Canon Law & Easter Computus 7

FIRST PART OF THE WORKS. DOGMATIC AND CANONICAL WORKS. THE SYNODICAL LETTER OF ST. CYRIL AND OF THE COUNCIL OF ALEXANDRIA AGAINST NESTORIUS, TRANSLATED INTO LATIN BY DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS. PREFACE TO THE LETTER OF ST. CYRIL, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA. To my lord, the most blessed Father, Bishop Peter, Dionysius Exiguus, greeting in the Lord. Mindful of your benefits, venerable Father and outstanding glory of the bishops of Christ, and ever setting before the eyes of my mind the holy zeal of your nurture bestowed upon me from childhood — which no spaces of places nor of times shall be able to blot out — I seek to render a return of the thanks which I know I cannot find to repay.

But since for the most part what seems wanting in service is accomplished by the wish, I do not cease to disclose, with what zeal I can, the desire which I continually bear toward your paternity. And therefore I have directed to you, by your venerator, brother Sanctulus, the synodical letter of the holy Cyril, pontiff of Alexandria, destined to Nestorius, once bishop of the city of Constantinople, to which there are appended twelve chapters condemning the blasphemy of the same Nestorius under the adjuration of anathema — a letter which I have lately translated from the Greek into the Latin tongue; judging this altogether opportune at the present time, when the apostolic faith of so great a teacher, long since well known to the Greeks but hitherto unknown to the Latins, may become known:

so that the Nestorian taint may be evidently recognised by men and, for its own malignity, deservedly spurned — a taint which, under the pretext of faith, does not cease to insinuate perfidy, and strives, with Jewish frenzy and equal error, to disturb the tranquillity of the catholic Church spread throughout the whole world. And although I know very well that the wickedest of men listen with hostility to wholesome precepts, and persist in following out their own depraved counsels, yet however much instruction must not be omitted, for the sake of those who are deceived not by love of contention but by a certain simplicity — for it has often happened that, with God breathing favour upon truth, they lent their zeal where they had given consent to a lie.

The present writings of the blessed Cyril, then, here recalled, admonish this same Nestorius that he should not dare to divide into two the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages and of the same essence as the Father — who for our salvation came down and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit, of the Virgin Mary — nor strive, by his accustomed cunning, to assert a certain conjunction and fellowship of God and man: terms which signify no inseparable unity of the two natures...

...nor the singularity of the person, nor surely the subsistence of the Son of God uttered by him; but rather they demonstrate two or even several things under this occasion afforded by these men. And the author of so impious a dogma, together with his most ungodly followers, strives by his criminal opinion to connect them — as they themselves rave — by a certain dignity and authority and also relation. But now let these things be better unfolded by the assertion of the oft-named Father, and may He graciously vouchsafe to restore to your blessedness the catholic peace, and to guard us, by your prayers, among His members. THE LETTER OF ST. CYRIL, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, DIRECTED TO NESTORIUS, ONCE BISHOP OF THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE, CONTAINING TWELVE CHAPTERS OF ANATHEMATISMS.

To the lord, the holy brother Nestorius the bishop, Cyril the bishop, and the synod assembled at Alexandria from the Egyptian diocese, greeting in the Lord. Since our Saviour openly declares, saying, He that loveth father or mother above me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter above me is not worthy of me — what shall we suffer, who require of your religion that we love you above Christ the Saviour of all? For who will be able to come to our aid in the day of judgment, or what satisfaction shall we be able to find, keeping so long a silence about the blasphemies uttered by you against Him? Indeed, if you were to harm yourself only, in teaching or holding these things, our concern would be less:

but since you have scandalised the whole Church, and have mingled the leaven of an unwonted depravity and of a new heresy among the peoples — not only those placed there, but those everywhere — for the books of your expositions have been published throughout all places. What word of excuse for our silence could henceforth suffice, or how should it not be necessary to call to mind Christ the Lord thus speaking: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, but a sword; for I am come to set a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother. For when the faith is harmed, the reverence of parents is despised as useless and perilous, and love toward sons and brothers is shunned:

to the utmost, death rather than life itself is chosen by godly men, that they may obtain a better resurrection, as it is written. Behold therefore, we, together with the holy synod which was gathered at the great city of Rome, the most holy brother and our fellow-priest Bishop Celestine presiding, now by these writings warn you for the third time, giving you counsel that you abstain from doctrines so depraved and distorted, which you are known both to hold and to teach. And that you receive the right faith, delivered from the beginning to the Churches by the most blessed apostles and evangelists, who both beheld with their eyes, and are shown to have been ministers of the word.

But if your religion shall have put off doing this, in accordance with the delay prescribed in the letters of the most holy and most venerable fellow-priest, the Roman prelate of the Church, Celestine, know that you have no portion with us, nor shall you obtain any place or discourse of mine among the priests and bishops. For it is not lawful for us to despise the Churches thus disturbed, and the peoples scandalised, and the right faith manifestly violated — nay, the flock scattered, which you ought to have guarded, and to have stood as we do, a lover of right doctrine, following in the footsteps of the holy Fathers.

All those, therefore, whom on account of the faith your religion has removed from communion, or set aside from their order, whether laymen or clerics, we have received into our communion; for it is not just that they should be oppressed by your decrees, who knew how to hold right opinions, who also stood up against you in a most prudent manner well. For this same thing you took care to signify in the letter which you sent to the prelate of great Rome, our holy and fellow-bishop Celestine:

but it does not suffice for your religion only to confess the symbol of faith which was set forth at that time, by the bounty of the Holy Spirit, by the venerable and great Council assembled at Nicaea — for this you have neither understood nor rightly interpreted; rather, though with a perverse sound of voice you may have uttered the same words, yet it follows that you must also confess on oath that you anathematise your defiled faith and the profane teachings which you hold and teach, contrary to what we all — whether throughout the East or throughout the West, bishops and teachers and prelates of the peoples — believe and teach.

To the letters directed from Alexandria to your religion, the consent of the Church has been given, both that holy synod which assembled at the city of Rome, and also all of us, as to things rightly and interpretably written. And we have appended to these our letters what you ought to hold and to teach, and from what it is fitting to abstain. For this is the faith of the catholic and apostolic Church, to which all the orthodox pontiffs throughout the East and the West consent: We believe in one God the Father almighty, and the rest.

Following therefore in all things the confessions of the holy martyrs, which they uttered by the Holy Spirit speaking in them, and adhering with even footsteps to the intention that is in their understanding, and walking the royal road, we declare that the only-begotten Word of God himself, the Lord, born of the very essence of the Father, true God of true God, light of light, through whom all things were made, whether in the heavens or on the earth, for the cause of our salvation deigned to come down, inclining himself unto self-emptying:

and being incarnate and made man — that is, receiving flesh of the holy Virgin and making it his own — he underwent our nativity from the womb, a man proceeding from a woman, not casting off what he was. For although he was made in the assumption of flesh and blood, yet even thus he continued to be what he was, namely God, in nature and in truth. Nor therefore do we say that the flesh was converted into the nature of the deity, nor changed into its substance: for he is unconvertible and unchangeable, and the same himself, abiding ever according to the Scriptures. He was seen also as a little child, but, while yet laid in the cradle and set in the bosom of the Virgin his mother, he filled the whole creation, as God, remaining undivided from his Begetter.

For that which is divine is known to be without quantity and without mass, nor is it contained within any boundaries. Confessing therefore that the Word of God is united to the flesh according to substance, we adore one Son and Lord Jesus Christ, not setting apart and distinguishing the man and God as though they were joined to each other merely by a unity of dignity and authority; for this is a novelty of expression and nothing else. Nor again, when we name Christ, do we mean specially God the Word, who is from God, and so forth, nor likewise another Christ, specially him who was born of a woman, and the rest; but we acknowledge one Christ alone, the Word of God the Father with his own flesh.

For then also he was anointed in our manner, although he himself bestowed the Spirit upon the worthy, and that not by measure, as the good evangelist John affirmed. But neither do we say this, that the Word of God dwelt as in a common man, one who was born of the holy Virgin, lest Christ the man be believed to possess God as an indwelling tenant.

For although the Word dwelt among us, and it was said that in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, nevertheless we understand him, in that he became flesh, not to be said to dwell as in the saints; nor have we attempted to define such an indwelling as made in him, but, united according to nature and not at all changed into flesh, he made for himself such an indwelling as the soul of man is believed to have toward its own body. There is therefore one Christ, the Son, our Lord, not as by any sort of conjunction, as in a unity of dignity and authority such as a man has toward God; for an equality of dignity alone cannot unite natures.

In short, Peter and John are each of equal dignity, inasmuch as they are shown to be apostles and holy disciples; yet the two are not one, nor do we discern any manner of conjunction by reason of comparison or connection; for this does not suffice for a natural unity, nor according to a relation of participation, as we also, cleaving to the Lord, are one spirit with him. Indeed we rather avoid the name of conjunction, as being unsuited to signify the mystery of the union.

But neither do we affirm that the Word, who is God of God the Father, is God or Lord of Christ, lest again we more manifestly divide into two the one Christ, the Son and Lord, and fall into the crime of sacrilege by making him his own God and Lord. For the Word, being God, united to the flesh according to subsistence, as we said above, is indeed God of all things and rules over the universe; yet he is neither servant nor master to himself, since it is unfitting, or rather impious, to think or to say this.

For although he called God his Father, since he himself is also God by nature and of his essence, yet we are in no way ignorant that, being God, he also became man, who under God would exist according to the due law of the nature of humanity; whereas he himself could by no means be either God or Lord to himself. Therefore, just as, being man, in whatever measure of self-emptying it fittingly befitted, he declared himself to be with us under God, so in this way also he was made under the law, although he himself promulgated the law and existed as lawgiver as God. But we beware of saying concerning Christ: 'For the sake of him who assumes I venerate him who is assumed, and for the sake of the invisible I adore the visible.' And it is dreadful besides to add this: 'He who was taken up together with him who took him up is named God.'

For whoever says these things divides again into two Christs, setting the man apart on one side and God likewise on the other, although he is one. For he plainly divides the unity, in that the one is not adored together with the other, or in that he is named God; but one Christ Jesus is understood, the Son of God, the only-begotten, to be venerated with one servitude together with his own flesh. We confess also that the very same who was born of God the Father, the only-begotten Son and God, although according to his own nature he existed free from suffering, nevertheless for us suffered according to the Scriptures, and was upon the cross, with the body of his own flesh fixed there, impassibly referring to himself the sufferings.

But by the grace of God he tasted death for all, delivering up his own body, although by nature he himself is life and the resurrection of the dead. For in order that by his ineffable power he might trample down death, and become the first-begotten from the dead in his own flesh, and the firstfruits of those who sleep, and might make a way for human nature back from corruption, by the grace of God, as was said above, he tasted death for all, and rising on the third day he despoiled hell. Therefore, although it is said that through a man the resurrection of the dead came to pass, yet we understand the Word that is from God to have become man, and through him the dominion of death to have been destroyed.

And he will come at the times appointed, since he is one Son and Lord, in the glory of the Father, to judge the world in equity, as the Scripture testifies. Necessarily therefore we add this also: for proclaiming according to the flesh the death of the only-begotten Son of God, that is, of Jesus Christ, and confessing likewise his resurrection and his ascension into the heavens, we celebrate in the churches the unbloody service of the sacrifice; thus also we approach the mystical blessings and are sanctified, being made partakers of the holy body and precious blood of Christ, the Redeemer of us all, receiving it not as common flesh, which be far from us;

nor as the flesh of a man sanctified and conjoined to the Word according to a unity of dignity, or as one possessing a divine indwelling, but as truly life-giving and proper to the Word himself. For being by nature life as God, since he is united to his own flesh, he declared it to be life-giving. And therefore, although he says to us, 'Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood,' we ought not to regard it as the flesh of a man, of one of us, in the way that the flesh of a man could in no way be life-giving according to its own nature; but as truly made his own, of him who for our sakes both became and was called the Son of man.

But those sayings which our Saviour uttered in the Gospel we do not at all divide between two subsistences or persons. For the one Christ is not twofold, although he is known to have come together out of two diverse things into an indivisible unity; just as man also, consisting of soul and body, is not rather twofold, but is one out of both. Therefore, observing that human and divine sayings besides were spoken by the one Christ, we judge rightly. For when in a manner most worthy of God he speaks concerning himself, 'He who has seen me has seen also the Father;'

and, 'I and the Father are one,' we understand his divine and ineffable nature, according to which he is one with his Father, on account of one and the same substance, existing as the image and character and splendour of his glory. But when, in no way dishonouring the measure of human nature, he addresses the Jews, 'Now you seek to kill me, a man who have spoken the truth to you,' we no less acknowledge him who is in the likeness and equality of the Father, God the Word, even in the measures of his humanity.

But if it is necessarily believed that he who exists by nature as God became flesh, or rather a man animated with a rational soul, what cause is there that anyone should blush at any of his sayings, if he uttered things befitting a man? For if he casts away words suited to a man, who compelled him to become man in our manner? But since for our sake he mercifully inclined himself to a voluntary self-emptying, for what cause should he shun words worthy of the self-emptying? Therefore to one person we ascribe all his sayings in the Gospel, to one subsistence, namely of the Word and incarnate, since there is one Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written.

And he is called the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, inasmuch as he, sacrificing to God and the Father, offers the confession of our faith which is offered by us and through him unceasingly to God and the Father. Again, when we say that he who is from God by nature is the only-begotten Son, we do not assign the name and office of priesthood to any other man besides him. For he became the mediator of God and men, and the reconciler unto peace, offering himself to God and the Father for us as a sweet-smelling odour: 'and therefore sacrifice and oblation you would not; whole burnt offerings for sin did not please you, but a body you have perfected for me; then I said: Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me, that I should do your will.'

For he offered the body first not for himself, but for us, as a sweet-smelling odour. For of what offering or sacrifices for himself would he have need, who, being God, was free from all sin? But if all have sinned and lack the glory of God, in this respect that we have been rendered more prone to the excess of mutability, and human nature has sickened with sins, while he was not so: therefore we are saved by his glory; why then will there be any further doubt that the true Lamb was sacrificed for our sake and on our behalf? But whoever says that he offered himself both for himself and for us will in no way escape the charge of impiety, since this one committed nothing at all amiss, nor did any sin whatever.

For what offering would he need, when no misdeed of his own provoked it, on account of which, if it existed, he might quite fittingly offer? And concerning the Spirit also, when he says, 'He glorified me,' those who think most rightly confess that Christ and Son, as not needing the glory of another, obtained glory from the Holy Spirit, since his Spirit is neither better nor higher than he; but because, doing wondrous works for the demonstration of his deity, he used the power of his own Spirit, he is said to be glorified by that same Spirit. Just as if one should affirm concerning men that one's own power or learning renders any particular individual illustrious;

for although the Spirit is in his own subsistence, and his property is understood in his person according to this, that he is Spirit and not Son, nevertheless he is not alien; for by him he is called the Spirit of truth, and Christ is the truth, whence also from him likewise he thus proceeds, as from God the Father. In short, this same Spirit also, gloriously perfecting miracles through the hands of the holy apostles, glorified the Lord Jesus Christ after he ascended into heaven. For Christ, existing by nature as God, was believed, working power through his own Spirit, and therefore he said: 'He shall receive of mine and shall declare it to you.'

But the same Spirit is by no means called wise or powerful by participation in another, since he is perfect in all things and lacks no good thing whatever. For he is believed to be the Spirit of the Father's power and wisdom, that is, of the Son, and therefore by the very thing and subsistence he is proved to be power and wisdom. Therefore, because the holy Virgin bodily bore God united to the flesh according to subsistence, on this account we profess her to be the Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word obtained the beginning of its existence from the flesh; for in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and he himself is the founder of the ages, coeternal with the Father, and the creator of all things;

but, as we said above, uniting human nature to himself according to subsistence, he sustained a nativity from her bodily womb, not that he had need, of necessity or on account of his own nature, of this nativity which took place in the last times of the age, but that he might bless the very firstfruits of our substance. And when the woman had brought him forth united to flesh, that curse which had been uttered against the whole human race might cease, nor should it any longer destine our bodies to death. That also which was said, 'In sorrow you shall bring forth children,' he himself dissolving, might show to be true what the prophet had foretold by his voice: 'Death is swallowed up in victory,' and again: 'God has taken away every tear from every face;'

for this very cause we say that he, by way of dispensation, then also blessed marriage itself, when in Cana of Galilee he deigned to be present, having been invited with his holy apostles. These things we have been taught to understand from the holy apostles and evangelists, and from all Scripture divinely inspired, and also from the confessions of the blessed Fathers grounded upon the truth. It is fitting that your religion too should agree with all these, and consent without any guile or pretence; but those things which it is necessary for your religion to anathematize have been appended to this our letter; and if not, by subscribing the same, you will follow the sentence.

I. If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is truly God, and on this very account that the holy Virgin is the Mother of God (for she bore in the flesh the Word that is from God, according to that which is written: And the Word was made flesh), let him be anathema. II. If anyone does not confess that the Word of the Father is substantially one with the flesh, and that there is one Christ with his own flesh, and that the very same is without doubt God and man together, let him be anathema. III. If anyone in the one Christ divides the substances after the union, joining them only by a fellowship which is according to dignity, or even authority or power, and not rather by a coming together unto natural unity, let him be anathema. IV.

If anyone allots to two persons or subsistences those sayings which are contained in both the evangelical and apostolic writings, or even those which are spoken concerning Christ by the saints, or by Christ himself concerning himself, and should believe that some of these are to be applied as specially to a man understood apart from God the Word, while he should assign others, as worthy of God, to the Word of God the Father alone, let him be anathema. V. If anyone dares to call Christ a man bearing God (anthropon theophoron), that is, a man using God and carrying him about, and does not say that he is truly God, as the only Son by nature, according to which the Word was made flesh and shared with us likewise in flesh and blood, let him be anathema. VI.

If anyone says that the Word of God the Father is God or Lord of Christ, and does not rather confess the very same to be God and man together, on account of which the Word was made flesh according to the Scriptures, let him be anathema. VII. If anyone says that God the Word wrought as in the man Jesus, and assigns the dignity of the Only-begotten as to another existing apart from him, let him be anathema. VIII. If anyone dares to say that the assumed man ought to be adored together with God the Word, and to be named together as God, as one being together with another (for the addition of one syllable compels this to be understood), and does not rather venerate Emmanuel with one reverence and render to him one glorification, according to which the Word was made flesh, let him be anathema. IX.

If anyone says that the one Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by the Holy Spirit, as by an alien power which he used through him, and that he received from him efficacy against unclean spirits, and through him accomplished divine signs, and does not rather say that the Spirit is his own, even as it is the Father's, through whom he wrought the signs, let him be anathema. X. The divine Scripture records that Christ was made the High Priest and Apostle of our confession. For he offered himself for us to God the Father as a sweet-smelling odour:

if therefore anyone says that another was made our High Priest and Apostle, besides God himself, the Word of God, when he became flesh and man like us, but as it were another man specially apart from him, born of a woman; and if anyone says that he offered himself as an oblation for himself, and not rather for us alone (for he who knew no sin had no need of an oblation), let him be anathema. XI. If anyone does not confess that the flesh of the Lord is life-giving, as being proper to the very Word of God, but as if it were of some other apart from him, conjoined indeed according to dignity, or as having merely a divine indwelling;

and does not rather, as we have said, confess it to be life-giving, because it was made proper to the Word of God, to whom it is possible to give life to all things, let him be anathema. XII. If anyone does not confess that God the Word suffered in the flesh, and was crucified in the flesh, and tasted death in the flesh, and was made the first-begotten from the dead, according as he is both life and the giver of life as God, let him be anathema.