly compares the following from Melito. We have found him out thinking and speaking in an impious fashion, from his letters, from his writings that have been read out, and from the things that he has recently said in this metropolis which have been witnessed to by others; and as a result we have been compelled of necessity both by —the canons and by —the letter of our most holy father and fellow servant Celestine, bishop of the church of the Romans, to issue this sad condemnation against him, though we do so with many tears. For he used perversely such long delay that many from much greater distances arrived before him.
