council of Ephesus did not meet till June of that year.
Rkhima, his successor, was a hard-working bishop within his own diocese. He certainly, and other bishops probably, warned their flocks against "the perversion of the faith" current in the West; and men's minds were thus prepared for the separation that was to follow fifty years later. For the time being, however, the Church took no corporate action. How little they knew of the rights and wrongs of the matter appears from the fact that they believed Cyril to have proclaimed, in his "sacrilegious council of Ephesus," the doctrine of "one nature and one qnuma," with the express object of severing communion between East and West.[1]
A man of some fame in later ages appears to have arisen during this period, though he probably reached maturity a few years after this date. This was Isaac of Nineveh; who as ascetic and mystic was honoured by all sects in after time, and who, therefore, probably dates from a period antecedent to their division. Though his writings on the contemplative life and the various grades thereof were to exercise a great influence on Eastern monasticism, he did not exert, and, indeed, carefully refrained from exerting, any sway over his contemporaries. If his biographer tells the truth, he may share with another bishop mentioned in this chapter the distinction of having the shortest episcopate on record. He was (much against his inclination, no doubt) dragged from his cell on the mountain of Mar Mattai (where his monastery still exists), and consecrated Bishop of Nineveh. The new bishop made the six hours' journey from the monastery to the city, and was installed; but either that evening or next morning two litigants brought
- ↑ M.-Z., p. 144. Life of Rkhima.
