Page:Nestorius and his place in the history of Christian doctrine.djvu/39

Rh indeed so rudely maltreated that his life really became what he himself called it—a tragedy. This tragedy is composed of five acts: first the undivided affection of his parish was robbed from him, then the sympathies of the Occident, then the favour of the court and his episcopal office; then he was brought into disfavour as a heretic also amongst the majority of his friends, and finally as an exiled and forgotten man he was exposed to common condemnation.

It is well known that Nestorius in April 428 was called out of the monastery of Euprepios, in the neighbourhood of Antioch, to the vacant bishopric of Constantinople. We knew before the discovery of the Treatise of Heraclides that it was the aversion of the court to the election of a Constantinopolitan which caused the decision to be in his favour. Now we are told more about this by an address which Nestorius in his Treatise of Heraclides puts into the mouth of the Emperor Theodosius. Of course this address cannot be regarded as given by the Emperor in these very words; but it is certainly trustworthy in what it tells about the events in Constantinople. We see here that the sentiment of the court was the result of lengthy