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of Cyril among the saints, and of the third holy synod in Ephesus; and whatever has been written by him in defense of Theodore and Nestorius.
From these things it is very clear that those things which Theodoret wrote against the twelve chapters of the holy Cyril are unlawful and full of impiety, and whoever holds such things as true, having a legal defense, is an enemy of the faith. For the blessed Cyril writes to Acacius, bishop of Melitene, after the union of the Churches, saying thus: Those things which we have rightly written against the blasphemies of Nestorius, no argument will persuade us that they were not well said. And to Donatus the bishop, he likewise writes, saying: We have rightly written what we have written, defending the right and blameless faith, and we deny absolutely none of our own writings. For I have not said anything carelessly, as they say, but things adhering to correctness everywhere, and running together with the power of the truth.
From these things it is most manifest that the blessed Cyril denied none of those things which he said; but held to them in the same sense in which he himself spoke them, without any annotation or correction. Nor could he alone have corrected—even if he had wished to, which be far from the saint—what the holy synod, without any doubt or examination [unexamined], boldly accepted. And it accepted them in that sense in which he himself set them forth, with the holy synod, and demands that they be accepted. For all the holy Fathers in the subsequent synods venerate this synod, and they believe these things just as it did. But also the holy Fathers who preceded it, thought the same things as it did. This is the faith we hold, and thus we confess and think and believe.
Subscriptions of the apocrisiaries. This faith, I, from the order of the Friars Preachers, of the lord Pope
apocrisiarius of Gregory, bishop of elder Rome, subscribe, and thus I believe.
This faith, I Ammonius, and the rest. This faith I Radulphus, from the order, and the rest, subscribe, and
thus I believe.
OF MAXIMUS, CONCERNING VARIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF THE SAINTS
DIONYSIUS AND GREGORY
TO THOMAS THE SANCTIFIED. Page 1032. To the sanctified servant of God, spiritual Father and teacher, lord Thomas,
Maximus, humble and sinful, unworthy servant and disciple. From a diligent study of divine things, having received an unalterable state of unerring contemplation, not
simply of wisdom, but of its beauty, O one greatly beloved by God, you have become a most temperate lover. And the beauty of wisdom is practical knowledge, or wise practice, of which is
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τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις Κυρίλλου, καί τῆς ἐν Ἐφέσῳ ἁγίας γ´ συνόδου· καί ὅσα ὑπέρ συνηγορίας Θεοδώρου καί Νεστορίου αὐτῷ γέγραπται.
Ἐκ τούτων ἀρίδηλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι ἐκεῖνα ἅπερ Θεοδώριτος κατά τῶν ιβ´ τοῦ ἁγίου Κυρίλλου κεφαλαίων ἔγραψεν, ἀθέμιτά εἰσι καί ἀσεβείας γέμοντα, καί ὅς τοιαῦτα ὡς ἀληθῆ, νομικήν ὑπερηγορίαν ἔχει, ἐχθρός ἐστι τῆς πίστεως. Γράφει γάρ ὁ μακάριος Κύριλλος πρός Ἀκάκιον ἐπίσκοπον Μελιτηνῆς μετά τήν ἕνωσιν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, οὑτωσί λέγων· Ἅ δέ γεγράφαμεν ὀρθῶς κατά τῶν Νεστορίου δυσφημιῶν, οὐδείς ἡμᾶς ἀναπείσει λόγος, ὡς οὐκ εὖ γεγόνασιν εἰπεῖν. Καί πρός ∆ονάτον ἐπίσκοπον, ὡσαύτως γράφει, λέγων· Γεγράφαμεν ὀρθῶς ἅ γεγράφαμεν, τῇ ὀρθῇ καί ἀμωμήτῳ πίστει συνηγοροῦντες, καί οὐδέν τό παράπαν τῶν ἰδίων ἀρνούμεθα. Οὐ γάρ εἴρηκά τι, καθάπερ αὐτοί φασιν, ἀτημελῶς· ἀλλά τῆς ὀρθότητος ἐχόμενα πανταχοῦ, καί τῆς ἀληθείας δυνάμει συντρέχοντα.
Ἐκ τούτων φανερώτατόν ἐστι, τόν μακάριον Κύριλλον οὐδέν ἐκείνων ἀρνήσασθαι, ὧν εἶπεν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἐννοίᾳ, ἐν ᾗ αὐτός εἶπε, χωρίς σημειώσεώς τινος καί διορθώσεως κεκρατηκέναι. Οὐδέ αὐτός μόνος διορθώσασθαι ἠδύνατο, κἄν, ὅπερ ἀπείη ἀπό τοῦ ἁγίου, ἤθελεν, ὅπερ ἡ ἁγία σύνοδος, χωρίς τινος ἀμφιβολίας ἀναξάνσεως [ἀνεξετάστως] , θαῤῥούντως ἐδέξατο. Ἐδέξατο δέ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἐννοίᾳ, ἐν ᾗ αὐτός ἐξέθετο, μετά τῆς ἁγίας συνόδου, καί δέξασθαι ἀπαιτεῖ. Ταύτην γάρ τήν σύνοδον πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι Πατέρες, οἱ ἐν ταῖς μετακολουθούσαις συνόδοις σέβονται. καί ταῦτα πιστεύουσιν ἅπερ καί αὐτήν. Ἀλλά, καί οἱ ἅγιοι Πατέρες ἐκείνην φθάσαντες, τά αὐτά ἐφρόνησαν, ἅπερ καί αὐτή. Ταύτην τήν πίστιν ἔχομεν, καί οὕτως ὁμολογοῦμεν καί φρονοῦμεν καί πιστεύομεν.
Ὑπογραφαί τῶν ἀποκρισιαρίων. Ταύτην τήν πίστιν, ὁ ἀπό τῆς τάξεως τῶν ἀδελφῶν τῶν Κηρύκων, τοῦ κυρίου Πάπα
Γρηγορίου τῆς πρεσβυτέραςῬώμης ἐπισκόπου ἀποκρισιάριος ὑπογράφω, καί οὕτως πιστεύω.
Ταύτην τήν πίστιν, ἐγώ Ἀμμώνιος, καί τά ἑξῆς. Ταύτην τήν πίστιν ἐγώῬαδοῦλφος, ἀπό τῆς τάξεως, καί τά ἑξῆς, ὑπογράφω, καί
οὕτως πιστεύω.
ΜΑΞΙΜΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ∆ΙΑΦΟΡΩΝ ΑΠΟΡΙΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΑΓΙΩΝ
∆ΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ
ΠΡΟΣ ΘΩΜΑΝ ΤΟΝ ΗΓΙΑΣΜΕΝΟΝ. Σελ. 1032. Τῷ ἡγιασμένῳ δούλῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, Πατρί πνευματικῷ καί διδασκάλῳ κυρίῳ Θωμᾶ,
Μάξιμος ταπεινός καί ἁμαρτωλός, ἀνάξιος δοῦλος καί μαθητής. Ἀπλανοῦς θεωρίας ἐξ ἐμμελοῦς περί τά θεῖα σπουδῆς ἕξιν λαβών ἀναλλοίωτον, οὐχ
ἁπλῶς σοφίας, ἀλλά τοῦ κάλλους αὐτῆς, Θεῷ λίαν ἠγαπημένε, γέγονας ἐραστής σωφρονέστατος. Σοφίας δέ κάλλος ἐστί γνῶσις ἔμπρακτος, ἤ πρᾶξις ἔνσοφος, ὧν ἐστι