taught the faith of the Apostles, which is neither Nestorianism nor Monophysism.[1]
1. Nestorius and the Council of Ephesus (431)
It is not necessary to tell yet again all the details of the story of Nestorius and his heresy. This forms a prominent chapter in every Church history. Our purpose is rather to leave the main stream, so often described, to explore the less-known backwaters, namely, these schismatical Churches after they had left the Catholic body, during the long centuries they have lingered in their pathetic isolation. Still, one must begin somewhere: we can hardly do so otherwise than by outlining the original Nestorian story.
The story of a heresy is that of certain theological ideas, though often other factors enter into it very considerably.[2] We must remember that these two great heresies of the 5th century, Nestorianism and Monophysism, together make up one story; they are one controversy about the nature of the union of divinity and humanity in Christ. That controversy followed the Trinitarian discussion (Arianism) at once. At its head stands Apollinaris of Laodicea; St. Athanasius had not yet done with the Arians when he heard of and refuted Apollinaris.
At the head of this long and bitter controversy I put the statement of Mgr. Duchesne: "Since the curiosity of men would investigate the mystery of Christ, since the indiscretion of theologians laid on the dissecting-table the Blessed Saviour, who came
- ↑ E.g.: Joh. i. 14; 1 Joh. ii. 22; iv. 3, 15; Phil. ii. 6–7; Rom. ix. 5; 1 Cor. ii. 8; Acts iii. 15, deny Nestorianism. Luke xxiv. 36 seq.; 1 Tim. ii. 5; 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22; Heb. iv. 15, etc., deny Monophysism.
- ↑ For instance, all through the Nestorian and Monophysite quarrel there is the old rivalry between Egypt on the one hand and Antioch and the East on the other—Constantinople generally taking sides with Antioch. So St. Cyril of Alexandria, who deposed Nestorius (of Antioch and Constantinople) at Ephesus in 431, was the nephew, pupil and successor of Theophilus of Alexandria, who deposed St. John Chrysostom (of Antioch and Constantinople), Nestorius's predecessor, at the Oak-tree Synod in 403. But Rome, in spite of her old alliance with Alexandria, kept clear of this political issue. She opposed Alexandria in Theophilus's time, defended her in that of St. Cyril, opposed her again when Dioscor took up and exaggerated Cyril's cause.
