Part 54

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. [Sidenote: 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? [Sidenote: _The Council assembled 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.

[Sidenote: _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. [Sidenote: 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._

[Sidenote: Nestorius _and_ Cyril _agree in the Substance_.]

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.

[Sidenote: _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. [Sidenote: _The Expressions of_ Nestorius _more proper 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.

[Sidenote: _A particular Reason for rejecting the Title of_ Mother of God.]

As to the Title of _Mother of God_, to which _Nestorius_ had a more than ordinary Aversion, he seems to have rejected it on a particular Account; for the same Reason that induced _Clement_ XI. to suppress the Title of _Grandmother of God_, which, in his time, began to be commonly given to St. _Anne_; _viz._ because _it was offensive to pious Ears_; _piarum aurium offensiva_. If the Virgin _Mary_ was the Mother, St. _Anne_ was, as properly speaking, the Grandmother of God. Why then should the Mother be robbed of so glorious a Title, while the Daughter is suffered to enjoy it? Why should _Nestorius_ be deemed a Heretic for denying it to the Daughter, rather than _Clement_ for denying it to the Mother? The one was as offensive to the Ears of _Nestorius_, as the other could possibly be to the Ears of _Clement_. However, the former did not consult his Ears alone, but his Reason too, as has been shewn above; whereas the latter must have consulted his Ears only, there being no Shadow of Reason, why the one Title should be allowed, and not the other.

[Sidenote: _The Fate of_ Nestorius.]

As for _Nestorius_, he received an Order from the Emperor, while the Council was still sitting, commanding him to quit _Ephesus_, and retire to the Monastery of St. _Euprepius_ in the Suburbs of _Antioch_, where he had led a monastic Life before he was raised to the See of _Constantinople_. [Sidenote: _He is ordered to return to his Monastery._] This Order he received with great Joy, having often declared, that he wished for nothing so much as to spend his Life in Solitude and Retirement, far from the Troubles that threatened the Church[1633]. In the Letter, which he writ to _Antiochus_ the _Præfectus Prætorio_, by whom the Emperor’s Order was communicated to him, he told him, that to be thus deposed, for standing up in Defence of the Orthodox Faith, was a greater Honour than he had ever presumed to aspire to, or hoped to attain. The only Favour he begged of _Antiochus_ was, that he would employ his whole Interest at Court, in order to obtain public Letters of the Emperor, that might be read in all the Churches, condemning the Doctrine of _Cyril_[1634]. [Sidenote: _Is banished into_Arabia, _at the Request of_ Celestine, _and the Bishops of his Party_.] The following Year 432. _Celestine_ writ a very pressing Letter to _Theodosius_, dated the 15th of _March_, conjuring him, as he tendered the Purity of the Faith, to confine _Nestorius_ to some uninhabited Place, where it might not be in his Power to infect others with his pestilential Doctrine; which was begging the Emperor to drive him out, like a wild Beast, from human Society, to perish in a Desart. He writ, at the same time, a circular Letter to the Bishops in those Parts, exhorting them to second him with all their Power and Interest at Court[1635]. _Theodosius_, hearkening only to the Impulses of his own Good-nature, withstood all the Solicitations of _Nestorius_’s Enemies, for Four Years. But, in the End, being made to believe, that by shewing Mercy to such an obstinate Heretic, he rendered himself unworthy of Mercy; and that to treat him with Severity was the most effectual Means of drawing down the Blessings of Heaven upon himself, and the Empire; his Good-nature yielded, and he issued an Order, addressed to _Isidore_, then the _Præfectus Prætorio_, injoining him to cause _Nestorius_ to be conveyed to _Petra_ in _Arabia_, to end his Days there, by way of Atonement for the Mischief he had done. With him were banished, to the same Place, Count _Irenæus_, his great Friend and Protector, and _Photius_, a Presbyter of _Constantinople_, who had written in his Defence against _Cyril_[1636]. [Sidenote: _His Books forbidden, and ordered to be burnt._] The same Year the Emperor issued an Edict, dated the 30th of _July_, commanding the Disciples of _Nestorius_ to be called _Simonians_[N74]; his Books to be everywhere sought for, and publicly burnt; and all Persons, in whose Possession they were, to deliver them up to the Magistrates. By the same Edict the _Nestorians_ were forbidden to hold any Assemblies in the Cities, Villages, or in the Fields, and the Places were confiscated, where such Assemblies should be held, as well as the Estates of those who should frequent them[1637]. This Edict was published both in _Greek_ and in _Latin_, that it might be understood by the Subjects of both Empires.

Footnote N74:

The Emperor ordered them to be so called, merely to render them odious; for there was not the least Affinity between the Heresy of _Simon_ the Magician, and the Doctrine that was ascribed to _Nestorius_. In this _Theodosius_ followed the Example of his Predecessor _Constantine_, who to disgrace the _Arians_, and prejudice the Populace against them, ordered them to be called _Porphyrians_. For when a Man was once declared a Heretic, all Means of rendering him infamous were deemed just and lawful. But neither Edict ever took place.

[Sidenote: _Is frequently removed from one Place to another._]

The Enemies of _Nestorius_ were not yet satisfied; they thought his Confinement to _Petra_ too mild a Punishment; and therefore, before he had been long there, they prevailed upon the Emperor to remove him from _Petra_ to _Oasis_, in the Desarts between _Egypt_ and _Libya_, a Place to which the greatest Criminals were usually confined in those Days[1638]. He was still in _Oasis_, when _Socrates_ wrote, that is, in 439[1639]. but the Town being soon after surprised by the Barbarians, named _Blemmyes_, he was carried by them into Captivity, but set again at Liberty, and even informed by them, that the Town would, in a short time, be attacked anew by another Clan of Barbarians. Upon this Information he withdrew to the City of _Panopolis_, and immediately acquainted the Governor of _Thebais_ with the Motives that had induced him to quit the Place, which he had been confined to by the Imperial Edict, intreating _his Highness_ (_Celsitudinem tuam_) to notify them to the Emperor, and suffer him to continue there till his Pleasure was known. But the Governor happened to be a zealous Catholic, or rather a true Courtier; and therefore, without waiting for the Emperor’s Order, he sent a Band of Soldiers to convey, or rather to drag him to _Elephantine_, on the most distant Borders of his Government. This the Governor seems to have done on purpose to destroy him, and thereby ingratiate himself both with the Church, and the Court. For the Soldiers he employed on this Occasion, were not _Romans_, but _Barbarians_; and when they were got above half-way to _Elephantine_, they were injoined, by a Counter-order from him, to bring their Prisoner back to _Panopolis_ with all possible Expedition. [Sidenote: _Treated with great Barbarity._] As he was hurried on by the merciless Barbarians, notwithstanding his old Age, the Weakness attending it, and the Hurts he received from a Fall, he arrived at _Panopolis_, quite spent, and so worn out with the Fatigues of that painful Journey, that no one thought he could outlive it many Days. But the Governor was impatient to hear the News of his Death; and therefore, before he could recruit his Strength, quite exhausted by this Journey, he obliged him to undertake another, ordering him to repair, without Delay, to a certain Place within the Territory of _Panopolis_. As he outlived this Journey too, the Governor, bent on having the Merit and Glory of destroying the pretended Heresiarch, ordered him immediately to undertake a Fourth; and this put an End to all his Troubles. [Sidenote: _His Death._] For Nature sinking under the Fatigues he was forced to undergo, without Intermission or Respite, his Strength quite failed him, and he died[1640][N75].

Footnote N75:

An anonymous Writer, quoted by _Evagrius_[N75.1], relates, that before _Nestorius_ died, his Tongue was devoured by Vermin, which he interprets as a Punishment justly inflicted on him for the Blasphemies he supposes him to have uttered. This Account _Evagrius_ seems not to have credited; but _Theodorus_ the Reader, _Theophanes_, and _Theodoret_, have taken it upon the Word of the anonymous Writer, by whom it was probably invented to render the Name of the pretended _Heresiarch_ odious to Posterity.

Footnote N75.1:

Evag. l. 1, c. 7.

[Sidenote: Nestorius _himself a cruel Persecutor_.]

Such were the Sufferings, such was the End, of the famous _Nestorius_; and both reflect no small Disgrace on the Ecclesiastics of those Times, especially on _Celestine_ and _Cyril_; for by them this cruel Persecution was raised, and by them it was carried on; the Laymen being only the Ministers of their Cruelty and Revenge. Such a Treatment was quite undeserved by _Nestorius_, with respect to his Doctrine, as I have shewn already, but was not so, it must be owned, in another respect: for he was himself a most furious Persecutor of all those, who had the Misfortune to be stigmatized with the Name of Heretics; and it is not to be doubted, but _Cyril_ would have met with the same Treatment at his Hands, had his Party prevailed, as he did at _Cyril_’s. In the Sermon, which he preached on the very Day of his Ordination, he thus addressed the Emperor, who was present: _Make the Orthodox Faith, O mighty Prince, reign alone on the Earth; and I will make you reign in Heaven. Lend me your Assistance to exterminate the Heretics, and I will lend you mine to exterminate the_ Persians[1641]. This was proclaiming War against all who dissented from him; and the War, thus proclaimed, he began without Loss of Time, and pursued with the utmost Fury, causing the Imperial Laws against Heretics to be vigorously executed, and stirring up the Mob, not only in _Constantinople_, but in the neighbouring Provinces, against Dissenters of all Denominations. This occasioned an universal Confusion, and, in some Places, a great deal of Bloodshed; insomuch that the Emperor was obliged to interpose his Authority, and protect, to a certain Degree, as Friends to the State, those whom the Bishop was for exterminating as Enemies to the Church. I will not presume to interpret the Severity that was practised upon him, as a Judgment from Heaven for the Severity which he had practised upon others; agreeably to those Words of our Saviour, _With what Measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you_[1642]; but I cannot help looking upon the Treatment he met with, however severe, as a just and well-deserved Retaliation; and upon him as a Man altogether unworthy of our Compassion.

[Sidenote: _The Doctrine of the_ Jansenists _approved by_ Celestine.]

But to return to _Celestine_: In the Year 431. he writ to the _Gallican_ Bishops, exhorting them to stand up in Defence of the Doctrine of St. _Austin_, and to silence, with their Authority, all who opposed it: for it was opposed by many, among the rest, by the famous _Cassian_, as utterly inconsistent with Merit and Freewill. To this Letter are commonly annexed Nine Articles concerning Grace and Freewill; and, in these Articles styled there, _The Authorities of the Bishops of the Holy Apostolic See_, is contained, in the most plain and express Terms, the Doctrine of the _Jansenists_, condemned in our Days by the famous Bull _Unigenitus_ of _Clement_ XI[1643]. It is true, some pretend those Articles to be falsly ascribed to _Celestine_. But they have passed for his, ever since the Sixth to the present Century: they have been placed among his Decrees, by _Dionysius Exiguus_; were quoted as his by _Petrus Diaconus_ in 519. by _Cresconius_ an _African_ Bishop towards the End of the Sixth Century, and by all, who have had Occasion to mention them since that time.

[Sidenote: Palladius _the First Bishop of_ Ireland.]

The same Year died St. _Palladius_, the First Bishop of _Ireland_. He belonged to the _Roman_ Church, and had been sent by _Celestine_ some Years before into _Britain_, to stop the Progress of the _Pelagian_ Heresy in this Island. From _Britain_ he had passed over into _Ireland_[N76]; and, having converted there some of the Inhabitants, he returned to _Rome_, to beg of _Celestine_, that a Bishop might be sent thither. _Celestine_ complied with his Request, ordained him First Bishop of _Ireland_, and sent him back into that Island. Thus _Prosper_, who lived at this very time[o]. The _Irish_ Writers tell us, that, finding their Countrymen, whose Conversion was reserved by Heaven for St. _Patric_, very obstinate, he abandoned the Island, and died in the Country of the _Picts_, that is, in _Scotland_, on his Return to _Rome_[1644]. His Body indeed was long worshiped in _Scotland_; but that is no Proof of his having been ever there[N77].

Footnote N76:

_Prosper_ writes, that he was sent _ad Scotos_; whence the _Scotch_ Writers conclude him to have been sent into _Scotland_, and the _Scots_ have long looked upon him as the Apostle of their Nation. But that he was sent into _Ireland_, and not into _Scotland_, is manifest from _Prosper_’s own Words. For speaking of _Celestine_, by whom _Palladius_ was sent into _Britain_ to make head against the _Pelagians_; _while he endeavoured_, says he, _to maintain the_ Roman _Island Catholic, he made a barbarous Island Christian_[N76.1]. The Island therefore, which he _made Christian_, was a different Island from that of _Britain_; and consequently could not be _Scotland_. The Inhabitants of _Ireland_ began, as early as the Fourth Century, to be known by the Name of _Scoti_ or _Scots_; so that _Scoti_ and _Hiberni_ were but different Names of one and the same People. It is true, that St. _Patric_, in such of his Writings, as have been judged by the Critics the most authentic, seems to distinguish the _Scoti_ from the _Hiberni_: but that Distinction is only with respect to Merit and Rank; for he speaks constantly of the former as Men of a superior Rank to the latter. And indeed the Name _Hibernus_, tho’ more antient by many Ages than that of _Scotus_, appears to have been in great Contempt among the neighbouring Nations in St. _Patric_’s Time[N76.2]. The _Hiberni_ were perhaps the Mechanics, and the _Scoti_ the Gentry, or Men who followed more noble Professions. By the latter was afterwards founded the Kingdom of _Scotland_. _Bollandus_ is of Opinion, that the _Hiberni_ came originally from _Britain_, and were the first Inhabitants of _Ireland_; and that the _Scoti_, a more warlike Race, come from some other Country, subdued the _Hiberni_, as the _Saxons_ did the _Britons_[N76.3].

Footnote N76.1:

Prosp. in Col. p. 410.

Footnote N76.2:

Boll. 17. Martii.

Footnote N76.3:

Boll. ibid.

Footnote N77:

The learned Archbishop _Usher_ will not allow _Palladius_ to have been the First Bishop of _Ireland_; alleging against that Opinion several Fragments out of the Lives of _Irish_ Saints, some of whom are said to have been Bishops, and to have converted many of their own Countrymen, as early as the Middle of the Fourth Century[N77.1]. From the Fragments he produces I cannot judge of the Pieces themselves. But _Bollandus_, who seems to have perused them, maintains them to be of no earlier a Date than the Twelfth Century; and most of them to be fabulous, which indeed he proves undeniably by several Passages quoted from them[N77.2]. And can the Authority of such Pieces invalidate, or indeed any-ways affect the Authority of _Prosper_, who tells us in express Terms, that _Palladius_ was ordained by _Celestine_, _the First Bishop of_ Ireland? As for what the Primate offers to elude the Authority of _Prosper_, it is scarce worthy of Notice; _viz._ that the Word _Primus_ is not to be found in the Edition of that Writer by _Du Chesne_. For it is to be found, as _Usher_ himself owns, in all the other Editions, and even in _Bede_, as well as in every other Author, who has copied _Prosper_’s Chronicle.

Footnote N77.1:

Ush. Brit. eccl. ant. p. 781-794.

Footnote N77.2:

Boll. 17. Martii.