Page:Nestorius and his place in the history of Christian doctrine.djvu/28

16 beginning; the last section is the most completely preserved.

In spite of all omissions it is a book of extensive scope in which Nestorius speaks to us: the Syriac text has 521 pages, the French translation of u fills 331, and they are of a large size.

In reading the book one has to regret, it is true, again and again, that it has not been preserved intact and in its original language. It would be of inestimable importance for the history of Christian doctrine if we possessed the original Greek of these explanations, so important from a dogmatic point of view.

Nevertheless even as we have it now in the Syriac translation the Treatise of Heraclides of Nestorius remains one of the most interesting discoveries for students of ancient church history. In two respects it is able to awaken fresh interest in Nestorius: by what we hear about his life and by what we learn about his doctrine.

As concerning the first, the Treatise of Heraclides has undoubtedly many relations to that earlier work of Nestorius, entitled Tragedy and only known in a few fragments, in which he treated historically and polemically the tragedy of his life and especially the doings of the Cyrillian council of Ephesus. Also in the Treatise of Heraclides Nestorius writes as one who is conscious of being unjustly condemned and wrongly delivered over to the intrigues of the unscrupulous