XLVII. twenty laymen of consular or senatorian rank. The CHAP. 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. 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 in 62 The acts of the Council of Chalcedon (Concil. tom. iv. p. 761-2071), 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, 2, 3, 4), and Liberatus (Brev. c. 11, 12, 13, 14). Once more, and almost for the last time, I appeal to the diligence of Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xv. p. 479-719). The Annals of Baronius and Pagi will accompany me much further on my long and laborious journey. 1 XLVII. CHAP. troduced 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 female dancers, that his palace, and even his bath, was open to the prostitutes of Alexandria, and that the infamous Pansophia, or Irene, was publicly entertained as the concubine of the patriarch63. Faith of For these scandalous offences Dioscorus 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 anathematise 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 OR 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, 63 Μάλισα η περιβοητος Πανσοφία η καλυμένη Ορεινη (perhaps Ειρήνη), περί ης και ο πολυανθρωπος της Αλεξανδρέων δημος αφήκε φωνην αυτής τε και το έρας μεμ VaμEVOS (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1276). A specimen of the wit and malice of the people is preserved in the Greek Anthology (1. ii. c. 5. p. 188. edit. Wechel), although the application was unknown to the editor Brodæus. The nameless epigrammatist raises a tolerable pun, by confounding the episcopi 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 lo- 64 Those who reverence the infallibility of synods, may try to ascertain 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 ex Tay pussy (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 Axoparos at Constantinople (Ducange, C. P. Christiana, l. 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. that Christ existed In two natures; and this momentous CHAP. particles (which the memory, rather than the under- XLVII. standing, 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 landmarks 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 them repair to Rome"!" The legates threatened, 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 Chris 65 It is darkly represented in the Microscope of Petavius (tom. v. l. iii. c. 5); yet the subtle theologian is himself afraid-ne quis fortasse supervacaneam, et nimis anxiam putet hujusmodi vocularum inquisitionem, et ab instituti theologici gravitate alienam (p. 124.) 66 Εβοησαν η ο όρος κρατείτω η απερχομεθα. . . . οι αντιλέγοντες φανεροί γενωνται, οι αντιλέγοντες Νισοριανοί εισιν, οι αντιλέγοντες εις Ρώμην απελθωσιν. (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1449.) Evagrius and Liberatus present only the placid face of the synod, and discreetly slide over these embers suppositos cinere doloso. VOL. VI. F CHAP. tians of the present day are ignorant or careless of their XLVII. own belief concerning the mystery of the incarnation. Discord of 451-482. Far different was the temper of the Greeks and Egypthe East, tians under the orthodox reigns of Leo and Marcian. A Those pious emperors enforced with arms and edicts the symbol of their faith67 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 by a guard of two thousand soldiers; he waged a five years war against the people of Alexandria; and on the first intelligence of the death of Marcian, he became the victim of their zeal. On the third day before the festival of Easter, the patriarch was besieged in the cathedral, and murdered in the baptistery. The remains of his mangled corpse were delivered to the flames, and his ashes to the wind and the deed was inspired by the vision of 67 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.) 68 Photius (or rather Eulogius of Alexandria) confesses, in a fine passage, the specious colour of this double charge gainst pope Leo 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 adver. Sary—κατάλληλοις βέλεσι τις αντιπαλες επιτρώσκε. Against Nestorius he seem. ed to introduce the ouguis of the Monophysites: against Eutyches he ap peared to countenance the vosaσew diagopa of the Nestorians. The apolo gist 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. 70 XLVII. a pretended angel; an ambitious monk, who, under the CHAP. name of Timothy the Cat, succeeded to the place and opinions of Dioscorus. This deadly superstition was inflamed, on either side, by the principle and the prac tice of retaliation: in the pursuit of a metaphysical quarrel, many thousands were slain, and the Christians of every degree were deprived of the substantial enjoyments of social life, and of the invisible gifts of baptism and the holy communion. Perhaps an extravagant fable of the times may conceal an allegorical picture of these fanatics, who tortured each other, and themselves. "Under the consulship of Venantius and Celer," says a grave bishop, "the people of Alexandria, and all "Egypt, were seized with a strange and diabolical "frenzy great and small, slaves and freedmen, monks "and clergy, the natives of the land, who opposed the "synod of Chalcedon, lost their speech and reason, "barked like dogs, and tore, with their own teeth, the "flesh from their hands and arms"," Zeno, The disorders of thirty years at length produced the The Hefamous HENOTICON" of the emperor Zeno, which in notion of his reign, and in that of Anastasius, was signed by all A. D. 482. the bishops of the East, under the penalty of degrada tion 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 un 69 Ages, 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, l. 1). 70 Φονες τε τολμηθηναι μύριες αιματων πληθεί μολυνθῆναι μη μόνον την γην αλλά και αυτόν τον αέρα. Such is the hyperbolic language of the Henoticon, 71 See the Chronicle of Victor Tunnunensis, in the Lectiones Antiquæ of Canisius, republished by Basnage, tom. i. p. 326. 72 The Henoticon is transcribed by Evagrius (1. iii. c. 13), and translated by Liberatus (Brev. c. 18). Pagi (Critica, tom. ii. p. 411) and Asseman (Bibliot. Orient. tom. i. p. 343.) are satisfied that it is free from heresy ; but Peravius (Dogmat. Theolog. tom. v. l. i. c. 13. p. 40.) most unaccountably affirms Chalcedonensem ascivit. An adversary would prove that he had never read the Henoticon, |
