Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/136

 114 THE DECLINE AXD FALL Tint council of Epheans. AD. 431, June- October Yet neither the emperor, nor the primate of the East were disposed to obey the mandate of an Itahan priest ; and a synod of the Catholic, or rather of the Greek, chm'ch was unanimously demanded as the sole remedy that could appease or decide this ecclesiastical quarrel. "^^ Ephesus, on all sides accessible by sea and land, was chosen for the place, the festival of Pentecost for the day, of the meeting ; a writ of summons was despatched to each metropolitan, and a guard was stationed to protect and confine the fathers till they should settle the mysteries of heaven and the faith of the earth. Nestorius appeared, not as a criminal, but as a judge ; he depended on the weight rather than the number of his prelates ; and his sturdy slaves from the baths of Zeuxippus were armed for every service of injury or defence. But his adversary Cyril was more powerful in the weapo)is both of the flesh and of the spirit. Disobedient to the letter, or at least to the meaning, of the royal summons, he was attended by fifty Egyptian bishops, who expected from their patriarch's nod the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He had contracted an intimate alliance with Memnon bishop of Ephesus, The despotic primate of Asia disposed of the ready succours of thirty or forty episcopal votes ; a crowd of peasants, the slaves of the church, was poured into the city to support with blows and clamours a metaphysical argument ; and the people zeal- ously asserted the honour of the virgin, whose body reposed within the walls of Ephesus."*'- The fleet which had trans- ported Cyril from Alexandria was laden with the riches of Egypt ; and he disembarked a numerous body of mariners, slaves, and fanatics, enlisted with blind obedience under the banner of St. Mark and the mother of God. The fathers, and even the guards, of the council were awed by this martial array ; the adversaries of Cyril and Mary were insulted in the streets sententia); and three more respectable judges will not easil_v be found. Asseman, a learned and modest slave, can hardly discern (Bibliothec. Orient, torn. iv. p. 190-224) the guilt and error of the Nestorians. ^1 The origin and progress of the Nestorian controversy, till the sj'nod of Ephe- sus, may be found in Socrates (1. vii. c. 32), Evagrius(l. i. c. i, 2), Liberatus (Brev. c. 1-4), the original Acts (Concil. torn. iii. p. 551-991, edit. Venise, 1728), the Annals of Baronius and Pagi, and the faithful collections of Tilleniont (M6m. Eccl6s. torn. xiv. p. 283-377). ^'^The Christians of the four first centuries were ignorant of the death and burial of Mary. The tradition of Ephesus is affirmed by the synod (erSa 6 0f 0A670! 'luiai'i/r)?, ica'iTifleoTdKo^TT-apeeVo^r; ayiiMapia. Concil. tom. iii. p. II02); yet it has been superseded by the claim of Jerusalem ; and her empty sepulchre, as it was shewn to the pilgrims, produced the fable of her resurrection and assumption, in which the Greek and Latin churches have piously acquiesced. See Baronius (Annal. Eccles. a.d. 48, No. 6, Sue.) and Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. i. p. 467-477).