bis sovereign, Cyril had repaired to Ephesus, where he was resisted, threatened, and confined, by the magistrates in the interest of Nestorius and the orientals; who assembled the troops of Lydia and Ionia to suppress the fanatic and disorderly train of the patriarch. Without expecting the royal licence, he escaped from his guards, precipitately embarked, deserted the imperfect synod, and retired to his episcopal fortress of safety and independence. But his artful emissaries, both in the court and city, successfully laboured to appease the resentment, and to conciliate the favour, of the emperor. The feeble son of Arcadius was alternately swayed by his wife and sister, by the eunuchs and women of the palace: superstition and avarice were their ruling passions; and the orthodox chiefs were assiduous in their endeavours to alarm the former, and to gratify the latter. Constantinople and the suburbs were sanctified with frequent monasteries, and the holy abbots, Dalmatius and Eutyches, had devoted their zeal and fidelity to the cause of Cyril, the worship of Mary, and the unity of Christ. From the first moment of their monastic life, they had never mingled with the world, or trod the profane ground of the city. But in this awful moment of the danger of the church, their vow was superseded by a more sublime and indispensable duty. At the head of a long order of monks and hermits, who carried burning tapers in their hands, and chanted litanies to the mother of God, they proceeded from their monasteries to the palace. The people were edified and inflamed by this extraordinary spectacle, and the trembling monarch listened to the prayers and adjurations of the saints, who boldly pronounced, that none could hope for salvation, unless they embraced the person and the creed of the orthodox successor of Athanasius. At the same time every avenue of the throne was assaulted with gold. Under the decent names of eulogies and benedictions, the courtiers of both sexes were bribed according to the measure of their power and rapaciousness. But their incessant demands despoiled the sanctuaries of Constantinople and Alexandria; and the authority of the patriarch was unable to silence the just murmur of his clergy, that a debt of sixty thousand pounds had already been contracted to support the expense of this scandalous corruption. Pulcheria, who relieved her brother from the weight of an Eutyches, the heresiarch Eutyches, is honourably named by Cyril as a friend, a saint, and the strenuous defender of the faith. His brother, the abbot Dalmatius, is likewise employed to bind the emperor and all his chamberlains terribili conjuratione. Synodicon, c. 203. in Concil. tom. iv. p. 467. d Clerici qui hic sunt contristantur, quod ecclesia Alexandrina nudata sit hujus causâ turbelæ : et debet præter illa quæ hinc transmissa sint auri libras mille quingentas. Et nunc ei scriptum est ut præstet; sed de tuâ ecclesiâ præsta avaritiæ quorum nosti, &c. This curious and original letter, from Cyril's archdeacon to his creature the new bishop of Constantinople, has been unaccountably preserved in an old Latin version. (Synodicon, c. 203. Concil, tom. iv. p. 465-468.) The mask is almost dropped, and the saints speak the honest language of interest and confederacy. The tedious negociations that succeeded the synod of Ephesus are diffusely related in the original Acts, (Concil. tom. iii. p. 1339-1771. ad fin. vol. and the Synodicon, in tom. iv.) Socrates, (1. vii. c. 28. 35. 40, 41.) Evagrius, (l. 1. c. 6, 7, 8. 12.) Liberatus, (c. 7-10.) Tillemont. (Mem. Eccles, tom. xiv. p. 487-676.) The most patient reader will thank me for compressing so much nousense and falsehood in a few lines. empire, was the firmest pillar of orthodoxy; and so intimate was the alliance between the thunders of the synod and the whispers of the court, that Cyril was assured of success if he could displace one eunuch, and substitute another in the favour of Theodosius. Yet the Egyptian could not boast of a glorious or decisive victory. The emperor, with unaccustomed firmness, adhered to his promise of protecting the innocence of the oriental bishops; and Cyril softened his anathemas, and confessed, with ambiguity and reluctance, a twofold nature of Christ, before he was permitted to satiate his revenge against the unfortunate Nestorius. Exile of Nes- The rash and obstinate Nestorius, before the end of the synod, was oppressed by Cyril, betrayed by the court, and faintly supported by his eastern friends. A sentiment of fear or indignation prompted him, while it was yet time, to affect the glory of a voluntary abdication: his wish, or at least his request, was readily granted; he was conducted with honour from Ephesus to his old monastery of Antioch; and, after a short pause, his successors, Maximian and Proclus, were acknowledged as the lawful bishops of Constantinople. But in the silence of his cell, the degraded patriarch could no longer resume the innocence and security of a private monk. The past he regretted, he was discontented with the present, and the future he had reason to dread: the oriental bishops successively disengaged their cause from his unpopular name, and each day decreased the number of the schismatics who revered Nestorius as the confessor of the faith. After a residence at Antioch of four years, the hand of Theodosius subscribed an edict, which ranked him with Simon the magician, proscribed his opinions and followers, condemned his writings to the flames, and banished his person first to Petra in Arabia, and at length to Oasis, one of the islands of the Libyan desert.h Secluded from the church and from the world, the exile was still pursued by the rage of bigotry and war. A wandering tribe of the Blemmyes or Nubians invaded his solitary prison: in their retreat they dismissed a crowd of useless captives; but no sooner had Nestorius reached the banks of the Nile, than he would gladly have escaped from a Roman and orthodox city to the milder servitude of the savages. His flight was f Αυτού τε ανδεηθέντος, επετράπη κατά το οικείον επαναζευσαι μου vasnpiov. Evagrius, 1. i. c. 7. The original letters in the Synodicon (c. 15. 24, 25, 26) justify the appearance of a voluntary resignation, which is asserted by Ebed-Jesu, a Nestorian writer, apud Asseman, Bibliot. Oriental. tom. iii. p. 299. 302. See the imperial letters in the Acts of the Synod of Ephesus. (Concil. tom. iii. p. 1730-1735.) The odious name of Simonians, which was afixed to the disciples of this τερατώδους διδασκαλίας, was designed ὡς αν ονείδεσι προβληθέντες αιωνιον ὑπομένοιεν τιμωρίαν, των ἁμαρτημάτων, και μητε ζώντας τιμωρίας, μήτε θανόντας ατιμίας εκτός ὑπαρχειν. Yet these were christians! who differed only in names and in shadows. Three of h The metaphor of islands is applied by the grave civilians (Pandect. I. xlviii. tit. 22. leg. 7.) to those happy spots which are discri minated by water and verdure from the Libyan sands. these under the common name of Oasis, or Alvahat: 1. The temple of Jupiter Ammon. 2. The middle Oasis, three days' journey to the west of Lycopolis. 3. The southern, where Nestorius was banished, in the first climate, and only three days' journey from the confines of Nubia. See a learned Note of Michaelis, (ad Descript. Egypt. Abulfedæ, p. 21-34.) punished as a new crime: the soul of the patriarch inspired the civil and ecclesiastical powers of Egypt; the magistrates, the soldiers, the monks, devoutly tortured the enemy of Christ and St. Cyril and, as far as the confines of Ethiopia, the heretic was alternately dragged and recalled, till his aged body was broken by the hardships and accidents of these reiterated journeys. Yet his mind was still independent and erect; the president of Thebais was awed by his pastoral letters; he survived the catholic tyrant of Alexandria, and, after sixteen years' banishment, the synod of Chalcedon would perhaps have restored him to the honours, or at least to the communion, of the church. The death of Nestorius prevented his obedience to their welcome summons; and his disease might afford some colour to the scandalous report, that his tongue, the organ of blasphemy, had been eaten by the worms. He was buried in a city of Upper Egypt, known by the names of Chemnis, or Panopolis, or Akmim; but the immortal malice of the Jacobites has persevered for ages to cast stones against his sepulchre, and to propagate the foolish tradition, that it was never watered by the rain of heaven, which equally descends on the righteous and the ungodly.' Humanity may drop a tear on the fate of Nestorius; yet justice must observe, that he suffered the persecution which he had approved and inflicted." Heresy of Eutyches, A. D. 448. The death of the Alexandrian primate, after a reign of thirty-two years, abandoned the catholics to the intemperance of zeal and the abuse of victory. The Monophysite doctrine (one incarnate nature) was rigorously preached in the churches of Egypt and the monasteries of the east; the primitive creed of Apollinaris was protected by the sanctity of Cyril; and the name of EUTYCHES, his venerable friend, has been applied to the sect most adverse to the Syrian heresy of Nestorius. His rival Eutyches was the abbot, or archimandrite, or superior, of three hundred monks, but the opinions of a simple and illiterate recluse might have expired in the cell, where he had slept above seventy years, if the resentment or indiscretion of Flavian, the Byzantine pontiff, had not exposed the scandal to the eyes of the christian world. His domestic synod was instantly convened, their proceedings were sullied with clamour and artifice, and the aged heretic was surprised into a seeming confession, i The invitation of Nestorius to the synod of Chalcedon, is related by Zacharias, bishop of Melitene, (Evagrius, I. ii. c. 2. Asseman. Bibliot, Orient. tom. ii. p. 55.) and the famous Xenaias or Philoxenus, bishop of Hierapolis, (Asseman, Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 40, &c.) denied by Evagrius and Asseman, and stoutly maintained by La Croze. (Thesaur. Epistol. tom. iii. p. 181, &c.) The fact is not improbable; yet it was the interest of the Monophysites to spread the invidious report; and Eutychius (tom. ii. p. 12.) affirms, that Nestorius died after an exile of seven years, and consequently ten years before the synod of Chalcedon. k Consult D'Anville, (Memoire sur l'Egypte, p. 191.) Pocock, (Description of the East, vol. i. p. 76.) Abulfeda, (Descript. Egypt. p. 14.) and his commentator Michaelis, (Not. p. 78-83.) and the Nubian Geographer, (p. 42.) who mentions, in the twelfth century, the ruins and the sugar-canes of Akmim. 1 Eutychius (Annal, tom. ii. p. 12.) and Gregory Bar-Hebræus, or Abulpharagius, (Asseman, tom. ii. p. 316.) represent the credulity of the tenth and eleventh centuries. of Ephesus, A. D. 449. Aug. 8-11. that Christ had not derived his body from the substance of the Virgin Mary. From their partial decree, Eutyches appealed to a general council; and his cause was vigorously asserted by his godson Chrysaphius, the reigning eunuch of the palace, and his accomplice Dioscorus, who had succeeded to the throne, the creed, the talents, and the vices of the nephew of Theophilus. By the special summons of Theodosius, the second synod Second council of Ephesus was judiciously composed of ten metropolitans and ten bishops from each of the six dioceses of the eastern empire: some exceptions of favour or merit enlarged the number to one hundred and thirty-five; and the Syrian Barsumas, às the chief and representative of the monks, was invited to sit and vote with the successors of the apostles. But the despotism of the Alexandrian patriarch again oppressed the freedom of debate: the same spiritual and carnal weapons were again drawn from the arsenals of Egypt; the Asiatic veterans, a band of archers, served under the orders of Dioscorus; and the more formidable monks, whose minds were inaccessible to reason or mercy, besieged the doors of the cathedral. The general, and, as it should seem, the unconstrained, voice of the fathers, accepted the faith and even the anathemas of Cyril; and the heresy of the two natures was formally condemned in the persons and writings of the most learned orientals. "" May those who divide Christ be divided with the sword, may they be hewn in pieces, may they be burnt alive;" were the charitable wishes of a christian synod. The innocence and sanctity of Eutyches were acknowledged without hesitation; but the prelates, more especially those of Thrace and Asia, were unwilling to depose their patriarch for the use or even abuse of his lawful jurisdiction. They embraced the knees of Dioscorus, as he stood with a threatening aspect on the footstool of his throne, and conjured him to forgive the offences, and to respect the dignity, of his brother. "Do you mean to raise a sedition?" exclaimed the relentless tyrant. "Where are the officers?" At these words a furious multitude of monks and soldiers, with staves, and swords, and chains, burst into the church: the trembling bishops hid themselves behind the altar, or under the benches, and as they were not inspired with the zeal of martyrdom, they successively subscribed a blank paper, which was afterwards filled with the m We are obliged to Evagrius (I. i. c. 7.) for some extracts from the letters of Nestorius; but the lively picture of his sufferings is treated with insult by the hard and stupid fanatic. anismus et Monophysitarum error in nervum erumperet: idque verned n Dixi Cyrillum dum viveret, auctoritate suâ effecisse, ne Eutychiputo... aliquo... honesto modo waerworar cecinerat. The learned but cautious Jablonski did not always speak the whole truth. Cum Cyrillo lenius omnino egi, quam si tecum aut cum aliis rei hujus prose gnaris et æquis rerum æstimatoribus sermones privatos conferrem, (Thesaur. Epistol. La Croziau, tom. i. p. 197, 198.) an excellent key to his dissertations on the Nestorian controversy! • Η άγια σύνοδος είπεν, αρον, καυσον Ευσέβιον, οὗτος ζων και, αυτός εις δυο γενηται, ὡς εμέρισε μερίσθη At the request of Dioscorus, those who were not able to roar (Son Η ' . . ει τις λέγει δυο ανάθεμα. stretched out their hands. At Chalcedon, the orientals disclaimed these exclamations; but the Egyptians more consistently declared rata kai τότε είπομεν και νυν λεγομεν. (Concil, tom. iv. p. 1012.) condemnation of the Byzantine pontiff. Flavian | eye of Marcian and the senate of Constantinople. was instantly delivered to the wild beasts of this spiritual amphitheatre: the monks were stimulated by the voice and example of Barsumas to avenge the the injuries of Christ: it is said that the patriarch of Alexandria reviled, and buffeted, and kicked, and trampled his brother of Constantinople :P it is best certain, that the victim, before he could reach the place of his exile, expired on the third day, of the wounds and bruises which he had received at Ephesus. This second synod has been justly branded as a gang of robbers and assassins; yet the accusers of Dioscorus would magnify his violence, to alleviate the cowardice and inconstancy of their own behaviour. Council of Chal. cedon, A. D. 451. A quarter of a mile from the Thracian Bosphorus, the church of St. Euphemia was built on the summit of a gentle though lofty ascent: the triple structure was celebrated as a prodigy of art, and the boundless prospect of the land and sea might have raised the mind of a sectary to the contemplation of the God of the universe. Six hundred and thirty bishops were ranged in order in the nave of the church; but the patriarchs of the east were preceded by the legates, of whom the third was a simple priest; and the place of honour was reserved for twenty laymen of consular or senatorian rank. The gospel was ostentatiously displayed in the centre, but the rule of faith was defined by the papal and imperial ministers, who moderated the thirteen sessions of the council of Chalcedon.1 Their partial interposition silenced the intemperate shouts and execrations, which degraded the episcopal gravity; but, on the formal accusation of the legates, Dioscorus was compelled to descend from his throne to the rank of a criminal, already condemned in the opinion of his judges. The orientals, less adverse to Nestorius than to Cyril, accepted the Romans as their deliverers: Thrace, and Pontus, and Asia, were exasperated against the murderer of Flavian, and the new patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch secured their places by the sacrifice of their benefactor. The bishops of Palestine, Macedonia, and Greece, were attached to the faith of Cyril; but in the face of the synod, in the heat of the battle, the leaders, with their obsequious train, passed from the right to the left wing, and decided the victory by this seasonable desertion. Of the seventeen suffragans who sailed from Alexandria, four were tempted from their allegiance, and the thirteen, falling prostrate on the ground, implored the mercy of the council, with sighs and tears, and a pathetic declaration, that, if they yielded, they should be massacred, on their return to Egypt, by the indignant people. A tardy repentance was allowed to expiate the guilt or error of the accomplices of Dioscorus: but their sins were accumulated on his head; he neither asked nor hoped for pardon, and the moderation of those who pleaded for a general amnesty was drowned in the prevailing cry of victory and revenge. To save the reputation of his late adherents, some personal offences were skilfully detected; his rash and illegal excommunication of the pope, and his contumacious refusal (while he was detained a prisoner) to attend the summons of the synod. Witnesses were introduced to prove the special facts of his pride, avarice, and cruelty; and the fathers heard with abhorrence, that the alms of the church were lavished on the The acts of the Council of Chalcedon, (Concil. tom. iv. P. 7612071.) comprehend those of Ephesus, (p. 890-1189.) which again comprise the synod of Constantinople under Flavian; (p. 930-1072.) and it requires some attention to disengage this double involution. The whole business of Eutyches, Flavian, and Dioscorus, is related by Evagrius (1. i. c. 9-12. and I. ii. c. 1-4.) and Liberatus. (Brev. c. 11-14.) Once more, and almost for the last time, I appeal to the diligence of Tillemont. (Mem. Eccles. tom. xv. p. 479-719.) The anuals of Baronius and Pagi will accompany me much further on my long and laborious journey. The faith of Egypt had prevailed: but the vanquished party was supportOct. 8-Nov. 1. ed by the same pope who encountered without fear the hostile rage of Attila and Genseric. The theology of Leo, his famous tome or epistle on the mystery of the incarnation, had been disregarded by the synod of Ephesus : his authority, and that nds of the Latin church, was insulted in his legates, who escaped from slavery and death to relate the melancholy tale of the tyranny of Dioscorus and the martyrdom of Flavian. His provincial synod annulled the irregular proceedings of Ephesus; but as this step was itself irregular, he solicited the convocation of a general council in the free and orthodox provinces of Italy. From his independent throne, the Roman bishop spoke and acted without danger, as the head of the christians, and his dictates were obsequiously transcribed by Placidia and her son Valentinian; who addressed their eastern colleague to restore the peace and unity of the church. But the pageant of oriental royalty was moved with equal dexterity by the hand of the eunuch; and Theodosius could pronounce, without hesitation, that the church was already peaceful and triumphant, and that the recent flame had been extinguished by the just punishment of the Nestorians. Perhaps the Greeks would be still involved in the heresy of the monophysites, if the emperor's horse had not fortunately stumbled; Theodosius expired; his orthodox sister, Pulcheria, with a nominal husband, succeeded to the throne; Chrysaphius was burnt, Dioscorus was disgraced, the exiles were recalled, and the tome of Leo was subscribed by the oriental bishops. Yet the pope was disappointed in his favourite project of a Latin council: he disdained to preside in the Greek synod, which was speedily assembled at Nice in Bithynia; his legates required in a peremptory tone presence of the emperor; and the weary fathers were transported to Chalcedon under the immediate the Η Ελεγε δε (Eusebius, bishop of Dorylæum) τον Φλαβιανον και δειλαίως αναιρέθηκαι προς Διόσκορος ωθημένον τε και λακτιζόμενον: and this testimony of Evagrius (1. ii. c. 2.) is amplified by the historian Zonaras, (tom. ii. 1. xiii. p. 44.) who affirms that Dioscorus kicked like a wild ass. But the language of Liberatus (Brev. c. 12. in Concil. tom. P. 438.) is more cautious; and the Acts of Chalcedon, which lavish the names of homicide, Cain, &c. do not justify so pointed a charge. The monk Barsumas is more particularly accused-copate Tov μakaβιο, Φλαβιανον αυτός έστηκε και ελεγε, σφαξον. (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1423.) 4 female dancers, that his palace, and even his bath, | them repair to Rome!" The legates threatened, was open to the prostitutes of Alexandria, and that the infamous Pansophia, or Irene, was publicly entertained as the concubine of the patriarch." Faith of Chal For these scandalous offences Dioscedon, corus was deposed by the synod, and banished by the emperor; but the purity of his faith was declared in the presence, and with the tacit approbation, of the fathers. Their prudence supposed rather than pronounced the heresy of Eutyches, who was never summoned before their tribunal; and they sat silent and abashed, when a bold Monophysite, casting at their feet a volume of Cyril, challenged them to anathematize in his person the doctrine of the saint. If we fairly peruse the acts of Chalcedon as they are recorded by the orthodox party, we shall find that a great majority of the bishops embraced the simple unity of Christ; and the ambiguous concession, that he was formed OF OF FROM two natures, might imply either their previous existence, or their subsequent confusion, or some dangerous interval between the conception of the man and the assumption of the God. The Roman theology, more positive and precise, adopted the term most offensive to the ears of the Egyptians, that Christ existed IN two natures; and this momentous particle (which the memory, rather than the understanding, must retain) had almost produced a schism among the catholic bishops. The tome of Leo had been respectfully, perhaps sincerely, subscribed; but they protested, in two successive debates, that it was neither expedient nor lawful to transgress the sacred land-marks which had been fixed at Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus, according to the rule of Scripture and tradition. At length they yielded to the importunities of their masters; but their infallible decree, after it had been ratified with deliberate votes and vehement acclamations, was overturned in the next session by the opposition of the legates and their oriental friends. It was in vain that a multitude of episcopal voices repeated in chorus, "The definition of the fathers is orthodox and immutable! The heretics are now discovered! Anathema to the Nestorians! Let them depart from the synod! Let - Μάλιστα ἡ περιβοητος Πανσοφια ή καλεμενη Ορεινη, (perhaps Ειρήνη,) περι ἧς και ο πολυάνθρωπος της Αλεξανδρέων δημος αφήκε φωνην AUTAS TE KAL TO EPA μevuevos. (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1276.) A specimen of the wit and malice of the people is preserved in the Greek Anthology, (I. ii. c. 5. p. 188. edit. Wechel,) although the application was unknown to the editor Brodeus. The nameless epigrammatist raises a tolerable pun, by confounding the episcopal salutation of "Peace be to all!" with the genuine or corrupted name of the bishop's concubine: Ειρηνη παντεσσιν, επίσκοπος είπεν επελθών, I am ignorant whether the patriarch, who seems to have been a jealous lover, is the Cimon of a preceding epigram, whose eos esnkos was viewed with envy and wonder by Priapus himself. Those who reverence the infallibility of synods, may try to ascer tain their sense. The leading bishops were attended by partial or careless scribes, who dispersed their copies round the world. Our Greek MSS. are sullied with the false and proscribed reading of eK TOY purev: (Concil. tom. iii. p. 1460.) the authentic translation of pope Leo I. does not seem to have been executed; and the old Latin versions materially differ from the present Vulgate, which was revised (A. D. 550.) by Rusticus, a Roman priest, from the best MSS, of the Akou at Constantinople, Ducange, C. P. Christiana, J. iv. p. 151.) a famous monastery of Latins, Greeks, and Syrians. See Concil. tom. iv. p. 1959-2049. and Pagi, Critica, tom. ii. p. 326, &c. It is darkly represented in the microscope of Petavius; (tom. v. the emperor was absolute, and a committee of eighteen bishops prepared a new decree, which was imposed on the reluctant assembly. In the name of the fourth general council, the Christ in one person, but in two natures, was announced to the catholic world: an invisible line was drawn between the heresy of Apollinaris and the faith of St. Cyril; and the road to paradise, a bridge as sharp as a razor, was suspended over the abyss by the master-hand of the theological artist. During ten centuries of blindness and servitude, Europe received her religious opinions from the oracle of the Vatican; and the same doctrine, already varnished with the rust of antiquity, was admitted without dispute into the creed of the reformers, who disclaimed the supremacy of the Roman pontiff. The synod of Chalcedon still triumphs in the protestant churches; but the ferment of controversy has subsided, and the most pious christians of the present day are ignorant, or careless, of their own belief concerning the mystery of the incarnation. Far different was the temper of the Discord of the Greeks and Egyptians under the orthodox reigns of Leo and Marcian. Those pious emperors enforced with arms and edicts the symbol of their faith; and it was declared by the conscience or honour of five hundred bishops, that the decrees of the synod of Chalcedon might be lawfully supported, even with blood. The catholics observed with satisfaction, that the same synod was odious both to the Nestorians and the Monophysites; but the Nestorians were less angry, or less powerful, and the east was distracted by the obstinate and sanguinary zeal of the Monophysites. Jerusalem was occupied by an army of monks; in the name of the one incarnate nature, they pillaged, they burnt, they murdered; the sepulchre of Christ was defiled with blood; and the gates of the city were guarded in tumultuous rebellion against the troops of the emperor. After the disgrace and exile of Dioscorus, the Egyptians still regretted their spiritual father; and detested the usurpation of his successor, who was introduced by the fathers of Chalcedon. The throne of Proterius was supported east, A. D. 451-482. 1. iii. c. 5.) yet the subtle theologian is himself afraid-ne quis fortasse supervacaneam, et nimis anxiam putet hujusmodi vocularum inquisi tionem, et ab instituti theologici gravitate alienam. (p. 124.) - Εβοησαν η ὁ όρος κρατείτω η απερχόμεθα . .. οι αντιλέγοντες φανεροι γενωνται, οι αντιλεγοντες Νεστοριανοί εισιν, οι αντιλέγοντες is Pan and work. (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1449.) Evagrius and Libe ratus present only the placid face of the synod, and discreetly slide over these embers suppositos cinere doloso. x See, in the Appendix to the Acts of Chalcedon, the confirmation of the synod by Marcian; (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1781, 1783.) his letters to the monks of Alexandria, (p. 1791.) of Mount Sinai, (p. 1793.) of Jerusalem and Palestine; (p. 1798.) his laws against the Eutychians (p. 1809. 1811. 1831.) the correspondence of Leo with the provincial synods on the revolution of Alexandria. (p. 1835, 1930.) y Photius (or rather Eulogius of Alexandria) confesses, in a fine passage, the specious colour of this double charge against pope Lea and his synod of Chalcedon. (Bibliot. cod. ccxxv. p. 768.) He waged a double war against the enemies of the church, and wounded either foe with the darts of his adversary-κατ' αλλήλοις βέλεσι τους αντιπά λους επιτρωσκε. Against Nestorius he seemed to introduce the συν Xuous of the Monophysites; against Eutyches he appeared to counte nance the оσтаσешv дiapopa of the Nestorians. The apologist claims a charitable interpretation for the saints: if the same had been extended to the heretics, the sound of the controversy would have been lost in the air. atest by a guard of two thousand soldiers; he waged a The Henoticon of men, and it accurately represents the catholic faith of the incarnation, without adopting or disclaiming the peculiar terms or tenets of the hostile sects. A solemn anathema is pronounced against Nestorius and Eutyches; against all heretics by whom Christ is divided, or confounded, or reduced to a phantom. Without defining the number or the article of the word nature, the pure system of St. Cyril, the faith of Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus, is respectfully confirmed, but, instead of bowing at the name of the fourth council, the subject is dismissed by the censure of all contrary doctrines, if any such have been taught either elsewhere or at Chalcedon. Under this ambiguous expression, the friends and the enemies of the last synod might unite in a silent embrace. The most reasonable christians acquiesced in this mode of toleration; but their reason was feeble and inconstant, and their obedience was despised as timid and servile by the vehement spirit of their brethren. On a subject which engrossed the thoughts and discourses of men, it was difficult to preserve an exact neutrality; a book, a sermon, a prayer, rekindled the flame of controversy; and the bonds of communion were alternately broken and renewed by the private animosity of the bishops. The space between Nestorius and Eutyches was filled by a thousand shades of language and opinion; the acephali d of Egypt, and the Roman pontiffs, of equal valour, though of unequal strength, may be found at the two extremities of the theological scale. The acephali, without a king or a bishop, were separated above three hundred years from the patriarchs of Alexandria, who had accepted the communion of Constantinople, without exacting a formal condemnation of the synod of Chalcedon. For accepting the communion of Alexandria, without a formal approbation of the same synod, the patriarchs of Constantinople were anathematized by the popes. Their inflexible despotism involved the most orthodox of the Greek churches in this spiritual contagion, denied or doubted the validity of their sacraments, and fomented, thirty-five years, the schism of the east and west, till they finally abolished the memory of four Byzantine pontiffs, who had dared to oppose the supremacy of St. Peter. Before that period, the precarious truce of Constantinople and Egypt had been violated by the zeal of the rival prelates. Macedonius, who was suspected of the Nestorian heresy, asserted, in disgrace and exile, the synod of Chalcedon, while the successor The disorders of thirty years at length produced the famous HENOTICON of the emperor Zeno, which in his reign, and in that of Anastasius, was signed by all the bishops of the east, under the penalty of degradation and exile, if they rejected or infringed this salutary and fundamental law. The clergy may smile or groan at the presumption of a layman who defines the articles of faith; yet if he stoops to the humiliating task, his mind is less infected by prejudice or interest, and the authority of the magistrate can only be maintained by the concord of the people. It is in ecclesiastical story, that Zeno appears least contemptible; and I am not able to discern any Manichæan or Eutychian guilt in the generous saying of Anastasius, That it was unworthy of an emperor to persecute the worshippers of Christ and the citizens of Rome. The Henoticon was most pleasing to the Egyptians; yet the smallest blemish has not been described by the jealous, and even jaundiced, eyes of our orthodox school Aloupos, from his nocturnal expeditions. In darkness and disguise he crept round the cells of the monastery, and whispered the revelation to his slumbering brethren. (Theodor. Lector. 1. 1.) * Φόνους τε τολμηθηναι μυρίους, αιμάτων πλήθει μολύνθηναι μη μόνον την γην αλλά και αυτόν τον αερα. Such is the hyperbolic language of the Henoticon. See the Chronicle of Victor Tunnunensis, in the Lectiones Antiquæ of Canisius, republished by Basnage, tom. i. p. 326. The Hepoticon is transcribed by Evagrius, (l. iii. c. 13.) and translated by Liberatus, (Brev. c. 18.) Pagi, (Critica, tom. ii. p. 414.) and Asseman (Bibliot. Orient. tom. i. p. 343.) are satisfied that it is free from heresy; but Petavius (Dogmat. Theolog. tom. v. 1. i. c. 13. p. 40.) most unaccountably affirms Chalcedonensem ascivit. An adver sary would prove that he had never read the Henoticon. See Renaudot. (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 123. 131. 145. 195. 247.) They were reconciled by the care of Mark I. (A. D. 799-819.) he promoted their chiefs to the bishoprics of Athribis and Talba, (perhaps Tava. See D'Anville, p. 82.) and supplied the sacraments, which had failed for want of an episcopal ordination. e De his quos baptizavit, quos ordinavit Acacius, majorum traditione confectam et veram, præcipue religiose solicitudini congruam præbemus sine difficultate medicinam. (Galacius, in epist. i. ad Eu. phemium, Concil. tom. v. 286.) The offer of a medicine proves the dis. ease, and numbers must have perished before the arrival of the Roman physician. Tillemont himself (Mem. Eccles. tom. xvi, p. 372, 642, &c.) is shocked at the proud uncharitable temper of the popes: they are now glad, says he, to invoke St. Flavian of Antioch, St. Elias of Jerusalem, &c. to whom they refused communion whilst upon earth. But Cardinal Baronius is firm and hard as the rock of St. Peter. f Their names were erased from the diptych of the church: ex vene. rabili diptycho, in quo piæ memoriæ transitum ad cœlum habentium episcoporum vocabula continentur. (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1846.) This ecclesiastical record was therefore equivalent to the book of life. |