Page:Lesser Eastern Churches.djvu/200

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178
THE LESSER EASTERN CHURCHES

said: "The instructions of the most blessed and apostolic Bishop of Rome forbid us to sit here in company with Dioscor, Archbishop of Alexandria," and he ordered him to leave his place among the judges and to sit in the middle to be judged.[1] The Secretary of the Council translated this command into Greek, and it was obeyed. Theodoret of Cyrus, on the other hand, was admitted among the bishops, because the Pope had restored him, in spite of the tumult of the Egyptians. They shrieked at Theodoret: "Turn out the teacher of Nestorius!" "Turn out the enemy of God!" The "Eastern" bishops shouted back at Dioscor: "Turn out the murderer of Flavian!" The Imperial commissioners called for order, and explained that this kind of thing did no good, and was not dignified conduct for bishops. Dioscor, Juvenal of Jerusalem and four other Monophysites were judged, condemned and deposed. They did not appear in the second session. The second session (October 10) heard and received the "Nicene" Creed,[2] two letters of St. Cyril, and the famous dogmatic letter of Leo to Flavian. It was then that the Fathers cried out the famous words: "This is the faith of the Fathers; this is the faith of the Apostles. So do we all believe; the orthodox believe this. Peter has spoken by Leo!"[3] Some bishops now asked for mercy on those who had taken part in the Robber-Synod. These confessed that they had only taken Dioscor's side in abject fear of his violence. In the third session (October 13) Eusebius of Dorylæum and others brought forth many accusations against Dioscor. He was invited to hear them, but would not come. In the fourth session (October 17) his accomplices at the Robber-Synod retracted all they had done, signed the Pope's dogmatic letter, and were pardoned and restored. Dioscor himself alone refused to submit. His deposition was confirmed, and it was ordered that a successor be chosen to fill his see. The fifth session (October 22) drew up the profession of faith of Chalcedon, which has ever since been the standard of the Catholic faith against both Nestorianism and Monophysism. It affirms again the faith of Ephesus in 431, and includes the Theotókos: "We confess one and the same Christ Jesus, the only-begotten, in whom

  1. Mansi, vi. 580–581.
  2. Of course with the later additions.
  3. Mansi, vi. 972.