Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/155

Rh Council which expelled him from the Church. The following is the fullest Nestorian account of the Council of Ephesus which I have met with. It is taken from a rare Arabic work, written in Syriac characters, entitled the Epistle of Presbyter Sleewa ibn Yohanan, of Mosul, dated 1332. It is useless to point out its numberless mistakes:—

"How the Easterns came to be styled Nestorians.

"… When Nestorius was raised to the patriarchate of Constantinople the Western fathers wrote to inform us of his election and orthodoxy, and how that the bare witness openly to his sanctity, and they requested of us to commemorate him as we had commemorated those before him, and they also sent us by the same messenger his creed and liturgy written with his own hand. These we found to be agreeable to the truth, and therefore according to their request and testimony we confirmed to him the afore-mentioned virtues. About this time Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, drew up a creed after his own notions, which he styled the Twelve Sentences; these he sent to Nestorius for his sanction, in order that they might have free course. Nestorius, however, refused to confirm them, on the ground that their contents involved several contradictions, which made it impossible for him to receive them. This refusal greatly incensed Cyril, who from fear forbore to answer; but from this circumstance great disagreement rose between them, and Cyril became the enemy of Nestorius, being abetted in his enmity by the Empress Eudoxia, whom the Patriarch of Constantinople had expelled the Church, and had prohibited all women from associating with her. After much disputation it was decided that a council should be assembled at Ephesus, in which by common consent John, the Patriarch of Antioch, was called to preside, and a summons was accordingly sent to him to this effect. When Cyril reached Ephesus he sent to Nestorius, ordering him to appear; but Nestorius replied that it was useless for him to be present before the arrival of the president, but that he would come without fail as soon as he arrived. About this time a letter was received from John promising to attend, he having written to certain Eastern Bishops to accompany him in behalf of this matter, and as many as seventy obeyed his summons, and took their departure for Ephesus. On their arrival they found that Cyril had not waited for them, but depending upon the strength of his party, had assembled the Bishops who were with him, and before the appearance of John and his company had excommunicated Nestorius. When John and the Bishops who were with him heard what had taken place, they refused to give their assent to the decision passed, maintaining that it was not right that an adversary should be judge, and that the judgment of such was invalid; he moreover wrote to the Emperor, stating that he had inquired into all that had taken place between Nestorius and his adversary, and had found him innocent of the charges preferred against him, and that he had been greatly wronged, not being in fault. He then excommunicated Cyril and his party, and wrote an epistle to the Patriarch of the East, informing him of all that had occurred. Accordingly the Church in these parts received his sayings, which were thenceforth confessed among them; and when the Eastern Bishops returned, they also confirmed to the Patriarch all these things.

"Some time afterwards Cyril wrote to the Fathers of the East, calling upon them to excommunicate and anathematize Nestorius; but they refused, and sent The above admission, however, that the Council of Chalcedon was rightly