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Libellus contra Nestorium ad Sporacium

OF THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, AGAINST NESTORIUS, TO SPORACIUS.

But since the whole world was little by little decaying, and hastening towards the dissolution of this universe, everyone thought himself a worthy teacher of piety, with no one, because of the pride arising from ignorance, tolerating learning, no longer then did the man-slaying demon, the father of lies, the sower of tares, arm himself with external and open enemies against the Church; but having found an instrument receiving, so to speak, all his art at once, under the pretext of orthodoxy he introduces the denial of both the divinity and the humanity of the Only-begotten, confounding the simple and unadorned character of our faith with Hellenic sophisms. You have surely heard of Nestorius; for the man is famous.

This man, coming from the town of Germanicia, brought up from the beginning in I know not what sort of practices, changing one land for another, like an Egyptian plague, descended upon the great city of the Antiochians. In this city, having moderately partaken of a liberal education, and having cultivated a most beautiful and powerful voice, he stole into the Church of God, and having become numbered in the catalog of presbyters, and being entrusted to teach the people of God, he showed immediately in his introductions what sort of man he would be throughout his whole life. For he did not emulate the noble and fruitful character of speech that is able to cultivate the souls of men; but leaning towards what pleases the crowd, and becoming a hunter, if any other, 83.1156 of applause dissolving into the air, he summoned the rabble and inconstant multitude to a desire for himself, clad in a grey cloak, walking with a gloomy expression, avoiding the noises of the marketplace, hunting for the appearance of being continent by the pallor of his body, mostly devoting himself to books at home, and consorting with himself in quiet. Enticing the many with such postures and pretenses, he advanced far in age, pursuing the appearance of being a Christian before being one, and preferring his own glory to the glory of Christ. But since, according to what was said by the Lord, "Nothing is hidden that will not be known, nor secret that will not come to light;" and, "Good works are manifest, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden;" according to the unsearchable abyss of the judgments of God, Nestorius, by the vote of those around the palace and the thrones, and of him who at that time wielded the scepters of the world, is entrusted with the presidency of the orthodox catholic Church in Constantinople, and no less so of the whole world. Here then for me are the dramas, of which all land and sea are nearly full. For when he took that greatest throne, having seized the presidency as a kind of tyranny of the high-priesthood, he was no longer able to hold within himself the birth-pangs of his impiety, but having acquired an ignorant boldness from his authority, he brings into the open and sets before all the blasphemy which he had long ago conceived against the Only-begotten; and he openly takes up war against the apostolic dogmas, and he tries to cast out the words of the holy fathers, who have guided the faith of the orthodox since the Gospel was proclaimed; troubling the Church of the queenly city, and troubling the whole world, paying no heed to the divine Paul crying out: "But he who troubles you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be."

But upon the lampstand of the divine bema of the high priests, he places not the lamp of truth, but the gloom of impiety. And for him the first of the

1

Libellus contra Nestorium ad Sporacium

ΘΕΟ∆ΩΡΗΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΚΑΤΑ ΝΕΣΤΟΡΙΟΥ ΠΡΟΣ ΣΠΟΡΑΚΙΟΝ.

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς κατὰ μικρὸν ὑποῤῥέοντος, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦδε

τοῦ παντὸς ἐπειγομένου λύσιν, πᾶς τις ἑαυτὸν ἀξιόχρεων εἶναι τῆς εὐσεβείας διδάσκαλον ᾤετο, διὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀμαθίας τῦφον οὐδενὸς μανθάνειν ἀνεχομένου, οὐκέτι λοιπὸν ὁ ἀν θρωποκτόνος δαίμων, ὁ τοῦ ψεύδους πατὴρ, ὁ τῶν ζιζανίων σπορεὺς, τοῖς ἔξωθεν καὶ φανεροῖς πο λεμίοις κατὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὡπλίζετο· ἀλλ' εὑρὼν ὄργανον, πᾶσαν ὡς εἰπεῖν ἀθρόως αὐτοῦ τὴν τέχνην ὑποδεχόμενον, ἐν τῷ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας προσχήματι τὴν ἄρνησιν τῆς θεότητος ὁμοῦ καὶ φιλανθρωπίας τοῦ Μο νογενοῦς παρεισάγει, τὸ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀτεχνολόγητον τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν Ἑλληνικοῖς συνταράττων σοφί σμασι. Νεστόριόν που πάντως ἀκούετε· καὶ γὰρ ἐπί σημος ὁ ἀνήρ.

Οὗτος ἐκ τῆς Γερμανικέων πολίχνης ὁρμώμενος, οὐκ οἶδα ποδαποῖς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐντεθραμ μένος ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, ἄλλην ἐξ ἄλλης ἀμείβων χώ ραν, καθάπερ Αἰγυπτιακὴ μάστιξ, τῇ μεγάλῃ τῶν Ἀντιοχέων ἐνέσκηψε πόλει. Ἐν ταύτῃ λόγων ἐλευθερίων μετρίως μετεσχηκὼς, φωνήν τε ὅτι καλλίστην καὶ μεγίστην ἀσκήσας, τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ προσ ιὼν εἰσεφθάρη, καὶ τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν πρεσβυτέ ρων ἐναρίθμιος γεγονὼς, τόν τε τοῦ Θεοῦ λαὸν διδά σκειν πεπιστευμένος, ἔδειξεν εὐθὺς ἐν προοιμίοις, οἷος παρὰ πάντα τὸν βίον γενήσεται. Οὐ γὰρ τὸν εὐγενῆ καὶ γόνιμον, καὶ γεωργῆσαι ψυχὰς ἀνθρώ πων δυνάμενον, ἐζήλωσε χαρακτῆρα τῶν λόγων· ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ δημοτερπὲς ἀποκλίνας, καὶ τῶν εἰς ἀέρα λυομένων κρότων θηρευτὴς, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, 83.1156 γενόμενος, τὸ συρφετῶδες καὶ ἀστάθμητον πλῆθος πρὸς τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐξεκαλέσατο πόθον, φαιὸν περιβε βλημένος ἱμάτιον, ἐστυγνακὼς βαδίζων, τοὺς ἀγο ραίους ἐκκλίνων θορύβους, ὠχρότητι σώματος τὸ δοκεῖν ἐγκρατὴς εἶναι θηρώμενος, οἴκοι τὰ πολλὰ βιβλίοις προσανέχων, καὶ καθ' ἡσυχίαν ἑαυτῷ συγγι νόμενος. Τοιούτοις σχήμασί τε καὶ πλάσμασι τοὺς πολλοὺς δελεάζων, μέχρι πόῤῥω προῆλθε τῆς ἡλι κίας, τὸ δοκεῖν Χριστιανὸς εἶναι πρὸ τοῦ εἶναι διώ κων, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ δόξης τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προτι μῶν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον τῷ ∆εσπότῃ, "Οὐδὲν κρυπτὸν, ὃ οὐ γνωσθήσεται, οὐδὲ ἀπόκρυφον, ὃ οὐ μὴ εἰς φανερὸν ἔλθῃ·" καὶ, "Τὰ καλὰ ἔργα πρό δηλά ἐστι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλως ἔχοντα κρυβῆναι οὐ δύνα ται·" κατὰ τὴν ἀνεξιχνίαστον τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ κρι μάτων ἄβυσσον, καὶ Νεστόριος, ψήφῳ τῶν περὶ τὰ βασίλεια καὶ τοὺς θρόνους, καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ τηνικαῦτα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ σκῆπτρα διέποντος, τὴν κατὰ Κωνσταντινούπολιν τῶν ὀρθοδόξων καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὴν προεδρίαν πιστεύεται, οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης. Ἐνταῦθά μοι λοιπὸν καὶ τὰ δράματα, ὧν μικροῦ πλήρης πᾶσα γῆ τε καὶ θάλασσα. Ὡς γὰρ τὸν μέγιστον ἐκεῖνον κατέλαβε θρόνον, καθά περ τινὰ τυραννίδα τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης τὴν προστα σίαν ἁρπάσας, οὐκέτι κατέχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ὠδῖνα τῆς ἀσεβείας οἷός τε ἦν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξουσίας προσ λαβὼν ἀμαθῆ παῤῥησίαν, εἰς μέσον ἄγει καὶ προτί θησιν ἅπασιν, ἣν πάλαι συνέλαβε κατὰ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς βλασφημίαν· καὶ πόλεμον ἄντικρυς κατὰ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν αἱρεῖται δογμάτων, καὶ τῶν ἁγίων πα τέρων, τῶν ἀφ' οὗ κατηγγέλη τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τῆς τῶν ὀρθοδόξων καθηγησαμένων πίστεως, ἐκβαλεῖν πειρᾶται τοὺς λόγους· ταράττων μὲν τῆς βασιλίδος πόλεως τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ταράττων δὲ καὶ τὴν οἰκου μένην ἅπασαν, οὐδὲν τοῦ θεσπεσίου Παύλου κεκρα γότος ἐπιστρεφόμενος· "Ὁ δὲ ταράσσων ὑμᾶς βα στάσει τὸ κρῖμα, ὅστις ἂν ᾖ."

Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν τοῦ θείου τῶν ἀρχιερέων βήματος, οὐ τὸν λύχνον τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀλλὰ τὸν ζόφον τίθησι τῆς ἀσεβείας. Γίνεται δὲ αὐτῷ πρῶτον τῆς