Coptic interpretations of the Fourth Ecumenical Council - Saint Mina ...

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constrain those who hold such views as these at all with other words, nor require from them additional verbal subtleties, but leave such people to praise God and bless the Lord in the simplicity and innocence of their hearts. .Anyone who does not abuse the saints touching this declaration: ‘I confess that our Lord is our brother and that he was of the same fleshly stock as us for the sake of our salvation’, accept such an one in our Lord.” [33] St Timothy is not overly concerned about words and formulas. He seeks a right content to a person’s faith. If a simple soul, not particularly theologically literate, confesses that Christ is consubstantial with us according to his humanity, then such a one is Orthodox. No chrismation, no period of probation. The simple believer is received into communion on the basis of his simple confession in the reality of the incarnation. Other believers were simply required to anathematise those who held heretical views, both Nestorian and Eutychian. The aim was to restore separated Christians to commune as easily as possible with due regard to the necessity for making a clean break with Nestorianism and Eutychianism. Finally, in regard to clergy, whether ordained bishop, priest or deacon, St Timothy was equally considerate rather than committed to an violent approach. His instructions were, “Let such an one repair to the bishops, clergy of ours or orthodox religious, in his vicinity, so that they may be trustworthy witnesses of his present repentance. Let him anathematise in writing, before the orthodox who belong to the whole place, the Council of Chalcedon and the Tome by wicked Leo of Rome ... .Then let him thus be granted the burden of penance in God, in such a case as his is limited to one year.” [34] Thus even in the case of clergy coming over to the anti-Chalcedonian communion it was necessary only for an anathema to be pronounced upon the Tome and Chalcedon, and for a period of penance to prove the stability of such repentance. St Timothy was certainly a gentle and peaceable bishop, even his long exile had not embittered him. His letters are filled with pastoral concern, even for those bound up in what were considered the errors of the Tome and Chalcedon . He took a moderate but vigourous stand against the conjoined errors of Nestorianism and Eutychianism, both of which failed to confess the real incarnation of Christ. St Timothy clearly confesses that the humanity of Christ is entirely consubstantial with us, save sin, and that the Divinity of Christ remained without change when Christ became incarnate. He is no Eutychian, but a faithful disciple of St Cyril, as St Dioscorus, his predecessor equally was. The whole tenor of his letters, and the content of the ecclesiastical histories of the period, strongly resist the partisan and unreliable account of St Timothy’s involvement in the death of Proterius, the intruding Patriarch of Alexandria. 40
St Timothy has been unfairly treated by history. He is perhaps too little known even by members of the Oriental Orthodox communion of Churches. The evidence shows that he was a genuinely eirenic bishop, with a pastoral spirit deserving the honour that the Church has accorded him as St Timothy the Great of Alexandria. [1] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p64, 1899; [2] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p65, 1899; [3] Grillmeier A. Christ in Christian Tradition Vol 2. Part 4. p10 Mowbray, 1996; [4] Walford E. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, p70 Bagster, 1846; [5] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p65, 1899; [6] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p66, 1899; [7] Walford E. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, p70 Bagster, 1846; [8] Grillmeier A. Christ in Christian Tradition Vol 2. Part 4. p11, n23 Mowbray, 1996; [9] Walford E. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, p71 Bagster, 1846; [10] Walford E. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, p74 Bagster, 1846; [11] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p66, 1899; [12] Leo of Rome, Letter CLVIII Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol XII.; [13] Walford E. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, p76 Bagster, 1846; [14] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p77, 1899; [15] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p79, 1899; [16] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p80, 1899; [17] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p104, 1899; [18] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p105, 1899; [19] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p106, 1899; [20] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p108, 1899; [21] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p110, 1899; [22] Hamilton F.J. & Brooks E.W. trans. Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle , Book 4. Ch 1. p111, 1899; [23] Walford E. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, p129 Bagster, 1846; [24] Walford E. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, p132 Bagster, 1846; [25] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p352.; [26] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p358.; [27] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p359.; [28] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p360.; [29] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p360.; [30] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p367.; [31] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p362.; [32] Walford E. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, p123 Bagster, 1846; [33] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p365.; [34] Ebied R.Y. and Wickham L.R. Syriac Letters of Timothy Aelurus Journal of Theological Studies XXI pt 2, p363. 41
Page 1 and 2: Coptic interpretations of the Fourt
Page 3 and 4: from the Virgin Theotokos the flesh
Page 5 and 6: and Eutyches, Alexandria did agains
Page 7 and 8: Agreed Official Statements on Chris
Page 9 and 10: Cyril's Twelve Chapters. Evidently
Page 11 and 12: the Emperor Marcianus intensified a
Page 13 and 14: and on several occasions seemed on
Page 15 and 16: is his fellow Christians he is tryi
Page 17 and 18: Yet despite all of these difficulti
Page 19 and 20: Pope Saint Dioscorus I of Alexandri
Page 21 and 22: When the judges started the order o
Page 23 and 24: Grillmeier rather confusingly state
Page 25 and 26: condemned to banishment with them,
Page 27 and 28: y the thought that the anti-Chalced
Page 29 and 30: Thus it came about that St Timothy
Page 31 and 32: consideration. With this in mind Ba
Page 33 and 34: that the doctrine of the real incar
Page 35 and 36: Unfortunately, Acacius of Constanti
Page 37 and 38: took flesh from the holy Virgin, an
Page 39: it seemed to him that the Tome and
Page 43 and 44: union of the Divinity with the Huma
Page 45 and 46: when Arab Muslims conquered Egypt,
Page 47 and 48: enemies, he wrote some of his most
Page 49 and 50: Severus, be taken to stand for the
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Page 53 and 54: anathema the fact of, or naming, na
Page 55 and 56: agreement of Nestorius with the tea
Page 57 and 58: Christ is known to be one from both
Page 59 and 60: is both human and Divine, it does n
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Page 63 and 64: “Our Lord Jesus Christ is, to be
Page 65 and 66: nature of flesh, we are not two, bu
Page 67 and 68: St Timothy reminds us that the huma
Page 69 and 70: A final passage from St Severus, si
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Page 75 and 76: APPENDICES A. WEB RESOURCES: 1. htt
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Page 81 and 82: together, but that the one eternal
Page 83 and 84: + There was a suggestion for small
Page 85 and 86: 2. God's infinite love for mankind,
Page 87 and 88: Church. It is the teaching of the b
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Church which imposed the anathemas
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A concrete form of methodology to b
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His Holiness Pope and Patriarch She
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Orthodox Co-president of the Joint
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comprising the joint text agreed up
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and energy. 4. Both families agree
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GENEVA, September 23 - 28, 1990 Ort
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(c) political, religious and social
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Edessa who insisted to divide the L
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circles, the imperial court and amo
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The delegates of Rome returned to t
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Euphemia [8] (a small chapel) inste
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