NESTORIUS : UNDERSTANDING INCARNATION PROF. M. M. NINAN CHAPTER SIX NESTORIUS: A HERETIC? John <strong>Nestorius</strong> Born: 386 AD, Kahramanmara, Turkey Died: 451 AD, Kharga Oasis, Egypt Controversy: Christology, Theotokos Venerated in: Assyrian Church of the East, Syro-Malabar Church, Ancient Church of the East Books: The Bazaar of Heraclides He had refused to recognize the jurisdiction of this synod with incomplete number of representation from around the world, and had consequently refused to appear or put in any defense. He was not 81
NESTORIUS : UNDERSTANDING INCARNATION PROF. M. M. NINAN thrown out of his see by a change of mind on the part of the feeble emperor. But <strong>Nestorius</strong> was proud: he showed no sign of yielding or of coming to terms; he put in no plea of appeal to Rome. He was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to August 431, Emperor Theodosius II confirmed his condemnation by the Council of Ephesus on 22 June, 431. He asked to be retired to his monastery at Antioch with dignity and apparent relief. His friends, John of Antioch, and his party, deserted him, and at the wish of the Emperor, at the beginning of 433, joined hands with Cyril; and Theodoret later did the same. The bishops who were suspected of being favorable to <strong>Nestorius</strong> were deposed. An edict of Theodosius II, 30 July, 435, condemned his writings to be burnt. A few years later <strong>Nestorius</strong> was dragged from his retirement and banished to the Oasis. He was at one time carried off by the Nubians (not the Blemmyes) in a raid, and was restored with his hand and one rib broken. He gave himself up to the governor in order not to be accused of having fled. The recent discovery of a Syriac version of the (lost) Greek apology for <strong>Nestorius</strong> by himself has awakened new interest in the question of his personal orthodoxy. The (mutilated) manuscript, about 800 years old, known as the "Bazaar of Heraclides", and recently edited as the "Liber Heraclidis" by P. Bedjan (Paris, 1910), reveals the persistent odium attached to the name of <strong>Nestorius</strong>, since at the end of his life he was obliged to substitute for it a pseudonym. He died in c. 451 AD As is usual with the Roman tradition all of <strong>Nestorius</strong>’ writings and depositions and defense were burned. As such very few of <strong>Nestorius</strong>' writings survive. There are several letters preserved in the records of the Council of Ephesus, and fragments of a few others. About 30 sermons are extant, mostly in fragmentary form. The only complete treatise is the lengthy defence of his theological position, The Bazaar of Heraclides, written in exile at the Oasis, which survives in Syriac translation. It must have been written no earlier than 450, as he knows of the death of the Emperor Theodosius II (29 July 450). In 1895, a 16th-century book manuscript containing a copy of a text written by <strong>Nestorius</strong> was discovered by American missionaries in the library of the Nestorian patriarch in the mountains at Konak, Hakkari. This book had suffered damage during Muslim conquests, but was substantially intact, and copies were taken secretly. The Syriac translation had the title of the Bazaar of Heracleides. The original 16th-century manuscript was destroyed in 1915 during the Turkish massacres of Assyrian Christians. Edition of this work is primarily to be attributed to the German scholar, Friedrich Loofs, of Halle University. In the Bazaar, written about 451, <strong>Nestorius</strong> denies the heresy for which he was condemned and instead affirms of Christ "the same one is twofold"—an expression that some consider similar to the formulation of the Council of Chalcedon. <strong>Nestorius</strong>' earlier surviving writings, however, including his letter written in response to Cyril's charges against him, contain material that has been interpreted by some to imply that at that time he held that Christ had two persons. Others view this material as merely emphasizing the distinction between how the pre-incarnate Logos is the Son of God and how the incarnate Emmanuel, including his physical body, is truly called the Son of God. 82
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