[aknooma,] so hath He given to the Son to have life in His Person" [aknooma.] If, say they, it is maintained, that the Father gave life to the Person of the Son, i.e. the Divine Person, this is an error, since in His Divine Person He is equally Lord of life with the Father from everlasting; therefore, they conclude, it was given to the human Person of the Son. And this interpretation they support by the verse following: "and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man."
The third verse of the first chapter of Hebrews, which, is rendered as follows in the Syriac, is also adduced to the same end: "Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His essence, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by His Person purged our sins,"[1] &c. The argument from this passage is, that the Person here mentioned must be that of the human nature, since the Divine Person is impassible. Nevertheless, as we have seen, they do not separate the Divinity from the humanity, but believe them to be united indissolubly for ever and ever.
It now remains that something should be said on the rejection by the Nestorians of the title θεότοκος. It is not to be doubted that however much the design has been forgotten, this appellative was originally meant not to exalt the person of the Blessed Virgin, but to declare the truth of Christ's Divinity and Humanity, and with this object, I conceive the council of Ephesus adopted it. Even the learned Lutheran divine Doctor Mosheim calls the title "a trite and innocent term,"[2] and our own Nelson, rightly apprehending its true import, sanctions and approves of it. His answer to the query, "Why is the blessed virgin Mary styled the mother of God?" is as follows: "Because the second Person in the blessed Trinity, the Son of God, by virtue of an eternal generation,
- ↑ The Nestorians in their rituals frequently use the term aknooma, which in these passages of the Syriac is used, to express the "Himself" of the English version. Thus in the service appointed in the Khudhra for Good Friday we read: "Christ, Who by the sacrifice of Himself [His aknooma] has saved us, have pity upon His Church redeemed through His cross," According to their theology the Human Person of the Saviour which was joined to the Divine Person in the Parsopa of the Word is here meant.
- ↑ Ecclesiastical History, Cent. V., c. v. § 9.
