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John McGuckin -----
 
Norman Russell -----
 
Susan Wessel |
Cyril to my lord, beloved brother, and fellow minister
John, greeting in the Lord.
“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad” for the middle wall of
partition has been taken away, and grief has been silenced, and all kind of
difference of opinion has been removed; Christ the Saviour of us all having
awarded peace to his churches, through our being called to this by our most
devout and beloved of God kings, who are the best imitators of the piety of
their ancestors in keeping the right faith in their souls firm and immovable,
for they chiefly give their mind to the affairs of the holy Churches, in order
that they may have the noted glory forever and show forth their most renowned
kingdom, to whom also Christ himself the Lord of powers distributes good things
with plenteous hand and gives to prevail over their enemies and grants them
victory. For he does not lie in saying: “As I live saith the Lord, them that
honour me, I will honour.” For when my lord, my most-beloved-of-God,
fellow-minister and brother Paul, had arrived in Alexandria, we were filled with
gladness, and most naturally at the coming of such a man as a mediator, who was
ready to work beyond measure that he might overcome the envy of the devil and
heal our divisions, and who by removing the offences scattered between us, would
crown your Church and ours with harmony and peace. Of the reason of the
disagreement it is superfluous to speak. I deem it more useful both to think and
speak of things suitable to the time of peace. We were therefore delighted at
meeting with that distinguished and most pious man, who expected perhaps to have
no small struggle, persuading us that it is necessary to form an alliance for
the peace of the Church, and to drive away the laughter of the heterodox, and
for this end to blunt the goads of the stubbornness of the devil. He found us
ready for this, so as absolutely to need no labour to be bestowed upon us. For
we remembered the Saviour’s saying; “My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave
with you.” We have been taught also to say in prayers: “O Lord our God give us
peace, for thou hast given us all things.” So that if anyone should be in the
participation of the peace furnished from God, he is not lacking in any good.
That as a matter of fact, the disagreement of the Churches happened altogether
unnecessarily and inopportunely, we now have been fully satisfied by the
document brought by my lord, the most pious bishop Paul, which contains an
unimpeachable confession of faith, and this he asserted to have been prepared,
by your holiness and by the God-beloved Bishops there. The document is as
follows, and is set down verbatim in this our epistle.
Concerning the Virgin Mother of God, we thus think and speak; and of the manner
of the Incarnation of the Only Begotten Son of God, necessarily, not by way of
addition but for the sake of certainty, as we have received from the beginning
from the divine Scriptures and from the tradition of the holy fathers, we will
speak briefly, adding nothing whatever to the Faith set forth by the holy
Fathers in Nice. For, as we said before, it suffices for all knowledge of piety
and the refutation of all false doctrine of heretics. But we speak, not
presuming on the impossible; but with the confession of our own weakness,
excluding those who wish us to cling to those things which transcend human
consideration.
We confess, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God,
perfect God, and perfect Man of a reasonable soul and flesh consisting; begotten
before the ages of the Father according to his Divinity, and in the last days,
for us and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin according to his humanity, of
the same substance with his Father according to his Divinity, and of the same
substance with us according to his humanity; for there became a union of two
natures. Wherefore we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord. According to this
understanding of this unmixed union, we confess the holy Virgin to be Mother of
God; because God the Word was incarnate and became Man, and from this conception
he united the temple taken from her with himself. For we know the theologians
make some things of the Evangelical and Apostolic teaching about the Lord common
as pertaining to the one person, and other things they divide as to the two
natures, and attribute the worthy ones to God on account of the Divinity of
Christ, and the lowly ones on account of his humanity [to his humanity].
These being your holy voices, and finding ourselves thinking the same with them
(“One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism,”) we glorified God the Saviour of all,
congratulating one another that our churches and yours have the Faith which
agrees with the God-inspired Scriptures and the traditions of our holy Fathers.
Since I learned that certain of those accustomed to find fault were humming
around like vicious wasps, and vomiting out wretched words against me, as that I
say the holy Body of Christ was brought from heaven, and not of the holy Virgin,
I thought it necessary to say a few words concerning this to them: O fools, and
only knowing how to misrepresent, how have ye been led to such a judgment, how
have ye fallen into so foolish a sickness? For it is necessary, it is
undoubtedly necessary, to understand that almost all the opposition to us
concerning the faith, arose from our affirming that the holy Virgin is Mother of
God. But if from heaven and not from her the holy Body of the Saviour of all was
born, how then is she understood to be Mother of God? What then did she bring
forth except it be true that she brought forth the Emmanuel according to the
flesh? They are to be laughed at who babble such things about me. For the
blessed prophet Isaiah does not lie in saying “Behold the Virgin shall conceive
and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God
with us.” Truly also the holy Gabriel said to the Blessed Virgin: “Fear not,
Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in
thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall save
his people from their sins.” For when we say our Lord Jesus Christ descended
from heaven, and from above, we do not so say this as if from above and from
heaven was his Holy Flesh taken, but rather by way of following the divine Paul,
who distinctly declares: “the first man is of the earth, earthy; the Second Man
is the Lord from heaven.” We remember too, the Saviour himself saying, “And no
man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son
of Man.” Although he was born according to his flesh, as just said, of the holy
Virgin, yet God the Word came down from above and from heaven. He “made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,” and was called the
Son of Man, yet remaining what he was, that is to say God. For he is unchanging
and unchangeable according to nature; considered already as one with his own
Flesh, he is said to have come down from heaven. He is also called the Man from
heaven, being perfect in his Divinity and perfect in his Humanity, and
considered as in one Person. For one is the Lord Jesus Christ, although the
difference of his natures is not unknown, from which we say the ineffable union
was made. Will your holiness vouchsafe to silence those who say that a crasis,
or mingling or mixture took place between the Word of God and flesh. For it is
likely that certain also gossip about me as having thought or said such things.
But I am far from any such thought as that, and I also consider them wholly to
rave who think a shadow of change could occur concerning the Nature of the Word
of God. For he remains that which he always was, and has not been changed, nor
can he ever be changed, nor is he capable of change. For we all confess in
addition to this, that the Word of God is impassible, even though when he
dispenses most wisely this mystery, he appears to ascribe to himself the
sufferings endured in his own flesh. To the same purpose the all-wise Peter also
said when he wrote of Christ as having “suffered in the flesh,” and not in the
nature of his ineffable godhead. In order that he should be believed to be the
Saviour of all, by an economic appropriation to himself, as just said, he
assumed the sufferings of his own Flesh. Like to this is the prophecy through
the voice of the prophet, as from him, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my
cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and
spitting.” Let your holiness be convinced nor let anyone else be doubtful that
we altogether follow the teachings of the holy fathers, especially of our
blessed and celebrated Father Athanasius, deprecating the least departure from
it. I might have added many quotations from them also establishing my words, but
that it would have added to the length of my letter and it might become
wearisome. And we will allow the defined Faith, the symbol of the Faith set
forth by our holy Fathers who assembled some time ago at Nice, to be shaken by
no one. Nor would we permit ourselves or others, to alter a single word of those
set forth, or to add one syllable, remembering the saying: “Remove not the
ancient landmark which thy fathers have set,” for it was not they who spoke but
the Spirit himself of God and the Father, who proceedeth also from him, and is
not alien from the Son, according to his essence. And this the words of the holy
initiators into mysteries confirm to us. For in the Acts of the Apostles it is
written: “And after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia;
but the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not.” And the divine Paul wrote: “So then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” When some of those who are
accustomed to turn from the right, twist my speech to their views, I pray your
holiness not to wonder; but be well assured that the followers of every heresy
gather the occasions of their error from the God-inspired Scriptures, corrupting
in their evil minds the things rightly said through the Holy Spirit, and drawing
down upon their own heads the unquenchable flame. Since we have learned that
certain, after having corrupted it, have set forth the orthodox epistle of our
most distinguished Father Athanasius to the Blessed Epictetus, so as thereby to
injure many; therefore it appeared to the brethren to be useful and necessary
that we should send to your holiness a copy of it from some correct ancient
transcripts which exist among us. Farewell.
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