Dialogus cum Nestorio A DIALOGUE OF THE SAME SAINT CYRIL WITH NESTORIUS THAT

THE HOLY VIRGIN IS THEOTOKOS AND NOT CHRISTOTOKOS.

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{NESTORIUS.}When holy Scripture speaks of the birth of Christ from Mary the virgin [or] death, it nowhere appears to be put of God, but of Christ or Lord or Jesus, since these three are significant of the two natures, sometimes of this one, sometimes of that one; for example what I say: When the Apostle proclaims to us the birth of Christ from a Virgin, he says: God sent forth his Son, born of a woman; he did not say, He sent forth God the Word; but he takes the name that signifies the two births, namely God and man, since Christ is twofold; For the Virgin bore a son of God, as it says: You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High; whence we have learned from Scripture to say Christ-bearer, Lord-bearer, man-bearer, but we were in no way taught to call the holy Virgin God-bearer (Theotokos). {CYRIL.} Isaiah cries out in the Spirit, saying: Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is 76.252 translated, God with us; Therefore the one born is God, whether you wish it or not. {NEST.} The angel said to Joseph: Arise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; he did not say, Take God and his mother. {CYR.} But the archangel Gabriel says to the Virgin: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the holy one to be born of you will be called the Son of the Most High. {NEST.} The Apostle said: He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant; which is, having put on our body, wherein he advanced in wisdom and age and grace before God and men, as the Lord's man. {CYR.} Everything born of the flesh is flesh; but this does not take away the paradox of the birth; for as God begets divinely, so also the God-befitting Virgin bore in the flesh God the Word from God. {NEST.} Every mother bears that which is consubstantial with her; therefore she is not his mother, unless he is consubstantial with her; for how is she the mother of one who is foreign to her substance? {CYR.} We have been taught to confess one Son from the Virgin and from the Holy Spirit, consubstantial with the mother as with the Father, as the Fathers have said. {NEST.} I distinguish the natures, I unite the worship, since God is inseparable from the one who appears; for this reason I do not separate the honor. {CYR.} He who distinguishes the natures speaks of two sons, not believing the Scripture which says that The Word became flesh. {NEST.} Paul says that Jesus became the high priest and apostle of our confession, being faithful to the one who made him, he offered himself as a sacrifice for himself as for the people; whence he is established as high priest in things pertaining to God. {CYR.} Paul says: Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time without sin. And again: He committed no sin, and no deceit was in his mouth; and behold, he offers himself for us; see then, he did not offer himself up for himself, but for the people. {NEST.} He himself says: He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, will live because of me, just as I live because of the Father who sent me. 76.253 What then do you eat, heretic? The divinity, or the humanity? For Christ did not say, He who eats my divinity, but, The flesh. {CYR.} I indeed by faith partake of the life-giving flesh of the life-giving Word; whence the Savior said: Those who eat of this bread shall not taste death forever; those

Dialogus cum Nestorio ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΥ ∆ΙΑΛΕΞΙΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΝΕΣΤΟΡΙΟΝ ΟΤΙ

ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΣ Η ΑΓΙΑ ΠΑΡΘΕΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΤΟΚΟΣ.

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{ΝΕΣΤΟΡΙΟΣ.}Οταν ἡ θεία Γραφὴ διαλέγηται γέννησιν Χριστοῦ ἐκ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου [η] θάνατον, οὐδαμοῦ τεθεῖσα φαίνεται Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ Χριστοῦ η  Κυρίου η  ̓Ιησοῦ, ἐπειδὴ τὰ τρία ταῦτα τῶν δύο φύσεων σημαντικὰ, ποτὲ μὲν ταύτης, ποτὲ δὲ ἐκείνης· οιόν τι λέγω·Οταν τὴν ἐκ Παρθένου γέννησιν ἡμῖν τοῦ Χριστοῦ μηνύει [ξοδ. μηνύων] ὁ ̓Απόστολος, λέγει· ̓Εξαπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Υἱὸν γενόμενον ἐκ γυναικός· οὐκ ειπε δὲ, ̓Εξαπέστειλε τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον· λαμβάνει δὲ τὸ ονομα τὸ μηνύον τὰς δύο γενέσεις, ητοι Θεὸν [ξοδ. Θεὸς] καὶ ανθρωπον, ἐπειδὴ διπλοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός· Υἱὸν γὰρ Θεοῦ ἐγέννησεν ἡ Παρθένος, καθότι εφησεν· ̔Υμεῖς δὲ θεοί ἐστε καὶ υἱοὶ ̔Υψίστου πάντες· οθεν Χριστοτόκον, Κυριοτόκον, ἀνθρωποτόκον ἐμάθομεν ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς λέγειν, Θεοτόκον δὲ οὐδαμῶς ἐδιδάχθημεν λέγειν τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον. {ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΣ.} ̔Ησαΐας βοᾷ ἐν Πνεύματι λέγων· ̓Ιδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ εξει, καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ονομα αὐτοῦ ̓Εμμανουὴλ, ο ἐστι 76.252 μεθερμηνευόμενον, Μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός· Θεὸς ουν ὁ τεχθεὶς, καν θέλῃς, καν μὴ θέλῃς. {ΝΕΣΤ.} ̔Ο αγγελος τῷ ̓Ιωσὴφ ειπεν· ̓Αναστὰςπαράλαβε τὸ παιδίον καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, καὶ φεῦγε εἰς Αιγυπτον, καὶ ισθι ἐκεῖ εως αν ειπω σοι· οὐκ ειπε δὲ, Παράλαβε τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ. {ΚΥΡ.} ̓Αλλ' ὁ ἀρχάγγελος Γαβριὴλ πρὸς τὴν Παρθένον λέγει· Πνεῦμα αγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ δύναμις ̔Υψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι· διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἐκ σοῦ αγιον, υἱὸς ̔Υψίστου κληθήσεται. {ΝΕΣΤ.} ̔Ο ̓Απόστολος εφη· ̔Εαυτὸν ἐκένωσε,μορφὴν δούλου λαβών· οπερ ἐστὶ τὸ ἡμέτερον ἐνδυσάμενος σῶμα, ενθα προέκοπτε σοφίᾳ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ καὶ χάριτι παρὰ Θεῷ καὶ ἀνθρώποις, ὡς Κυριακὸς ανθρωπος. {ΚΥΡ.} Πᾶν τὸ γενόμενον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς, σάρξ ἐστι· οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ δὲ τῆς γεννήσεως παράδοξον· ὡς γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς τίκτει θεϊκῶς, ουτω καὶ ἡ θεοπρεπὴς Παρθένος ετεκεν ἐν σαρκὶ τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Θεὸν Λόγον. {ΝΕΣΤ.} Πᾶσα μήτηρ τὸ ὁμοούσιον αὐτῆς τίκτει· οὐκ εστιν ουν αὐτοῦ μήτηρ, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ὁμοούσιος αὐτῆς ὑπάρχει· πῶς γὰρ αὐτοῦ μήτηρ τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῆς ὑπάρχοντος [ξοδ. τὸ ἀλλότριον ὑπάρχον]; {ΚΥΡ.} ̔Ημᾶς ἐκ Παρθένου καὶ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου ενα Υἱὸν ἐδιδάχθημεν ὁμολογεῖν, ὁμοούσιον τῇ μητρὶ ὡς τῷ Πατρὶ, καθὼς οἱ Πατέρες εἰρήκασιν. {ΝΕΣΤ.} ∆ιαιρῶ τὰς φύσεις, ἑνῶ τὴν προσκύνησιν, ἐπειδὴ ἀχώριστος τοῦ φαινομένου Θεός· διὰ τοῦτο οὐ χωρίζω τὴν τιμήν. {ΚΥΡ.} ̔Ο διαιρῶν τὰς φύσεις, δύο υἱοὺς λέγει, μὴ πιστεύων τῇ Γραφῇ λεγούσῃ, οτι ̔Ο Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο. {ΝΕΣΤ.} Παῦλος λέγει ἀρχιερέα καὶ ἀπόστολον τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν γενέσθαι ̓Ιησοῦν, πιστὸν οντα τῷ ποιήσαντι ἑαυτὸν, θυσίαν ἑαυτὸν προσέφερεν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ ὡς ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ· οθεν ἀρχιερεὺς καθίσταται τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. {ΚΥΡ.} Παῦλος λέγει· Χριστὸς απαξ προσενεχθεὶς εἰς τὸ πολλῶν ἀνενεγκεῖν ἁμαρτίας, ἐκ δευτέρου χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ὀφθήσεται. Καὶ πάλιν· ̔Αμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησεν, καὶ δόλος οὐχ ὑπῆρχεν ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν προσφέρει ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· ιδε ουν οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ ἀνήνεγκεν αὑτὸν, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ. {ΝΕΣΤ.} Αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· ̔Ο τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα, καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αιμα, ζήσεται δι' ἐμοῦ, καθὼς ἐγὼ ζῶ διὰ τὸν ἀποστείλαντά με Πατέρα. 76.253 Τίνα ουν ἐσθίεις, αἱρετικέ; τὴν θεότητα, η  τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα; Οὐκ ειπε γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς, ̔Ο τρώγων μου τὴν θεότητα, ἀλλὰ, Τὴν σάρκα. {ΚΥΡ.} ̓Εγὼ μὲν πίστει μεταλαμβάνω τὴν τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ Λόγου ζωοποιοῦσαν σάρκα· οθεν ὁ Σωτὴρ εφη· Οἱ ἐσθίοντες ἐκ τούτου τοῦ αρτου, οὐ μὴ γεύσωνται θανάτου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· οἱ