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THEOD. The synod in Rome is not valid, because it took place without the emperor's command.
15Γ_028 MAX. If the commands of emperors, and not pious faith, ratify the synods that have taken place, let them also accept the synods that took place against the homoousion, since they happened by the command of emperors; I mean, the one in Tyre, the one in Antioch, the one in Seleucia, the one in Constantinople under Eudoxius the Arian; the one in Nike of Thrace, the one in Sirmium; and after these, many years later, the second in Ephesus, over which Dioscorus presided; for the command of emperors gathered all these, and yet they were all condemned on account of the impiety of the dogmas impiously ratified. And why do you not reject the one that deposed Paul of Samosata in the time of the holy and blessed 0148 Fathers, Dionysius the Pope of Rome and Dionysius of Alexandria and Gregory the Wonderworker, who presided over that same synod, because it did not happen by the command of an emperor? And what canon prescribes that only those synods be approved that were gathered by an emperor's command, or that all synods be gathered entirely by an emperor's command? The pious canon of the Church knows those synods to be holy and approved which the orthodoxy of dogmas has judged. But, as my master knows and teaches others, the canon prescribed that a synod be held twice a year in every province, having made no mention of an imperial command, for the security of our saving faith, and for the correction of all articles not consonant with the divine law of the Church.
13. THEOD. It is as you say; the orthodoxy of the dogmas approves the synods;
yet do you not accept the libellus of Menas, in which he dogmatized one will and one energy of Christ?
MAX. May the Lord God forbid! You do not accept, but cast out all the teachers, those after the holy synod in Chalcedon, who contended against the defilement of Severus; and am I to accept the libellus of Menas, who came after the synod? through which he manifestly advocates for Severus, and Apollinaris 15Γ_030 and Macedonius and Arius and every heresy, and accuses the synod; or rather, he completely casts it out, by what he dogmatized.
THEOD. What then? Do you not accept one energy at all? MAX. And which of the approved teachers speaks of one energy? And Theodosius brought forward the quotations, falsely circulated by them, of Julius
of Rome, and of Gregory the Wonderworker, and of Athanasius, the quotations of the saints, and he read them.
MAX. Let us indeed fear God, and not wish to provoke him, by the production of heretical quotations. No one is ignorant that these are from the impious Apollinaris. If you have others, show them; Since by bringing these forward, you convince everyone all the more that in truth you have been infected with the heresy of the impious Apollinaris and those of his mind.
And the same bishop Theodosius brings forward, in the name of Chrysostom two quotations, which abbas Maximus, having read, said:
MAX. These are of Nestorius, who was infected with the personal dyad regarding Christ.
And immediately the bishop, boiling with anger, said: THEOD. Lord monk, Satan has spoken through your mouth. MAX. Let not my master be grieved with his servant.
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ΘΕΟ∆. Οὔκ ἔῤῥωται ἡ σύνοδος ἡ ἐνῬώμῃ, ἐπειδή χωρίς κελεύσεως γέγονε βασιλέως.
15Γ_028 ΜΑΞ. Εἰ τάς γενομένας συνόδους αἱ κελεύσεις τῶν βασιλέων κυροῦσιν, ἀλλ' οὐχί εὐσεβής πίστις, δέξωνται καί τάς κατά τοῦ ὁμοουσίου γενομένας συνόδους, ἐπειδή κελεύσει βασιλέων γεγόνασιν· φημί δέ, τήν ἐν Τύρῳ, τήν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, τήν ἐν Σελευκείᾳ, τήν ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει ἐπί Εὐδοξίου τοῦ Ἀρειανοῦ· τήν ἐν Νίκῃ τῆς Θράκης, τήν ἐν τῷ Σιρμίῳ· καί μετά ταύτας πολλοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις, τήν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ δεύτερον, ᾗς ἐξῆρχε ∆ιόσκορος· ὅλας γάρ ταύτας, κέλευσις βασιλέων ἤθροισε, καί ὅμως πᾶσαι κατεκρίθησαν διά τήν ἀθεΐαν τῶν κυρωθέντων ἀσεβῶς δογμάτων. ∆ιά τί δέ οὐκ ἐκβάλλετε τήν καθελοῦσαν Παῦλον τόν Σαμοσατέα ἐπί τῶν ἁγίων καί μακαρίων 0148 Πατέρων, ∆ιονυσίου τοῦ πάπαῬώμης καί ∆ιονυσίου τοῦ Ἀλεξανδρείας καί Γρηγορίου τοῦ Θαυματουργοῦ, τοῦ τῆς αὐτῆς ἄρξαντος συνόδου, ἐπειδή μή γέγονε κελεύσει βασιλέως; Ποῖος δέ κανών διαγορεύει, μόνας ἐκείνας ἐγκρίνεσθαι συνόδους, τάς κελεύσει βασιλέως ἀθροισθείσας, ἤ ὅλως κελεύσει βασιλέως πάντας τάς συνόδους ἀθροίζεσθαι. Ἐκείνας οἶδεν ἁγίας καί ἐγκρίτους συνόδους ὁ εὐσεβής τῆς Ἐκκλησίας κανών, ἅς ὀρθότης δογμάτων ἔκρινεν. Ἀλλά, καθώς οἶδεν ὁ δεσπότης μου, καί ἄλλους διδάσκει, δεύτερον γίνεσθαι σύνοδον κατά πᾶσαν ἐπαρχίαν τοῦ ἔτους ὁ κανών, διηγόρευσε, κελεύσεως βασιλικῆς μηδεμίαν μνήμην πεποιημένος, ἐπ' ἀσφαλείᾳ τῆς σωτηριώδους ἡμῶν πίστεως, καί διορθώσει πάντων τῷ θείῳ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας νόμῳ μή συναινούντων κεφαλαίων.
ΙΓ'. ΘΕΟ∆. Ὡς λέγεις ἐστίν· ἡ τῶν δογμάτων ὀρθότης ἐγκρίνει τάς συνόδους·
πλήν οὐ δέχῃ τόν λίβελλον Μηνᾶ, ἐν ᾧ μίαν θέλησιν καί μίαν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐδογμάτισεν;
ΜΑΞ. Μή δῷ Κύριος ὁ Θεός· Ὑμεῖς οὐ δέχεσθε, ἀλλ' ἐκβάλλεσθε πάντας τούς διδασκάλους, τούς μετά τήν ἁγίαν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι σύνοδον, τούς ἀγωνισαμένους κατά τῆς τοῦ Σεβήρου μιαρίας· κἀγώ ἔχω δέξασθαι τόν λίβελλον Μηνᾶ, τοῦ γενομένου μετά τήν σύνοδον; δι' οὓ συνηγορεῖ προφανῶς Σεβήρῳ, καί Ἀπολιναρίῳ 15Γ_030 καί Μακεδονίῳ καί Ἀρείῳ καί πάσῃ αἱρέσει, καί κατηγορεῖ τῆς συνόδου· μᾶλλον δέ τελείως ἐκβάλλει, δι' ὧν ἐδογμάτισε.
ΘΕΟ∆. Τί οὖν; ὅλως οὐ δέχῃ μίαν ἐνέργειαν; ΜΑΞ. Καί τίς λέγει μίαν ἐνέργειαν τῶν ἐγκρίτων διδασκάλων; Καί ἤγαγε Θεοδόσιος τάς ψευδωνύμως παρ' αὐτῶν περιφερομένας Ἰουλίου
τοῦῬώμης, καί τοῦ θαυματουργοῦ Γρηγορίου, καί Ἀθανασίου τῶν ἁγίων χρήσεις, καί ἀνέγνω αὐτάς.
ΜΑΞ. Φοβηθῶμεν δή τόν Θεόν, καί μή θελήσωμεν παροργίσαι αὐτόν, ἐπί τῇ παραγωγῇ τῶν αἱρετικῶν χρήσεων. Οὐδείς ἀγνοεῖ ταύτας εἶναι τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς Ἀπολιναρίου. Εἰ μέν ἄλλας ἔχεις, δεῖξον· Ἐπεί ταύτας προφέροντες, πλεῖον πείθετε πάντας, ὅτι κατ' ἀλήθειαν Ἀπολιναρίου τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς, καί τῶν ὁμοφρόνων αὐτῷ κακοδοξίαν ἐνοσήσατε.
Καί προφέρει ὁ αὐτός ἐπίσκοπος Θεοδόσιος, ἐπ' ὀνόματι τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου δύο χρήσεις, ἅς ἀναγνούς ὁ ἀββᾶς Μάξιμος ἔφη·
ΜΑΞ. Αὗται Νεστορίου εἰσί τοῦ νοσήσαντος ἐπί Χριστοῦ τήν προσωπικήν δυάδα.
Καί εὐθέως θυμῷ ζέσας ὁ ἐπίσκοπος εἶπε· ΘΕΟ∆. Κῦρι μοναχέ, ὁ Σατανᾶς ἐλάλησε διά τοῦ χαλινοῦ σου. ΜΑΞ. Μή λυπηθῇ ὁ δεσπότης μου πρός τόν δοῦλον αὐτοῦ.