abolished the Diatessaron and substituted for it the four separate Gospels, in conformity with the rest of Christendom.[1] He died in 435. At once the Nestorians got their champion Ibas ordained as his successor. Now, there was naturally an anti-Nestorian party[2] opposed to him. They tried several times to get him deposed by the Emperor or the Patriarch, but did not succeed till the Robber-Synod of Ephesus in 449.[3] This deposed him and set up one Nonnus in his place. It was at the Robber-Synod that Dioscor of Alexandria quoted Ibas as saying, "I do not envy Christ for becoming God, for I could do so too, if I wanted to"—probably a lie of Dioscor. Ibas was not altogether Nestorian as bishop; he was willing to admit the crucial word Theotokos, with an explanation. Besides, whatever the Robber-Synod did was bad, so Chalcedon restored him in 451.[4] He died in peace in 457, and Nonnus then succeeded him lawfully. Ibas is one of the persons of this time whom one remembers with mixed feelings. First we think of him as a Nestorian, a schismatical opponent of Rabbula. Then when he has become bishop and has attracted the hatred of the Monophysites, we rather sympathize with him, and are glad that Chalcedon restored him. He is a typical case showing how difficult in Syria it is to draw the fine line between the two opposite heresies. Constantly we see that the men who oppose Nestorius are Monophysites, and the opponents of Monophysism take their stand by Theodore and Nestorius. After 451 the situation theoretically becomes clearer. Chalcedon gives a standard that is neither the one heresy nor the other. Unfortunately, hardly anyone in Syria was Chalcedonian; the two sides were Nestorian and Monophysite.
Bar Ṣaumâ, too, was exiled by the Robber-Synod and came back after Chalcedon. But after Ibas's death (457) a violent Monophysite reaction (under Nonnus) took place at Edessa; all the
- ↑ Above, p. 35; and Burkitt: Early Eastern Christianity, p. 77.
- ↑ Rabbulâ's party. One hesitates to call them Catholic, because already they tend strongly towards Monophysism. It is the tragedy of this controversy in Syria that the opponents of Nestorianism nearly all go to the other extreme and defend pure Monophysism. Continually in Syria and Persia we see two, and only two, parties, Nestorians and Monophysites.
- ↑ See p. 174.
- ↑ He accepted the Theotokos, and denounced Nestorius at Chalcedon.
