Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/827

 NESQUALLY

755

NESTORIUS

lated the "Homilies" of Jacob of Serugh and, prob- ably from the Coptic, the "Life of the Fathers of the Desert". Some writers ascribe to him an Armenian version of a commentary of Andreas of Caesarea on the Apocalypse. Nerses in his original writings fre- quently refers to the primacy and infallibility of the pope.

CoNYBEAHE, The Armenian Version of Revelation (London, 1907); see also Nebses I-IV.

A. A. Vai5chalde.

Nesqually. See Se.\ttle, Diocese op.

Nestorius and Nestorianism. — I. The Herb-

SIARCH. — Nestorius, who gave his name to the Nes- torian heresy, was b. at Ciermanicia, in Syria Euphora- tensis (date unlcnown) ; d. in IheTliebaid, Egypt, c. 4.51. He was living as a priest and monk in the monastery of Euprepius near the walls, when he was chosen by the Emperor Theodosius II to be Patriarch of Constanti- nople in succession to Sisinnius. He had a high repu- tation for eloquence, and the popularity of St. Chrys- ostom's memory among the people of the imperial city may have influenced the Emperor's choice of an- other jiriest from Antioch to be court bishop. He was consecrated in April, 428, and seems to have made an excellent impression. He lost no time in showing his zeal against heretics. Within a few days of his con- secration Nestorius had an Arian chapel destroyed, and he persuaded Theodosius to issue a severe edict against heresy in the following month. He had the churches of the Macedonians in the Hellespont seized, and took measures against the Quartodecimans who remained in Asia Minor. He also attacked the Nova- tians, in spite of the good reputation of their bishop. Pelagian refugees from the West, however, he did not expel, not being well acquainted with their condemna^ tion ten years earlier. He twice wrote to Pope St. Celestine I for information on the subject. He received no reply, but Marius Mercator, a disciple of St. Augus- tine, published a memoir on the subject at Constanti- nople, and presented it to the emperor, who duly pro- scribed the heretics. At the end of 42S, or at latest in the early part of 429, Nestorius preached the first of his famous sermons against the word Theolokos, and de- tailed his Antiochian doctrine of the Incarnation. The first to raise his voice against it was Eusebius, a layman, afterwards Bishop of DoryUrum and the accuser of Eutyches. Two priests of the city, Philip and Proclus, who had both been unsuccessful candi- dates for the patriarchate, preached against Nestorius. Philip, known as Sidetes, from Side, his birthplace, author of a vast and discursive history now lost, ac- cused the patriarch of heresy. Proclus (who was to succeed later in his candidature) preached a flowery, but perfectly orthodox, sermon, yet extant, to which Nestorius replied in an extempore discourse, which we also possess. All this naturally caused great excitement at Constantinople, especially among the the clergy, who were clearly not well disposed towards the stranger from Antioch. St. Celestine immediately condemned the doctrine. Nestorius had arranged with the emperor in the summer of 430 for the assem- bling of a council. He now hastened it on, and the summons had been issued to patriarchs and metropol- itans on 19 Nov., before the pope's sentence, delivered through Cyril of Alexandria, had been served on Nes- torius (6 Dec). At the council Nestorius was con- demned, and the emperor, after much delay and hesi- tation, ratified its finding. It was confirmed by Pope Sixtus III.

The lot of Nestorius was a hard one. He had been handed over by the pope to the tender mercies of his rival, Cyril; he had been summoned to accept within ten days under pain of deposition, not a papal defini- tion, but a series of anathemas drawn up at Alexan- dria under the influence of Apollinarian forgeries. The whole council had not condemned him, but only

a portion, which had not awaited the arrival of the bishops from Antioch. He had refused to recognize the jurisdiction of this incomplete number, and had consequently refused to appear or put in any defence. He was now thrust out of his see by a change of mind on the part of the feeble emperor. But Nestorius was proud: he showed no sign of yielding or of coming to terms; he put in no plea of appeal to Rome. He re- tired to his monastery at Antioch with dignity and apparent relief. His friends, John of Antioch and his party, deserted him, and at the wish of the Emperor, at the beginning of 433, joined hands with Cyril, arid Theodoret later did the same. The bishops who were suspected of being favourable to Nestorius were deposed. An edict of Theodosius II, 30 July, 435, condemned his writings to be burnt. A few years later Nestorius was dragged from his retirement and banished to the Oasis. He was at one time carried off by the Nubians (not the Blemmyes) in a raid, and was restored to the Thebaid with his hand and one rib broken. He gave himself up to the governor in order not to be accused of having fled.

The recent discovery of a Syriac version of the (lost) Greek apology for Nestorius by himself has awakened new interest in the question of his personal orthodoxy. The (mutilated) manuscript, about 800 years old, known as the "Bazaar of Hcraclides", and recently edited as the "Liber Heraclidis" by P. Bedjan (Paris, 1910), reveals the persistent odium attached to the name of Nestorius, since at the end of his life he was obliged to substitute for it a pseudonym. In this work he claims that his faith is that of the celebrated "Tome", or letter, of Leo the Great to Flavian, and excuses his failure to appeal to Rome by the general prejudice of which he was the victim. A fine passage on the Eucharistic Sacrifice which occurs in the "Bazaar" may be cited here: "There is something amiss with you which I want to put before you in a few words, in order to induce you to amend it, for you are quick to sec what is seemly. What then is this fault? Presently the mysteries are set before the faithful like the mess granted to his soldiers by the king. Yet the army of the faithful is nowhere to be seen, but they are blown away together with the cate- chumens like chaff by the wind of indifference. And Christ is crucified in the symbol [Kara rbv ti^ttoc], ■sacrificed by the sword of the prayer of the Priest; but, as when He was upon the Cross, He finds His disciples have already fled. Terrible is this fault, — a betrayal of Christ when there is no persecution, a desertion by the faithful of their Master's Body when there is no war" (Loots, "Nestoriana", Halls, 1905, P- 341).

The writings of Nestorius were originally very numerous. As stated above, the " Bazaar" has newly been published (Paris, 1910) in the Syriac translation in which alone it survives. The rest of the fragments of Nestorius have been most minutely examined, pieced together and edited by Loots. His sermons show a real eloquence, but very little remains in the original Greek. The Latin translations by Marius Mercator are very poor in style and the text is ill pro- served. Batiffol has attributed to Nestorius many sermons which have come down to us under the names of other authors: three of Athanasius, one of Hippoly- tus, three of Amphilochius, thirty-eight of Basil of Seleucia, seven of St. Chrysostom; but Loofs and Baker do not accept the ascription. Mercati has pointed out four fragments in a writing of Innocent, Bishop of Maronia (ed. AmeUi in "Spicil. Cassin.", I, 1887), and Armenian fragments have been published by Liidtke.

II. The Heresy. — Nestorius was a disciple of the school of Antioch, and his Christology was essentially that of Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsues- tia, both Cilician bishops and great opponents of Arianism. Both died in the Catholic Church. Die-