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CHAP. idioms 37: but he was exafperated, by contradicXLVII. tion, to difclaim the worship of a new-born, an

infant Deity, to draw his inadequate fimiles from
the conjugal or civil partnerships of life, and to
defcribe the manhood of Chrift as the robe, the in-
ftrument, the tabernacle of his Godhead. At these
blafphemous founds, the pillars of the fanctuary
were fhaken. The unfuccessful competitors of
Neftorius indulged their pious or personal refent-
ment, the Byzantine clergy was fecretly difpleafed
with the intrufion of a stranger; whatever is fuper-
ftitious or abfurd, might claim the protection of
the monks; and the people was interefted in the
glory of their virgin patronefs 35. The fermons of
the archbishop, and the fervice of the altar, were
disturbed by feditious clamour; his authority and
doctrine were renounced by feparate congregations;

every
wind fcattered round the empire the leaves
of controverfy; and the voice of the combatants
on a fonorous theatre re-echoed in the cells of
Palestine and Egypt. It was the duty of Cyril to
enlighten the zeal and ignorance of his innume-
rable monks in the fchool of Alexandria, he had
imbibed and profeffed the incarnation of one
nature; and the fucceffor of Athanafius confulted
his pride and ambition, when he rofe in arms
against another Arius, more formidable and more

37 The armidosis of the Greeks, a mutual loan or transfer of the idioms or properties of each nature to the other-of infinity to man, paffibility to God, &c. Twelve rules on this niceft of fubjects compofe the Theological Grammar of Petavius (Dogmata Theolog. tom. v. I. iv. c. 14, 15. p. 209, &c.).

38 See Ducange, C. P. Chriftiana, l. i. p. 30, &c.

guilty,

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guilty, on the fecond throne of the hierarchy. CHAP. After a fhort correfpondence, in which the rival prelates disguised their hatred in the hollow language of respect and charity, the patriarch of Alexandria denounced to the prince and people, to the Eaft and to the Weft, the damnable errors of the Byzantine pontiff. From the East, more especially from Antioch, he obtained the ambiguous counfels of toleration and filence, which were addreffed to both parties while they favoured the cause of Neftorius. But the Vatican received with open arms the meffengers of Egypt. The vanity of Celestine was flattered by the appeal; and the partial verfion of a monk decided the faith of the pope, who, with his Latin clergy, was ignorant of the language, the arts, and the theology of the Greeks. At the head of an Italian fynod, Celestine weighed the merits of the caufe, approved the creed of Cyril, condemned the fentiments and perfon of Neftorius, degraded the heretic from his episcopal dignity, allowed a refpite of ten days for recantation and penance, and delegated to his enemy the execution of this rafh and illegal fentence. But the patriarch of Alexandria, whilst he darted the thunders of a god, expofed the errors and paffions of a mortal: and his twelve anathemas 39 ftill torture the orthodox flaves, who adore the memory of a faint, without forfeiting their alle

39 Concil. tom. iii. p. 943. They have never been directly approved by the church (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 368 -372.) I almoft pity the agony of rage and fophiftry with which Petavius feems to be agitated in the vich book of his Dogmata Theologica.

XLVII.

CHAP. giance to the fynod of Chalcedon. These bold affertions are indelibly tinged with the colours of the Apollinarian herefy: but the ferious, and perhaps the fincere, profeffions of Neftorius have fatisfied the wifer and lefs partial theologians of the present times 4°.

First coun

cil of Ephefus,

June-
October.

Yet neither the emperor nor the primate of the Eaft were difpofed to obey the mandate of an A.D. 431, Italian prieft; and a fynod of the Catholic, or rather of the Greek church, was unanimoufly demanded as the fole remedy that could appease or decide this ecclefiaftical quarrel ". Ephefus, on all fides acceffible by fea and land, was chosen for the place, the festival of Pentecost for the day, of the meeting a writ of summons was dispatched to each metropolitan, and a guard was ftationed to protect and confine the fathers till they fhould fettle the mysteries of heaven, and the faith of the earth. Neftorius appeared not as a criminal, but as a judge; he depended on the weight rather than the

40 Such as the rational Basnage (ad tom. i. Variar. Lection. Canifii in Præfat. c. ii. p. 11—23.) and La Croze, the universal scholar (Chriftianisme des Indes, tom. i. p. 16-20. De l'Ethiope, p. 26, 27. Thefaur. Erift. p. 176, &c. 283, 285.). His free fentence is confirmed by that of his friends Jablonski (Thefaur. Epift. tom. i. P. 193-201.) and Mosheim (idem, p. 304. Neftorium crimine caruiffe eft et mea fententia); and three more respectable judges will not easily be found. Affeman, a learned and modest flave, can hardly difcern (Bibliothec. Orient. tom. iv. p. 190-224.) the guilt and error of the Neftorians.

41 The origin and progrefs of the Neftorian controverfy, till the fynod of Ephefus, may be found in Socrates (1. vii. c. 32.), Evagrius (l. i. c. 1, 2.), Liberatus (Brev. c. 1-4), the original Acts (Concil, tom. iii. p. 551-991. edit. Verife, 1728), the Annals of Baronius and Pagi, and the faithful collections of Tillemont (Mem. Ecclef., tom. xiv. p. 283-377-).

number

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number of his prelates, and his sturdy flaves from CHAP. the baths of Zeuxippus were armed for every fervice of injury or defence. But his adversary Cyril was more powerful in the weapons both of the flesh and of the fpirit. Difobedient to the letter, or at leaft to the meaning, of the royal fummons, he was attended by fifty Egyptian bifhops, who ex pected from their patriarch's nod the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He had contracted an intimate alliance with Memnon bishop of Ephefus. The defpotic primate of Afia difpofed of the ready fuccours of thirty or forty epifcopal votes: a crowd of peasants, the flaves of the church, was poured into the city to fupport with blows and clamours a metaphyfical argument: and the people zealously afferted the honour of the Virgin, whofe body reposed within the walls of Ephefus +. The fleet which had transported Cyril from Alexandria was laden with the riches of Egypt; and he disem. barked a numerous body of mariners, flaves, and fanatics, enlisted with blind obedience under the banner of St. Mark and the mother of God. The fathers, and even the guards, of the council were awed by this martial array; the adversaries of Cyril and Mary were infulted in the streets, or threatened

42

42 The Chriftians of the four firft centuries were ignorant of the death and burial of Mary. The tradition of Epherus is affirmed by the fynod (εν θα ὁ Θεολογ@. Ιωαννής, και ἡ θεοτους παρθείΘ, ἡ ἅγια Μαρία, Concil. tom. iii. p. 1102.); yet it has been fuperfeded by the claim of Jerufalem; and her empty sepulchre, as it was fhewn to the pilgrims, produced the fable of her resurrection and affumption, in which the Greek and Latin churches have piously acquiefced. See Baronius (Annal. Ecclef. A. D. 48, N° 6, &c.) and Tillemont (Mem. Ecclef. tom. i. p. 467-477-).

VOL. VIII.

in

XLVII.

43

CHAP. in their houses; his eloquence and liberality made a daily increase in the number of his adherents; and the Egyptian foon computed that he might command the attendance and the voices of two hundred bishops +3. But the author of the twelve anathemas forefaw and dreaded the oppofition of John of Antioch, who with a fmall, though refpectable, train of metropolitans and divines, was advancing by flow journies from the distant capital of the Eaft. Impatient of a delay which he ftigmatized as voluntary and culpable, Cyril an nounced the opening of the fynod fixteen days after the festival of Pentecoft. Neftorius, who depended on the near approach of his Eastern friends, perfifted, like his predeceffor Chryfoftom, to disclaim the jurifdiction and to difobey the fummons of his enemies they haftened his trial, and his accufer prefided in the feat of judgment. Sixty-eight bishops, twenty-two of metropolitan rank, de fended his caufe by a modeft and temperate proteft; they were excluded from the counfels of their brethren. Candidian, in the emperor's name, requested a delay of four days: the profane ma

43 The Acts of Chalcedon (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1405. 1408.) exhibit a lively picture of the blind, obftinate fervitude of the bishops of Egypt to their patriarch.

44 Civil or ecclefiaftical business detained the bishops at Antioch till the 18th of May. Ephefus was at the diftance of thirty days journey; and ten days more may be fairly allowed for accidents and repofe. The march of Xenophon over the fame ground enumerates above 260 parafangs or leagues; and this measure might be illuftrated from ancient and modern itineraries, if I knew how to compare the speed of an army, a fynod, and a caravan. John of Antioch is reluctantly acquitted by Tillemont himself (Mem. Ecclef. tom. xiv. p. 386-389 ).

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