Commonitorium 1 part 6/6

«A Synod of more than two hundred priests having been gathered at Ephesus, Nestorius, with the heresy of his own name, and with many Pelagians who supported a doctrine akin to his error, was condemned.» See the same author in his book Against the Conferencer, 21, chapter, number 2. In the first act of the Council, after the subscriptions of the bishops, these words are read: «After all these had subscribed to the deposition of Nestorius, other bishops came to the holy Synod, who likewise also subscribed to the aforesaid condemnation; the bishops, therefore, who deposed Nestorius himself, numbered more than two hundred: for some held the place of other bishops who were unable to come to the Metropolis of the Ephesians.»

But the holy man was forgetful no less of order than of number. Of order, because after Peter and Athanasius, Julius and Felix were to be mentioned; after Theophilus, Cyprian; then Ambrose; to whom were to be subjoined Nazianzen, Basil, and Nyssen; not omitting Atticus, Bishop of Constantinople, and Amphilochius, prelate of Iconium, whose testimonies were last praised in the Synod. Whence it is inferred that he was forgetful also of number, because there were not ten, as he says a little later, but twelve introduced into the Synod as it were witnesses, judges, and counselors. And indeed that the testimonies of Amphilochius and Atticus are to be retained, on the faith of manuscript codices and from Marius Mercator, Father Hardouin shows in Volume 1 of the Councils, page 147;

to which may be added the most ancient codex of the Vatican Library, number 1342, which also exhibits those testimonies, and which is frequently called by Baronius in his Annals the Cresconian Collection. Concerning Theophilus and John Chrysostom, Prosper has these things in his Chronicle, at the consulate of Vincentius and Fravitus, which fell in the year of Christ 401: «John of Constantinople and Theophilus of Alexandria are held to be illustrious bishops. But discord obscured them both, which went so far that John, oppressed by Theophilus, was compelled to go into exile to Pontus; although nevertheless the greatest part of the bishops, following the example of the Roman Pontiff, preserved communion with him.»

Capreolus succeeded Aurelius, but in what year is uncertain, though it appears to be around the year of Christ 430. Theodosius invited him by letters to the Synod, together with the African prelates, and Augustine by name. But since Augustine had sought heaven nearly nine months before the celebration of the Council, and at the same time, on account of the bitterness of the times, with the Vandals under the leadership of Genseric devastating and depopulating everything, the Primate could not assemble a Synod, so that those chosen by it might be sent to Ephesus, or at least an honorable and solemn legation: nevertheless, for the observance of ecclesiastical discipline, he wished to dispatch Besula, a deacon of Carthage, to the Synod; of which legation Capreolus himself makes mention in his Letter to Vitalis and Tonantius, which from a manuscript

codex Sirmond published. Capreolus's words are these: «I desire that your holiness be again and again entreated, that—with the Holy Spirit cooperating, whom I do not doubt will be present in your hearts in all that you are about to do—being equipped with the strength of ancient authority, you may drive out from your midst new doctrines, hitherto unheard by ecclesiastical ears, and so resist whatsoever new errors.» A fragment of this epistle Ferrandus recites in his Letter to Pelagius and Anatolius, deacons of the Holy Roman Church, though in a different Latinity.