And after these things he wrote another sacred rescript to all the bishops, that they should assemble at Ephesus, and confer judgment concerning the books of Nestorius and Cyril. The emperor wrote a sacred rescript also to the blessed Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius, through Ebagnius the magistrian, that he himself should lend his presence to the council. This Ebagnius, coming to Carthage the Great, heard from Capreolus, the bishop of that city, that the blessed Augustine had departed from this world to the Lord; and having received from him letters to the emperor speaking of the death of the blessed Augustine, he returned to Constantinople, whence he had come.
Furthermore Capreolus the archbishop, on account of the assaults of the Vandals besieging the African regions, being unable to assemble a general council, sent his deacon Bessula to the council at Ephesus as legate. But Pope Celestine the Roman wrote to Nestorius a letter of rebuke, with exhortation and reproach, because he ought not to have erred, to whose ordination he had rejoiced. And its beginning is: "For some days of our life," etc., granting him a space of ten days—that is, from the first day of the receipt of that letter, up to the last day:
that if Nestorius should not at all amend his expositions, and recall to the Church those who, on account of Christ who is its head, had been expelled by him, he should know himself to be separated from his fellowship and from the company of all the holy bishops. He intimated to him that he had given his place in the council to Cyril through his own letter, of which the beginning is: "The letters of your holiness, of our sorrow," etc., by which he admonished Cyril that, if within those ten days Nestorius should not at all amend his doctrine, he should arrange for him to be removed from the common body, and that provision should be made for that Church. Concerning the same matter he likewise wrote to John of Antioch, Rufus of Thessalonica, Juvenal of Jerusalem, and Flavian of Philippi, the archbishops.
He wrote also to the clergy of Constantinople, admonishing them to stand firmly against the doctrine of Nestorius, and patiently to bear his persecutions, which would bring the fruit of crowns; knowing that those excommunicated or cast out by him remained in the communion of the apostolic see. Immediately, however, after the paschal festivity, Nestorius came to Ephesus with a very great multitude, and found many bishops gathered. Furthermore Cyril of Alexandria, somewhat delayed, arrived around Pentecost, and Juvenal of Jerusalem. But while John of Antioch was tarrying, the bishops present moved the question concerning the blessed Mary, Mother of God. Cyril, moreover, was making certain extracts from the books of Nestorius, wishing to disturb him;
for he was, as is said, his enemy. And when very many were confessing Jesus Christ to be God, "I," said Nestorius, "would never confess that one who was of two or three months to be God; by which grace I am thrice clean of your blood, and henceforth I do not come to you." And these things having been said, he gathered with the rest of the bishops who followed his opinion. The bishops present, therefore, were divided into two ranks. Cyril, moreover, with his followers, holding the place of the apostolic see, a council of two hundred bishops having been convened, summoned Nestorius. But he was unwilling to come, deferring until the presence of John of Antioch.
For John himself had written to Cyril about the journey, being situated at the sixth stage, intimating his haste, and the labors of the journey, the deaths of the pack-animals, and the necessities of the bishops who were with him. But the bishops who were around Cyril, repeatedly rereading the homilies of Nestorius which he had brought forth on this question, before the council of the East and the bishops of certain provinces joined to that council should arrive at the synod, judging Nestorius, condemned him as one blaspheming the Son of God. This having been done concerning Nestorius, John and the bishops who were with him, holding another council among themselves, condemned Cyril, and with him Memnon, bishop of the Ephesians.
"After these things he wrote another sacred rescript." ] Rather either at the same time, or before, part 1 of the Council of Ephesus, chapter 52; for in it mention is made of this very one: "Your piety will take care that, when the most sacred Easter next at hand has passed, you hasten to Ephesus, the city of Asia, by the very day of holy Pentecost, and bring along with you some of the most holy bishops of your province whom you shall judge suitable." And afterwards: "But concerning this most holy synod our serenity has written letters to absolutely all the metropolitan bishops beloved of God."
On the letters to the emperor. — Three letters of Capreolus are recorded: one to the emperor Theodosius, of which nothing has been published except a fragment found in Ferrandus, in his letter to Pelagius and Anatolius; a second to the Synod of Ephesus, which is preserved in the Acts, volume 1; and a third to Vitalis and Constantius against Nestorius, which Father Sirmond published in their entirety, since previously they were available only in mutilated form. This passage of Liberatus was, I suppose, not recalled by a certain recent writer of the Pelagian history, when he said that Theodosius, in the sacred letter sent through John, count of the Sacred Largesses, to the Fathers of Ephesus, had inscribed the name of Augustine, because he had not yet learned of Augustine's death and so believed him to be present.
But those who are not strangers to ecclesiastical history know the reason for this fact. For this is the very reason why mention is made in that same sacred letter of Coelestine the supreme pontiff, of Rufus of Thessalonica, and of others, even though their absence was well known, and likewise news of the arrival of the legates had been heard in the imperial city. Universal: that is, of the whole African diocese. See the dissertation on the synods in the Pelagian cause, prefixed to the first part of the works of Mercator. 'Pope Coelestine, however' — here the order of times is disturbed. For Coelestine wrote to Nestorius a full three months before the sacred letter by which the synod was convened, since the supreme pontiff's letter is read as dated the 11th of August, while the sacred letter is dated the 19th of November.
'His representation in the council.' — If the Council of Ephesus is meant, the error is manifest: for Coelestine could have heard nothing of the Council of Ephesus when he issued these letters, since he issued them on the third day before the Ides of August, while the convening of the council is recorded as having been made on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of the following December. Liberatus therefore is speaking of that Roman council in which the pontiff wrote letters both to Nestorius and to Cyril and to the other bishops — letters which Liberatus has mentioned. Hence 'to have given his representation in the council' is the same as 'to have written letters in the Roman council' by which the pontiff entrusted that his place be filled, not in the Council of Ephesus, which had not yet been convened;
but in carrying out the pontiff's order concerning the deposing of Nestorius, should he not otherwise comply, and the appointing of another in his place. 'With a very great multitude.' — But he brought from his own diocese only ten bishops, and from the palace two counts. The names of the bishops are subscribed to Nestorius's report to the emperor. The counts were Candidianus, count of the Domestics, who came as judicial commissioner, and Irenaeus, who had a bond of friendship with Nestorius. See the sacred letter of Theodosius to the synod. 'Certain laments.' — These were published in the second part of the Works of M. Mercator, p. 103, having previously been entirely unknown. 'For he was his enemy.' — It is no wonder that the defender of Ibas wrote the same things about Cyril as Ibas did, since he drew what he writes from Ibas's letter.
But it is astonishing that Isidore of Pelusium, a holy man whom Cyril revered as a father, believed the same common rumor, so as to write to Cyril: 'That neither I may be condemned, nor you yourself condemned by God, cease from strife, and do not exact vengeance for your own injuries — which is owed you by mortal men — from the living Church, nor build up eternal discord for it under the pretext of piety.' (Facundus, book II, ch. 1.) 'Of two hundred bishops.' — The better authority, Marius Mercator, who was present and could count them, has recorded that two hundred and seventy-four Catholics assembled, in his preface to the creed of Theodore. 'The bishops who were with him.' — Thirty-three, as is clear from the following chapter, among whom was Theodoret himself;
yet he is not reckoned by Liberatus, who indeed names only seven metropolitans together with John. 'At his lodging.' — In his very lodging, while the dust of the journey had not yet been shaken off and John had scarcely descended from his carriage, as the Fathers' report to the emperor has it, in the second part of the Council of Ephesus. Moreover, how greatly Liberatus errs in this history of the Council of Ephesus has been shown in the second dissertation appended to the latter part of the works of M. Mercator, where the accounts handed down so far by the historians of Ephesus have been called to examination. But when I searched into the chronography of Theophanes, I called him 'Cerameus' through a slip of memory. For Cerameus is a far different person.