Trinity

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TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD: PROF. M. M. NINAN In the actual teaching of the Eastern Churches, Adam and humans are expected to grow into the Divine world to be transformed into the likeness of the Son. This is known within the Eastern Churches as Deification and in the Western Churches as Sanctification. The fiercest opposition to Nestorianism came from St Cyril of Alexandria, a theologian from the Alexandrian school. In a series of epistles and letters to Nestorius, Emperor Theodore II, and Empress Eudoxia, St Cyril outlined the Orthodox teaching and accused Nestorius of heresy. St Cyril then wrote to Pope Celestine of Rome about the teaching of Nestorius. In 430, Pope Celestine called a council at Rome, which condemned Nestorius and called for him to be deposed. Pope Celestine sent copies of the council's decision to St Cyril of Alexandria, who also called a council in Alexandria in 430. At this council, St Cyril issued his famous 12 anathemas against Nestorius, which stated: • If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth, and therefore that the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (for she bore in a fleshly way the Word of God become flesh), let him be anathema. • If anyone does not confess that the Word from God the Father has been united by hypostasis with the flesh and is one Christ with his own flesh, and is therefore God and man together, let him be anathema. • If anyone divides in the one Christ the hypostases after the union, joining them only by a conjunction of dignity or authority or power, and not rather by a coming together in a union by nature, let him be anathema. • If anyone distributes between the two persons or hypostases the expressions used either in the Gospels or in the apostolic writings, whether they are used by the holy writers of Christ or by him about himself, and ascribes some to him as to a man, thought of separately from the Word from God, and others, as befitting God, to him as to the Word from God the Father, let him be anathema. • If anyone dares to say that Christ was a God-bearing man and not rather God in truth, being by nature one Son, even as "the Word became flesh," and is made partaker of blood and flesh precisely like us, let him be anathema. • If anyone says that the Word from God the Father was the God or master of Christ, and does not rather confess the same both God and man, the Word having become flesh, according to the scriptures, let him be anathema. • If anyone says that as man Jesus was activated by the Word of God and was clothed with the glory of the Only-begotten, as a being separate from him, let him be anathema. • If anyone dares to say that the man who was assumed ought to be worshiped and glorified together with the Divine Word and be called God along with Him, while being separate from Him, (for the addition of "with" must always compel us to think in this way), and will not rather worship Emmanuel with one veneration and send up to Him one doxology, even as "the Word became flesh", let him be anathema. • If anyone says that the one Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by the Spirit, as making use of an alien power that worked through Him and as having received from Him the power to master unclean spirits and to work divine wonders among people, and does not rather say that it was His own proper Spirit through whom He worked the divine wonders, let him be anathema. • The divine scripture says Christ became "the high priest and apostle of our confession"; He offered Himself to God the Father in an odour of sweetness for our sake. If anyone, therefore, says that it was not the very Word from God who became our high priest and apostle, when He became flesh and a man like us, but as it were another who was separate from him, in particular a man from a woman, or if anyone says that He offered the sacrifice also for Himself and not rather for us alone (for He who knew no sin, needed no offering), let him be anathema. • If anyone does not confess that the flesh of the Lord is life-giving and belongs to the Word from God the Father, but maintains that it belongs to another besides Him, united with Him in dignity or as enjoying a mere divine indwelling, and is not rather life-giving, as we said, since it became the flesh belonging to the Word who has power to bring all things to life, let him be anathema. • If anyone does not confess that the Word of God suffered in the flesh and was crucified in the flesh and tasted death in the flesh and became the first born of the dead, although as God He is life and life-giving, let him be anathema. 91
TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD: PROF. M. M. NINAN To put an end to the dispute, Emperor Theodore II called a council at Ephesus, which was to convene on the day of Pentecost, 431. This became known as the Third Ecumenical Council. St Cyril of Alexandria arrived with 40 Egyptian bishops; the other churches were represented by Yuvenali of Jerusalem with Palestinian bishops, Thermos of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and Flavian of Thessaloniki. Nestorius arrived with his bishops and two governement officials-Candidian and Ireneaus, representing the Emperor. Memnon of Ephesus hosted the Council. The only representatives not there were John of Antioch and the Syrian bishops and the legates of Pope Celestine of Rome. After waiting for 10 days for the arrival of the absent delegates, St Cyril of Alexandria decided to convene the Council without them on June 22, 431. The 200 bishops present read the teachings of Nestorius, the teachings of St Cyril of Alexandria, the writings of the Fathers, and found that Nestorius was teaching heresy and the St Cyril's teaching reflected the Orthodox position. The decisions of the Council were signed and sent to Constantinople for the Emperor and the Constantinopolitan faithful. Nestorius was invited to attend and defend himself, but refused to do so, and a wrote to the Emperor accusing St Cyril and Memnon of holding an illegal council and plotting against Nestorius. At this time, John of Antioch and 33 Syrian bishops arrived at Ephesus. Not recognizing the decision of the Council, John and the Syrian bishops refused to enter into communion with St Cyril, and, together with Nestorius and a few bishops who defected from St Cyril's council organized a rebel council. At this council, they condemned St Cyril, Memnon of Ephesus, and the other Fathers, falsely accusing them of the heresies of Arius, Apollinarius, and Eunomius. The proceedings were signed and sent to Constantinople. Emperor Theodore, unsure of the proper course of action, ordered both councils to close, the proceedings to be destroyed, and the all the Fathers to convene one Council. While messengers were going back and forward between the Palace and Ephesus, St Cyril of Alexandria convened his Council again. At the second session, the Council found Orthodox the epistle of Pope Celestines, finally delivered by his legates. At the third session, the legates signed the condemnation of Nestorius. At the fourth session, the Council found invalid the condemnation of St Cyril and Memnon by John of Antioch and his council. At the fifth session, St Cyril and Memnon condemned the heresies of Arius, Apollinarius, and Eunomius, and the Council condemned John of Antioch and the rebel council. At the sixth session, the council decreed that no changes or additions can be made to the Nicene Creed. At the seventh, and final session, the Council made decisions concerning the boundaries of various dioceses. Emperor Theodore, at the time under the influence of the Nestorian party at the Court, ordered Nestorius, Memnon, and St Cyril to be arrested and a new council to be convened. No agreement, however, could be reached. St Cyril, meanwhile, wrote to Abba Dalmatius in Constantinople, calling him to action for the defence of Orthodoxy. Abba Dalmatius, who for 48 years never left his monastery, marched together with the Constantinopolitan faithful to the Palace and called on the Emperor to release the Orthodox bishops and to condemn Nestorius. The people then proclaimed anathema on Nestorius. 92
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Trinity

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