The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY: BOOK I 13
himself have arrived on the appointed day if his associates celebrated the
so-called New Sunday in their own sees. 32
4 And so when the appointed day had passed by ¢fteen days, [9] those
who had been assembled for this ^ since the Easterners were not
coming, or even if they did only after a considerable delay ^ convened
under the direction of the venerable Cyril, who occupied the place of
Celestine, namely the bishopric of elder Rome, as has been said. 33
Accordingly they summoned Nestorius, inviting him to oppose his accusers.
Next, when Nestorius, after promising to be present on the
following day if it should be necessary, scorned the promises, and that
too after being summoned three times when he did not attend, those
who had gathered took the enquiry in hand. 34 And Memnon, the prelate
of the Ephesian church reviewed the passage of days since the appointed
day, which happened to be sixteen in number, 35 and there were read the
letters of the venerable Cyril which were composed by him to Nestorius,
and indeed those of Nestorius to Cyril himself, while that holy letter of
the supreme Celestine, the one that was to Nestorius himself, was also
32 The Sunday after Easter: Lampe s.v. kuriako¤ B 4.d.v. The Eastern bishops did not
mention Evagrius’ explanation, but excused their delay through a combination of famine,
popular unrest and torrential rain which threatened to £ood Antioch, all of which had detained
them in the city for a few days (ACO I.i.5, no. 153; p. 125:18^21).
33 21 June 431. Cyril, whose status as Celestine’s deputy is recorded in the list of participants
at the Council (ACO I.i.2, p. 3), would have known from the recent letter of John of
Antioch that the eastern contingent was close at hand, as indeed Nestorius and his supporters
among the bishops protested (ACO I.i.5, p. 14:2^6; = Bazaar 107). Cyril asserted that an
immediate start was necessary to avoid sickness among the assembled bishops (ACO I.i.2,
pp. 8:29^9:5; cf. ACO I.i.3, p. 6:11^15), but he had to overrule the protests of the emperor’s
representative, Candidianus, and a formal plea by 68 bishops, who urged that it was essential
to wait for all bishops to be present (Bazaar 106^8; ACO I.i.5, pp. 119:29^120:3). In spite
of the presence of some imperial troops, Ephesus was under the control of gangs assembled
by Cyril and Memnon (ACO I.i.5, pp. 121:21^31, 127:36^128:13; Bazaar 134, 266^7); in a
letter to the clergy of Constantinople Memnon countered by accusing the o⁄cials Candidianus
and Irenaeus (comes Orientis) of using their soldiers to intimidate the bishops, and
gathering a horde of rural inhabitants of church properties to prevent supplies from reaching
the city (ACO I.i.3, p. 46:7^17).
34 The protracted process, which began on 21 June and continued after the o⁄cial start
of the Council on 22 June, is recorded at ACO I.i.2, pp. 9:9^12:27.
35 ACO I.i.2, p. 8:24^8. Memnon was responding to a query from Firmus of Cappadocian
Caesarea.