"But I will not, by drinking from the copiousness of this rich stream of your gentleness, cause myself to err, and be rendered proud; but I have determined to declare what is in my mind. For I am afraid lest, if my meanness be openly seen in the royal city, many persons may be alarmed, and, though I am in truth nothing but merely a vile person bound under this heavy yoke of sins, when they hear of this, many persons may be roused to anger and inflamed by this paltry anxiety, as by a little coal of fire, so as to trouble and annoy even your Mightiness owing to your affection towards me : and I think that it will not seem to you fitting nor to others profitable. Now this I say, not as though I had any power against your Majesty's Mightiness, for it is written, 'When a righteous king sitteth upon a throne, no evil riseth up against his eyes,'98 but because I am persuaded that, as this power belongs to you by grace from on high, so you are clad in understanding and wisdom, and make it your endeavour to do many things, not by this sword, but by sagacity befitting kingship. And this we are taught by the Scripture, which says, 'A wise king winnoweth and scattereth the wicked.'99 And, just as it is easy for those who are winnowed by the wind, which blows away the chaff, to hold aloof from sinners, so also is it simple for your serenity, my lord, with the all-considering heart and with |257 the mercy of a gracious father, to separate those that are under subjection to you from those of the contrary part, in order that the Churches in union may be reckoned worthy of friendship. For I know that it was for this reason also that you judged it right that my feebleness too should come to your feet, because, when also you reckoned this same thing worthy of a letter from you to the pious bishops of the East, who are men that pray for the safety and preservation of your Majesty, they also, after they had written to you what they thought, informed my feebleness of this your will, urging us according to the custom of the Church to help you by prayer on your behalf.
"Now in your great city of Alexandria nothing has been done by me of the things falsely asserted against me. And it is easy for me to show the folly of the informers; for they have slandered me, saying that by means of a large sum of gold which I distributed there, I stirred up riotous contention. And this same thing is known to those who hate me greatly that, though involved in the passions of other sins, I do not seek hastily to amass money; and this by no light reasons, but my life is habitually frugal, insomuch that not even the renowned bishopric drew me away from this habit. For, as it is the approved custom for a priest to perform priestly functions, in the same way it is the approved custom for him to be poor: wherefore also the law given by Moses ordained that the chosen tribe of Levi should have no inheritance in the land, but for their necessary food the appropriated oblation should be sufficient, being associated in this with |258 the widows and the needy and the orphans, because they are accustomed to poverty, saying, 'And the Levite shall come (because he hath no part or inheritance with thee), and the stranger and the orphan and the widow, which are in thy villages, and they shall eat and rejoice; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all thy works which thou cloest.' 100 But, since, as it is written, 'Righteous lips are acceptable to the king, and he loveth upright speech,'101 your Mightiness may learn from the governors who have been at any time in Alexandria, and now from their officials, whom nothing escapes, whether anything of the kind has been done by me even in word, or has been reported to have been done, as they have falsely and maliciously asserted of me. But about these informers I will not say anything, because it does not escape your knowledge what kind of men they are: but I await a judgment with them, after we have been separated from this world of toil, before the tribunal of Christ, where we shall give an account for idle words and for vain thoughts; and especially shall we bishops, to whom much has been intrusted, be judged, although here we delight in bodily things and dally in them.
"But, if some apply the term turbulence to what I wrote to Julian, bishop of Halicarnassus, who has been perverted to the heresy of the Manichees and reckons the voluntary saving passions of Christ, the great God, as a phantasy, I do with ten thousand mouths and tongues confess and do not deny what I wrote, even as no one will hastily order me to deny my faith: for this is the opinion of your orthodoxy also, who more than the affairs of the world care to hold fast the things which belong to the Spirit. And I was not impelled to do this by my own will or my own motion, but I was greatly pressed by him to write, because he thought that I agreed with his doctrine. For, when I had gone through what he sent to me (and I am far away from Alexandria), in the things which |259 he wrote I found that under the name of incorruptibility he covered, as it were with a sheepskin, the blasphemies of Mani, because there are many things which I will forbear to mention. "This foolish man, who confesses the passions with his lips only, hiding his impiety, wrote thus: 'Incorruptibility was always attached to the body of our Lord, which was passible of His own will for the sake of others.' And in brotherly love I wrote and asked him : 'What do you mean by "incorruptible," and "suffered of His own will for the sake of others," and "was attached to the body of our Lord," if without any falsehood you confess it to be by nature passible? For, if by the incorruptibility possessed by it you mean holiness without sin, we all confess this with you, that the holy body from the womb which He united to Himself originally by the Holy Spirit of the pure Virgin, the Theotokos, was conceived and born in the flesh without sin and conversed with us men, because "He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," 102 according to the testimony of the Scriptures. But, if you call impassibility and immortality incorruptibility, and say that the body which suffered in the flesh on our behalf was not one that was capable of suffering with voluntary passions and dying in the flesh, you reduce the saving passions on our behalf to a phantasy; for a thing which does not suffer also does not die, and it is a thing incapable of suffering.' 103 And upon receiving such remarks as these from me he openly refused to call the holy body of Emmanuel passible in respect of voluntary passions; and therefore he did not hesitate to write thus, without shame and openly: 'We do not call Him of our nature in respect of passions, but in respect of essence. Therefore, even if He is impassible, and even if He is incorruptible, yet He is of our nature in respect of nature.'" |260
Therefore, even if He is impassible, and even if He is incorruptible, yet He is of our nature in respect of nature. '" |260
And the rest of the erring fatuity of Julian, which is contained at great length in the epistle, I forbear to record now, matters which are to be found in the many books which this holy Severus composed against Julian.
But at the end of the epistle he wrote, saying thus : "I therefore entreat you and take hold of your feet, again repeating the request that you will leave my meanness alone, and not again bring me forth among men, because I am enfeebled in my body and in my mind; wherefore also I am weak, since true are the words of Scripture which say, 'The mind falleth among blows(?).' And there are now many white hairs on my head, which bear witness to me of death, the departure from this weary life, and it appears to me to be a thing very good and beneficial to sit hidden in a corner and bear in my mind the separation of soul from body, awaiting my grave; for 'the earth is the home of everyone that dieth,'104 as Job said; because in the case of other animals who live on the earth their hair does not change, but in the case of this rational animal, man, because he was destined to come to judgment and have his deeds examined in the future world, as soon as he reaches old age, the hair of his head turns white, such appearance making announcement to him and inciting him, as far as those who have delayed are concerned, to prepare his deeds for his departure; and the Scripture also bears testimony to him, saying, 'Lift up thine eyes and look on the fields, for they are white and prepared for harvest';105 for the separation of the soul from the body is in truth a harvest, and, as with a sickle, He cutteth it away from it, and it is bereft. So I beg that your Mightiness will grant me this simple request, that I may dwell hidden where I am, because the |261 rest of my days in the world I am determined to live in secret, as in a corner; for such is the life of a monk.
"May Christ, who is God over all, give you dominion over your enemies, with perfect peace and concord among the Churches, that you may be crowned with this also. And, if I am committing any fault or presumption in this my letter of petition, I entreat you to forgive me, as on other points; for it is very becoming in a Christ-loving king to overcome evil with good, as the apostle said,106 a duty which you display in deed, and are therefore rightly called Victorious."
The signature of Severus to the epistle—
And, if I am committing any fault or presumption in this my letter of petition, I entreat you to forgive me, as on other points; for it is very becoming in a Christ-loving king to overcome evil with good, as the apostle said,106 a duty which you display in deed, and are therefore rightly called Victorious. "
The signature of Severus to the epistle—
"May the only Trinity, for that is our God, preserve your orthodoxy many years, keeping the dominion of the commonwealth of the Romans in peace, and may He bring every nation of Romans and barbarians into subjection to you, and grant to the holy Churches by your means perfect concord in sound faith; and may He reckon you worthy to receive a crown in the kingdom of heaven."
Now after this epistle the holy Severus remained till the year thirteen,107 and then came to the royal city, because he was pressed by letters from the king.
CHAPTER XVII
THE. SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER, CONCERNING AFRICA, WHICH WAS CONQUERED BY BELISARIUS THE GENERAL
When in the summer of the year eleven108 Rufinus and Hermogenes, the master of the offices, had by the help of our Lord made peace between the Romans and the Persians on the terms contained in the written treaty, and the Roman generals and army in the East had come to the royal city, they received blame from the king and incurred his displeasure, |262 because they had not acted worthily of the high honour and rank which he had bestowed on them by showing themselves brave and astute in the struggle against the Persians, and especially Belisarius, because of the loss of the army under his orders, which had been defeated in battle at Thannuris and on the Euphrates; and he made his defence to the king on the ground of the impatience of the army, and the lack of discipline among the men under him.
Now there were in Constantinople certain magnates from Africa, who, owing to a quarrel which they had with the prince of the land, had left their country and taken refuge with the king, and they gave him information about the country and incited him, saying that it was very extensive and very peaceful, and that it had no thought of a war with the Romans, but was engaged in a struggle with the Moors, a people who are settled in the desert and live by robbery and devastation like the Saracens. And they pointed out to the king that this country had been torn and snatched from the Roman Empire since the days of Zirzeric, who took Rome, and also carried off valuable objects of gold and silver and other precious substances, and withdrew to Carthage in Africa, a distinguished city, which he took and occupied; and he settled there, and stored and placed the treasures in it.
And so the king made ready an army under Belisarius and Martin and Archelaus the prefect, and many ships carrying arms and accoutrements (?) for the army; and they sailed over the sea; and, because God willed this expedition and assisted it, they arrived in a few days and suddenly appeared before the royal city of Carthage. And the prince of the land was not there, |263 but was engaged in war with the Moors in the desert; but a small force, which was in the city, which came out and met the Romans, was defeated in battle and was vanquished and retreated. And the city was surrendered, and the Romans entered and occupied it. And they collected spoil; and the prince's treasure was kept for the king of the Romans.
Now the Romans also occupied a few of the cities of the country, because they were betrayed to them by certain men who were with them, who betrayed the country and knew it well; and it109 is a spacious land, extending over about fifty days' journey, and contains more than one hundred and thirty cities, and is rich and fertile. But the king and the chief priests of the land and the magnates of the people were Arimenites.110
Now, when the prince heard it and came with an army, it was found to be small and contemptible before the Romans; and, when he understood that his kinsmen had been taken, and his magnates had surrendered, and his treasure had been carried away, he was weakened, and on condition that his life should be spared he surrendered. And he was taken away in company with Belisarius in the year twelve,111 and was publicly presented to the king in the circus before the people, with the treasure112 and his kinsmen and his magnates. And an ambassador of Khosru, king of the Persians, was there and was present and saw these things. And from that time Africa has been subject to the Romans. And gradually the other cities in the region of Africa were reduced : only the Moors continue their accustomed hostilities there. |264
CHAPTER XVIII
THE EIGHTEENTH CHAPTER OF THE NINTH BOOK, CONCERNING ROME, WHICH WAS TAKEN BY BELISARIUS
Alimeric 113 the tyrant held possession of Rome by rebellion in the days of Zeno and Anastasius; and he was a warlike man and an able, and he added great strength to the country of Italy, and he rebuilt Rome and kept the barbarians out of it. And he had died, and his successors one after another held and governed the country of the Romans in rebellion against the kingdom of Constantinople.
Now a certain Dominic,114 one of the chief men of the country, had a quarrel with the tyrant, and took refuge with King Justinian, and gave him information about the country. And he was an old man, well read in the Scriptures,115 a Diphysite; and he often engaged in disputation, and I know him. Now the king, having conquered Africa in the manner described above, was eager to conquer Rome also. And, observing that Belisarius had been successful in the war in Africa without doing any injury to the population of the country or diminishing it by bloodshed, but had been content with the necessary demands of tribute, taxes, and subjection, he made ready an army for him and sent him to Rome. And John the chief priest there had died during those days, and Agapetus had succeeded him.
And, when the army had reached a place called Naples, a celebrated city, not far from Rome, and had taken it, the Senate in Rome and their council, together with their chief, were disturbed and afraid, because they had already heard how Carthage and the tyrant of that country of Africa had been conquered; and, observing these things, they anticipated |265 matters by sending a petition, asking for peace, and promising to surrender the city; and later they also sent hostages. And afterwards Belisarius arrived there with the army and was received in the city with the praises of its inhabitants, and he occupied it and did no injury in it. And he was there for a time, while occupying the other cities also and bringing them into subjection to the king, without doing any hurt by slaying or destroying the population. And the king gained renown by these things and rejoiced in the year fourteen.
CHAPTER XIX
THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER, CONCERNING SEVERUS, WHO AGAIN WENT UP TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND APPEARED BEFORE THE KING
Now 116 the well-tried Severus, after receiving pressing summonses from the king, at last came to Constantinople in the year fourteen,117 and was received in a friendly manner in the palace by the king, who was disposed 118 and incited thereto by Theodora the queen, who was devoted to Severus, and he was honourable and venerable in her eyes. And, Epiphanius, the chief priest of the city, having died, Anthimus had succeeded him; and he was an ascetic man and a practiser of poverty, and a friend of the needy and a believer. He was bishop of Trebizond, and, happening for some reason to be present there, and being a man of virtuous character and known to the king and the magnates for his chastity, he was appointed patriarch; and he would not receive the Synod of Chalcedon into the faith. |266
And in Alexandria, after Gaian had been driven out, who was a Julianist, and was there for three months after the death of Timothy, Theodosius became bishop, a man of conspicuous faith and learned and kind and gentle; and he was an acquaintance and a friend of the holy Severus.
When these three chief priests were joined together in love, and in faith were not divided from one another, Ephraim 119 of Antioch was alarmed and greatly disturbed, and yet more so because Peter of Jerusalem was not of his own inclination a lover of discord or a heretic, although through weakness and lack of energy and vigour he conducted himself according to the times.
Now120 it happened that in those days Sergius,121 an archiatros of Rhesaina, went up to Antioch to make a complaint against Asylus,122 the bishop of that city, telling Ephraim the patriarch that he had been injured by him. And this man was a man of eloquence and practised in the reading of many books of the Greeks and in the teaching of Origen, while for some time he had been reading commentaries on the Scriptures by other doctors in Alexandria (and he was skilled in the Syriac tongue, reading and speaking) and books of medicine. And of his own inclination he was a believer, to which evidence is also borne by the prologue and the very apt translation of Dionysius which he made 123 and the treatise composed by him on the faith in the days of the illustrious Peter, the believing bishop. However, as regards his character, this Sergius was very |267 wanton in the lust of women, and he was incontinent and not chaste, while he was greedy in respect of the love of money.
Of this man Ephraim made trial, and, finding him to be a man of experience, promised to do for him anything that he asked, if he would go as his emissary to Rome with an epistle to Agapetus, the chief priest there, and return. And he accepted. And he was furnished with presents by Ephraim, and received a letter for the man, while he was accompanied by a lad named Eustace, an architect, from Amida, who spreads about a strange story about Sergius; but, lest it should do harm to the reader, I do not record it.
These men also accordingly came to Rome to Agapetus, and they delivered the epistle and were received; and the man was pleased with their epistle, in which he found agreement with his opinions. And he came with them to Constantinople in the month of March in the year fourteen; and Severus was there, and Anthimus was chief priest. And the whole city was disturbed at the arrival of Agapetus;124 and the earth with all that is upon it quaked; and the sun began to be darkened by day and the moon by night, while ocean was tumultuous with spray (?) from the 24th of March in this year till the 24th of June in the following year fifteen.125 And Agapetus, when he appeared before the king, had a splendid reception from him, because he spoke the same language and was chief priest of the country of Italy, which had been |268 conquered and brought into subjection to him. And he was instructed in the outward words of Scripture but did not understand its meaning; and he held an ignoble opinion upon the Incarnation of Jesus, our Lord Christ, God the Word, and he would not consent to call the Virgin Mary the Theotokos, and divided the unity into two natures, since he held the priority of the conception of the babe, like those of the school of Diodorus and Nestorius. And he abstained from communion with Anthimus and Severus, and they yet more from communion with him; and one of them he called an adulterer and the other a Eutychianist: and he perverted the love of the king towards them and made him hostile to them; and he drove them from the city.
And 126 Anthimus and Severus and Theodosius of Alexandria made union with one another 127 in epistles, which we have set down below; and Anthimus and Severus left the city to live each of them in hiding wherever was convenient for him.
Now Menas became bishop in the royal city after Anthimus. And Sergius the archiatros died suddenly there, and Agapetus died after him in those days by a miracle, his tongue being eaten away and rending him in his lifetime;128 and Silverius became bishop in Rome after him.
CHAPTER XX
> THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF SEVERUS TO THE ORDER OF PRIESTS AND MONKS IN THE EAST, TREATING OF HIS EXPULSION FROM THE ROYAL CITY
"To129 the God-loving presbyters and deacons and |269 archimandrites and priors and all the holy order of monks in the East Severus greeting in our Lord.
CHAPTER XX
> THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF SEVERUS TO THE ORDER OF PRIESTS AND MONKS IN THE EAST, TREATING OF HIS EXPULSION FROM THE ROYAL CITY
"To129 the God-loving presbyters and deacons and |269 archimandrites and priors and all the holy order of monks in the East Severus greeting in our Lord.
"That I have passed outside the city which is ruler among cities and beyond the pursuit of men, some of you, O holy ones, being present, have seen with their own eyes, I who have reckoned it right to indite this short letter on my part and to stir you up to the expression (?) of thanksgiving for what I even reckon as my glory (?), and to state clearly that the actions of the divine providence towards us are in truth beneficial to us for the preservation of the orthodox faith and the formation of a new will, with which, as one may say, it is right to clothe oneself after the fashion of a new garment, and for shunning every heretical opinion and contention. For Jacob also the patriarch, the great in endurance of labours and in trust in God, when he fled from intercourse with the barbarians in Sh'khem and from the dangers that surrounded him there, urged those that dwelt with him to the same course to which I have urged you, as he says in Scripture: 'And Jacob said to his household and to all them that were with him, Put away from among you the strange gods, and be clean, and change your garments: and let us arise and go up to Beth El and build there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of distress and delivered me in the way which I went.'130 For he has in truth delivered me from all the expectation of the adversaries, who hate me without a cause, and mocked at me and wagged their heads and said, as in Job, 'His foot hath fallen into a gin, and he hath been caught in a net. Let gins come upon him, and they shall prevail against him, as thirsting for him. His noose is hid in the |270 ground, and the net is over his paths.' 131 But, as for the wickedness of these men, it is not sated with blood; the Christ-worshipping queen was a sufficient protection for me, and God, who through your prayers directed her to that which is good in His sight, even as He cries in Isaiah the prophet to those that trust in Him, 'Fear not, because I have delivered thee. I have called thee by thy name, because thou art Mine. If thou pass through water, I am with thee, and rivers shall not overflow thee; and in fire thou shalt not be burned, and flame shall not scorch thee. Because I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, that delivereth thee.' 132
I have called thee by thy name, because thou art Mine. If thou pass through water, I am with thee, and rivers shall not overflow thee; and in fire thou shalt not be burned, and flame shall not scorch thee. Because I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, that delivereth thee. ' 132
"And He that said these things has not only given me a marvellous deliverance, but has further also added an addition to the portion of the believers, to say truth, to the portion of the Lord and to the possession of His inheritance, Israel, that it may not be as those whom the Scripture blames, saying, 'Ye shall sow your seed in vain.'133 For the pious Anthimus, archbishop of the royal city, who received the chief chair, even when he was in possession of it, would not retain it, but in upright fashion and with true judgment and knowledge hated the impiety of these men, and accepted the communion of us and of Pope Theodosius of Alexandria and of all the pastors who belong to our confession. Accordingly they vainly lead men astray who say that they do not receive the Synod of Chalcedon in respect of the definition of faith, but in respect of the rejection of Eutyches and Nestorius, clokes which Flavian also used but did not succeed in leading your zeal astray, and you were not overreached by Satan, and are able to say like Paul, 'His devices do not escape us.'" 134
And so on with the rest of the epistle. |271
CHAPTER XXI
FIRST CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF ANTHIMUS TO SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH
"To135 our pious and holy brother and fellow-minister, the patriarch, my lord . Severus, Anthimus greeting in our Lord.
'" 134
And so on with the rest of the epistle. |271
CHAPTER XXI
FIRST CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF ANTHIMUS TO SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH
"To135 our pious and holy brother and fellow-minister, the patriarch, my lord . Severus, Anthimus greeting in our Lord.
"Bearing in my mind the utterance of the Lord which says, 'To whomsoever much has been committed, from him shall much be required,' 136 and the saying of the Psalmist, 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in His holy place?'137 and the apostle, who ordains of what sort a man must be who is set apart for God, I have been in no small fear. For, if those great patriarchs called themselves, one 'dust and ashes'138 and another 'a worm and no man,' 139 what shall I say, the small and contemptible, who have attained to the height of this ministry without being worthy of it? For the disturbance of the holy Churches also agitates my soul greatly; for certain men, being held fast in sins and, as if displaying an appearance of avoiding variation and confusion, which does not exist, wantonly divide God the Word, who is one and indivisible, and became incarnate without variation. And for this reason I am in great sorrow, as it is said in the Psalmist, 'Sorrow hath taken hold upon me because of the sinners that have forsaken Thy law.'140 But trust in God gives me joy, and I believe that He will surely perform His promises and will give us all that we mean creatures need, not because we are His friends but because of importunity, and He will make requisition for all His elect; who has also for a long time preserved your Holiness from sins |272 through your apostolic contests and labours and your spiritual teachings, which by grace have been vouchsafed unto you, as a stone that cannot be moved, as well as us, His holy Churches, to be an invariable foundation of the faith. It is therefore the same God who assigns exaltation to the lowly and greatness to the small and strength to the weak, as the divine apostle says, 'By grace are we all justified.' 141 And these things, being by divine power made strong in weakness, have by an ineffable judgment brought our weakness also to be ruler in the holy Church in this royal city. Acknowledging therefore His grace, we beg you, pious one, to entreat Christ our God to assist our worthlessness; and, because different men have different marks, the mark of priests is also the preaching of the gospel, for, 'Speak,' He says, 'priests, and, when you go up upon the high mountains, make proclamation.' 142
Acknowledging therefore His grace, we beg you, pious one, to entreat Christ our God to assist our worthlessness; and, because different men have different marks, the mark of priests is also the preaching of the gospel, for, 'Speak,' He says, 'priests, and, when you go up upon the high mountains, make proclamation. ' 142
"In this first spiritual and love-abounding greeting I communicate with you, O holy one; for, while rejoicing in union and. also in conjunction with you and in spiritual ties in accordance, with the laws of the Church, I declare that I cleave to the one only definition of faith, that which was laid down by the three hundred and eighteen holy fathers who assembled at Nicaea under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and to this I pray that I may cleave unto the end; which definition was ratified by the Synod of one hundred and fifty holy fathers which assembled in this royal city against the impious fighters against the Spirit; and not only so, but also by the holy Synod which assembled at Ephesus against the impious Nestorius, the leaders of which were the archbishops, memorable for piety and love of God, Celestine of the Romans and. Cyril of Alexandria, who in his twelve chapters overthrew Nestorius the man-worshipper. To these chapters I assent together with all his writings and embrace |273 them as a holy law, while together with these holy teachings of Cyril I receive also the formula of. Zeno uniting the Churches, which aims at the consummation of religion for the annulling of the Synod of Chalcedon and the impious Tome of Leo. I confess that God the Word, who was begotten before the ages of God the Father, the only Son, connatural and coeternal with the Father, through whom all things were made and through whom all things were established, the Light of Light, the invariable image and invisible will of the Father, in the last days became incarnate and became perfectly man of the Holy Spirit and of the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, and united to Himself personally flesh of our nature, having a rational and intellectual soul, and without variation and confusion and sin took our resemblance upon Him. For He remained immutable as God, and even in assuming our attributes He did not at the same time also diminish His own divine properties; and that which was derived from us He made His own by dispensation by a junction consisting in a natural union. For He who was begotten without time and without a body of God the Father, the same submitted to a second birth in a body; and, after He had in an ineffable manner become incarnate of a virgin mother, she that bore Him also continued a virgin even after the birth. Wherefore also we truly confess her to be the Theotokos, and that He who was born of her in the flesh is perfect God and perfect man, the same out of two natures one Son, one Lord, one Christ, and one nature of the incarnate Word; and He became perfectly man, while each one of the natures remained without confusion in its sphere of manifestation, the natures which combined to form an indivisible unity. So also He is very rightly one of the holy and connatural Trinity, before the Incarnation and after the Incarnation, inasmuch as He did not add a number to the Trinity, the number of a quaternity; and He is impassible in that He is of the nature of the |274 Father, but passible in the flesh in that He is of our nature. For God the Word did not suffer in His own nature, but in flesh of our nature; and He who personally united this to Himself suffers in our likeness.
And Gregory the Theologian defined the matter and called Him impassible in the Godhead, passible in the assumption of flesh. 143 And He is one and the same in the miracles and also in the passions; and by dispensation He made our passions His own, voluntary and innocent ones, in flesh which was passible and mortal and of our nature, intellectually and rationally possessed of a soul. And this all the time of the dispensation He allowed to be passible and mortal for the purpose mentioned above with respect to His Humanisation, I mean that He suffered not in semblance but in reality. For in the flesh that was capable of suffering He endured voluntary and natural and innocent passions and the death by the Cross; and by a miracle befitting God, that of the Resurrection, He made and rendered it impassible and immortal and in every way therefore incorruptible, since it came from the union and existence in the womb, which was holy and without sin. While recognising, therefore, the distinction between the elements which have combined to form the unity of nature, I mean the divine and the human nature, we do not separate them from one another; also we do not cut the One and ineffable into or in two natures, nor yet do we confound Him by rejecting the distinction between the Godhead and the manhood, but we confess Him to be one out of two, Emmanuel.
"And, thus believing and taking my stand upon this belief, as upon a rock, I also anathematise the deviations from the truth which have been made by both sides, and the impious and erring men who went before them as their |275 leaders (I refer to Valentine and Marcion and Arius and Macedonius and Eunomius and Apollinaris and Eutyches), and those also who owing to the union with the Word have vainly and impiously confessed the flesh which was derived from us and was personally united to God the Word to be impassible and immortal, and have introduced a semblance and a phantasy as belonging to the great mystery of the immutable and veritable Humanisation of the Lord; and I anathematise also Paul of Samosata and Photinus and Diodorus and Theodore and Nestorius, and also Theodoret and Andrew and Hibo and Eutherius and Alexander of Hierapolis and Irenaeus the twice-married and Cyrus and John 144 and Bar Tsaumo the Persian and the Synod of Chalcedon and the Tome of Leo and those who say that He is made known and exists in two natures, i.e. our Lord Jesus Christ after the ineffable union, and do not confess that there is one aspect, one person and nature of God the Word, who became incarnate and became man. On the basis of these apostolic and divine and blameless doctrines, holy brother ours, I give you the right hand of communion, a communion which I will hold fast till my last breath, while I will not consent to hold communion with any man who thinks differently from this, because Basil says, 'He who communicates without discrimination with the foolish is separated from the freedom of Christ.' 145 For I know that you also, pious one, hold these things fast, and have for a long time laboured. For who is there who in our times has undergone such a contest, removing from place to place, that his faith may not be shaken? And in you I see the doctors of the Church, because you have duly set the lamp |276 visibly on a stand, shining, as you do, in deed and word. It will be worthy therefore of your piety in consideration of these things to gladden us by instruction in return for our letter." And the rest, consisting of the greeting of the epistle.146
CHAPTER XXII
THE TWENTY-SECOND CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF SEVERUS TO ANTHIMUS
"To147 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the patriarch Anthimus, Severus greeting in our Lord Jesus Christ our God.
It will be worthy therefore of your piety in consideration of these things to gladden us by instruction in return for our letter. " And the rest, consisting of the greeting of the epistle. 146
CHAPTER XXII
THE TWENTY-SECOND CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF SEVERUS TO ANTHIMUS
"To147 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the patriarch Anthimus, Severus greeting in our Lord Jesus Christ our God.
"For the letter 148 of your chastity Paul the apostle shall give me a precedent for crying aloud in very opportune time, 'Thanks be unto God for His ineffable gift': 149 for immediately upon your accession to the see of the patriarchal throne of the. Church in the royal city you determined in the exaltation of the primatial see for the sake of the right religion to despise that which to others is an occasion for betraying their faith. For in those who wish to follow the divine commandments and, as it is written, to go after the Lord, the wisdom of the Most High places fitting thoughts, in deacons and presbyters and patriarchs according to the order of their priesthood; insomuch that the patriarch Abraham, after he had settled in many and divers countries, came to a certain country and drank copiously from a well that sprang from it, which was named the Well of Oaths, because he made oaths and treaties with the barbarians who lived near the country, and he planted fair and fruitful plantations; and, lest his thoughts should be dissipated in them, he called there upon the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, and, as he said to Him, 'Thy thoughts shall not go after the beauty of things that are seen and forget God in the pleasant delight of the sight, |277 for He alone is from everlasting, and hath made the things that are seen bright to the eyes and pleasant to the taste': and Scripture goes on to relate thus: 'Abraham planted a piece of land by the Well of Oaths and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God' 150 (and some have explained it to be wood-land and some plantation-land). In the same way, therefore, your piety after having settled in other countries has come to the head of the oaths, as to a piece of land fair in produce, I mean the see of the royal city, which is rich in the pomp of the world, and drinks from the plentiful abundance of the stream. And, when you perceived that certain men wish to be perverted to a reprobate mind, differing from the pure unadulterated coinage, well tried in the orthodox faith, you did not allow the eyes of your mind to go astray through the beauty of the world and the splendour of its vanities, which pass away; but, after the pattern of the patriarch Abraham, you called there upon the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, whose merciful Word became incarnate and became man, that is, in order that the second Adam might in truth die the death that had prevailed over us and overthrow its eternal dominion, a death which it was not possible for impassible and immortal flesh to endure, because that which is impassible and immortal is not capable of suffering and dying. For, if He did not die our death for our sins and destroy this |278 death in flesh resembling our passions 151 when He rose from the dead, we are strangers and alien to the benefit of the Resurrection. For 'Christ died for our sins,' 152 cries Paul; and again, 'Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all live';153 and again, 'Since the children partook of flesh and blood, He also in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, Satan, and might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime under subjection to bondage. For He received not of angels, but of the seed of Abraham did He receive. Wherefore it was right that in all things He should be made like unto His brethren. '154 Now the seed of Abraham was the passible body of our race, which God the Word, the Ruler of All, united to Himself personally from the Holy Virgin, in order that with Him He might raise our race, which had fallen under the power of death, inasmuch as He was the firstfruits of our race. So also, since He is one nature and person, it is manifest that the incarnate Word of God of His own will endured the assay and assault of human and natural and innocent passions. And the signs, even the human ones, He utters in a divine fashion (? ),155 and performs some of them in a manner befitting God and some in human fashion. And we do not on account of the difference of the energies and the utterances and the miracles and the passions fall into the division of the two natures after the ineffable union and divide these things, the utterances and tokens and energies, forasmuch as we know that it is the same who wrought the miracles and who suffered and spoke in a divine manner and after the dispensation. |279
"These, to speak briefly, are the foundations on which the faith and confession of Christ rest, and 'to them nothing can be added, and from them nothing can be taken away.' 156 I 157 use opportunely in connexion with these things the holy words of Koheleth, and with application to those who have swerved from the king's highway and have gone in a crooked way and rejoice in evil perversity, but, as the Scripture said, 'in the Spirit which speaks parables,' 158 according to the law which was before delivered unto the Church by the apostles."
' 156 I 157 use opportunely in connexion with these things the holy words of Koheleth, and with application to those who have swerved from the king's highway and have gone in a crooked way and rejoice in evil perversity, but, as the Scripture said, 'in the Spirit which speaks parables,' 158 according to the law which was before delivered unto the Church by the apostles. "
And again a little lower down in the epistle he says,159 "On these terms I undertake to participate in communion and also in inseparable conjunction with your piety and with those only who hold and also preach these things with you, and those who hold or say anything different I reject as strangers and aliens to our communion; and I avoid the foolishness that is in these men, as also your messenger said, as a thing that makes us alien to the boldness of Christ and supplies many with an occasion to sin. But, as one of those men of wisdom in divinity also says, 'By reason of foolishness many have sinned.'160 For, if so be that we stand upon this watch-tower and place of observation and proclaim this to those who are under our power, we shall hear from them combs of honey, even good words, and the sweetness of them is healing to the soul.
But, as one of those men of wisdom in divinity also says, 'By reason of foolishness many have sinned. '160 For, if so be that we stand upon this watch-tower and place of observation and proclaim this to those who are under our power, we shall hear from them combs of honey, even good words, and the sweetness of them is healing to the soul.
"Since therefore you have chosen for yourself to contend in a good struggle and have confessed a good confession, cry out like the prophet Habakkuk, ' I will stand upon my watch |280 and walk upon a rock,' 161 and despise them that strive below. And, if so be they place you under curses and anathemas, say to God with David with great fitness, 'They shall curse, and Thou shalt be blessed: let them that rise up against me be ashamed, but Thy bond-servant shall rejoice.'162 For also those who profess a sound faith according to the utterance of the apostle 'are come unto Mount Tsiyon, and unto the city of the living God, unto Jerusalem in heaven, and to innumerable companies of angels, and to the Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.' 163 Now, how can a man, shooting from the earth, hit those that are in the Church that is in heaven and mingle with it? For in vain will he toil and without profit will he stretch his bow, even if he dare to shoot upwards; for upon himself will the arrows that are shot come down : for we listen also to one of the wise men, who says thus: 'He that casteth a stone upwards casteth against his own pate';164 only if so be we continue unto the end, armed in the breastplate of the right faith and girt about in every place with all kinds of spirits. Now of this conjunction with your piety, which has been brought about for us by this canonical letter, tending both to unity of spirit and to be a bond of peace, as the apostle said,165 I will send information to our fellow-minister my lord Theodosius, the holy Pope and archbishop of the 'great and Christ-loving city of Alexandria, who labours in apostolic fashion, and undergoes a contest and stands in danger on behalf of the true word, and increases the efficacy of the talents intrusted to him every day by means of industry, and rejoices constantly in the manifestation of them. And do you write to him, |281 even as you have written to us, and grasp him with the same hands of concord, and write and enter into communication with him by a communicatory letter in accordance with the rules and laws of the holy Church. Wherefore the love of God that is in you should take care to perform your part towards him also, and it shall be to you, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, 'a wall and an outwork'; 166 as shall come to pass. And greet your brotherhood. That which is with me greets you in our Lord."
CHAPTER XXIII
THE TWENTY-THIRD CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF SEVERUS TO THEODOSIUS
"To 167 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the chief priest", my lord Theodosius, Severus greeting in our Lord.
And greet your brotherhood. That which is with me greets you in our Lord. "
CHAPTER XXIII
THE TWENTY-THIRD CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF SEVERUS TO THEODOSIUS
"To 167 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the chief priest", my lord Theodosius, Severus greeting in our Lord.
"In the Book of the Judges, which is the Book of the Tribes, he said that the tribe of Judah invited the tribe of Simeon his brother to community of lots, urging him, as to brotherly assistance, in these words: 'And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come with me into my lot, and let us fight with the Canaanites; and I likewise will go into thy lot. And Simeon went with him.'168 But I invite your person, holy brother, not to the community of war and fighting and to give a helping hand for the sake of lots of inheritance, but rather to the community of peace and concord, and on account of a gain made by the Church which Christ, even God, purchased with His own blood, a wonderful addition. For the holy Anthimus, the chief priest, who has been judged worthy to tend the Church of the royal city, severing the bonds and snares of the bitterness of the heretics, and repelling now their deceitful arts, now his open attacks,169 has embraced our |282 communion, holding the sound and pure faith. And to my meanness he has sent a letter, containing a covenant of communion upon a perfectly orthodox confession, and he has anathematised by name everyone who is a heretic and an alien; and his mind is not estranged from the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, which our spiritual fathers left as holy laws, upon which we all ought to gaze earnestly and say, like the enduring Job, 'Gazing upon righteousness, I will not turn away.' 170 So I eagerly and with goodwill welcomed this event which has happened as the gift of God, and I repeated the saying of the divine Scripture, 'This day we know that the Lord is with us, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the power of God is mighty.' 171 For this is written in Joshua the son of Nun.
"And it would indeed have been right that the holy archbishop Anthimus should first apply to your evangelical throne and offer to you the firstfruits of concord; but the necessity of this time and the distance of the country and the hurry of events changed the due order of things; and because this was done in secret; for as a wise doctor of divine doctrines you know what is written in the record by John the Theologian rather than Evangelist,172 that the disciples were assembled with the doors shut for fear of the Jews, and that the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, while the doors were shut, appeared inside by a miracle, and stood in the midst and said, ' Peace be with you.'173
"I have therefore attached to this letter a copy of my own letter of concord and that of the God-loving chief priest, the man above mentioned, which were composed under fear of the Jews, and have sent them to your Holiness. But the religious presbyter and steward, Theopompus,174 also has certainly already given you an account of this proceeding (for he also has communicated with you 175 in this counsel and |283 action), because I believed that the love of God that is in you would rejoice and exult over it, especially when you met with the canonical letters containing the covenants.
"But know, O pious brother, beloved by me above all things, that these demands of the Chalcedonians differ in no way whatever from the promised covenant of Nahash the Ammonite, which he wished to make with the Children of Israel, who said to him, 'Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee'; but he cruelly and barbarously returned answer, 'On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that you pluck out all your right eyes; and I will lay a reproach upon Israel.' 176 We are therefore in need of 'much watching and of immutable faith, and of prayers and entreaties that He that keeps Israel will not slumber nor sleep, and that He will turn the reproach upon those that are rich and boastful, and we may not become 'a scorn and a reproach to them that are round about us,'177 as David somewhere sings, while falling from divine things, they also confess human things; for no trust is to be placed in unbelievers and enemies of God. But to you, who are understanding in divine things, what is here said is matter of knowledge."
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF THEODOSIUS TO SEVERUS
"To 178 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the patriarch, my lord Severus, Theodosius greeting in our Lord.
But to you, who are understanding in divine things, what is here said is matter of knowledge. "
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF THEODOSIUS TO SEVERUS
"To 178 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the patriarch, my lord Severus, Theodosius greeting in our Lord.
"O being beloved by me above all things, rock of Christ, and guardian of the pure faith who cannot be shaken, very excellent is the blessing granted to our time, which has displayed your spiritual constancy to the holy Churches of God. We are also in good hope and are confident that the blameless pattern of your virtue, which we possess, will be preserved |284 for you. But I do not know which of your virtues to admire; for what is there among your qualities which is either defective or which stands in need of superfluous description? If so be I admire the severe manner of your lovely life, the virtue of chastity attracts me to it, and the glorious purity of right faith, which justly demands to be placed before them all, and your life of labours endured for a long time for God's sake, and your flight from place to place, and the fact that in everything you have chosen to suffer, in order that we may not be perverted from the right faith. In the same faith how many times have you under stress of events boldly cried with Paul, 'Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution?' 179 But in what category shall we place the exactitude of your teaching, whereby those that err are reproved and deceit is plucked out by the roots, while those that believe are delivered and are planted into the right faith? And it seems to me as if I heard Christ, even God, saying to you what He said to Jeremiah the divine prophet: 'Behold! I have put My words in thy mouth. Behold! I have this day set thee over nations and over kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant'; 180 and again what He said about Paul: 'He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the nations, and before kingdoms, and before all Israel.' 181
I have put My words in thy mouth. Behold! I have this day set thee over nations and over kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant'; 180 and again what He said about Paul: 'He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the nations, and before kingdoms, and before all Israel. ' 181
"These are your qualities, O divine father,— qualities which it is perhaps easy to admire, but difficult to carry fully into action, even as now also by the watchful labours of your pious soul good deeds have been done to the Church of God. For in Christ Jesus those who were before far off have become near. The pious Anthimus, who will be henceforth renowned for character and faith, the chief priest and true pastor of the Church of the royal city, has of his own will become a communicator with you, pious one, and with us, and walked after our right faith; who has banished and rejected snares and disturbances, and has trampled on transitory and unstable |285 profit, inasmuch as he has learned to believe that human greatness is nothing, and has boldly proclaimed the right and unfailing faith; so that on account of this which has happened how we rejoiced and how we gave thanks to God and what spiritual festival we celebrated, O honoured father ours, it is not possible to say in words.
"Now he has made a firm covenant in a canonical letter and sent it to our evangelical throne, as indeed your Holiness also has already stated even in your honoured letter. And in the things which he has written he has declared the whole exactitude of the sound and right faith, while he has spurned with the anathemas everything that is deceitful and heretical, professing that he holds and proclaims these things with us, and says these things, since he is a communicator with those in whose communion our holy Church also rejoices, and professing that from those from whom we turn away he also turns away. He has therefore mentioned by name and anathematised those other names of the impious heresy, and the impious Synod held at Chalcedon, and the epistle of Leo. And, when we had with all possible care considered the things written to us by the pious man and minutely examined them all, and had found that nothing in them was alien from the right faith, and we saw that there also everyone who is opposed to us was attacked,182 we all the more admired your judgment upon them; for with the things which were canonically written to you, holy one, by the pious Anthimus upon the divine doctrines we found those also which were written to us to be in accord. Since, therefore, we have found the letter of concord and communion of the holy Anthimus to be of such sort, I will, like the prophet, cry out in due season, 'Let the heavens rejoice from above, and let the clouds sprinkle righteousness,' 183 because the Lord has had mercy on His people, and such good reforms have been brought to pass for the holy Church of God.
"With outstretched hand, therefore, we have accepted the event, and on our own part also hasten to conclude similar |286 covenants; and we have admitted the pious man to the closest communion with us, and have indited a return letter to him, in which we have clearly set forth the right faith of the fathers and exposed the evil character of the faith which pollutes feeble understandings. And of the document on account of which we have entered into communion with him, and will give it to any who shall be hereafter, of this we have sent a copy to your fatherhood, because we did not wish that any of your rights should cause you jealousy, and especially those which have to do with our holy Church. And then of necessity I say that the fact that you observe towards the evangelical see the prime honour which is due to it, and express the same in writing, as the things written to me declared you to do, was in truth worthy of your holy soul, which is careful to do everything with judgment and in accordance with the will of God. But I plainly declare my feeling that my chief honour, and one which gives me great joy, is that honour which is justly paid to you by everyone. With confidence, therefore, pious father ours, I unhesitatingly assent to whatever rightly seems good to you with regard to the holy Church, considering that, as befits your fatherhood, you will not cease from action and advice which will be of benefit to the Church.
"But so much for these things. But as to ourselves, O honoured father ours, by what distresses and human humiliation we are now surrounded, every kind of plot being concerted against us, in order that we may either flee of our own accord, or that we may be expelled by force by others, while they may be granted time here also to do their own deeds and lead astray the holy Church, I wished to declare in this letter |287 also (for thus especially should we incite you, who sympathise with us, to prayer on our behalf), but it is not right for us to add load to load and burden to burden. But by only saying this much about the greatness of the stress I make it plain that we are in very truth in need of your pious prayers."
And so on with the rest of the epistle.184
CHAPTER XXV
THE TWENTY-FIFTH CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF ANTHIMUS TO THEODOSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
"To 185 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the patriarch, my lord Theodosius, Anthimus greeting in our Lord.
But by only saying this much about the greatness of the stress I make it plain that we are in very truth in need of your pious prayers. "
And so on with the rest of the epistle. 184
CHAPTER XXV
THE TWENTY-FIFTH CHAPTER, THE EPISTLE OF ANTHIMUS TO THEODOSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
"To 185 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the patriarch, my lord Theodosius, Anthimus greeting in our Lord.
"Christ Jesus our God, who called simple and unlearned men and fishermen to be apostles and teachers, and called those who were before these from feeding a flock to be kings and prophets, who has chosen weak things and despised things, as the divine apostle said,186 He it is who has now called me also, the mean one, to the work of this spiritual ministry in the judgments which He knows, to be the head of this holy Church of Constantinople. I therefore, the sinner, remembering the utterance of the Lord spoken through Ezekiel, 'As for thee, son of man, I have given thee as a watchman unto them of the house of Israel; and, if thou hear the word at My mouth, and give forewarning from Me, saying unto the sinner, If thou sin, thou shalt die the death, and thou tell not the sinner, that he may take warning, nor yet the impious, that he may turn from his way and live, the wicked man shall die in his |288 wickedness, but his blood will I require at thine hands,' 187 and the commandment of the apostle to Timothy about the blameless-ness of the bishop's office, am beset with fear and trembling. And, when besides these things I contemplate also the turmoil which is increasing in the holy Churches and on the side of those who do not believe rightly, because they have reckoned religion as a means of profit for a time, and speak wickedness on high against their head, and divide God the Word, who became incarnate without variation and became perfectly man, I am beset with weeping and groans, and I mourn over myself, because I am unworthy. But trust in God comforts me, as it is said, 'Look at the generations of old and see; who hath trusted in the Lord and been confounded? or who hath abode in His fear and been forsaken? or hath called upon Him and He turned away from him? Because the Lord is compassionate and merciful, and forgiveth sins and saveth in time of affliction.' 188 Therefore all my hope and my thoughts are set upon Him, that He will see our state and will hear, He who made the eyes and planted the ears, and that He will reprove the turbulence of those who prevent right ways, and will call like the true shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, because He said, 'No man shall snatch them out of mine hands': 189 for He foreordained your Holiness to stand at the head of the people of Alexandria the great, and established you as a tiller of the Church, not in calm, but in the turmoil of storms, that you might guide the ship above the waves into the peace of the harbour of Christ our God by the holy and adored Spirit. 190 For by the prayers of your holy fathers, the former rulers, you have, as it were, received the trust of standing at the head of a people which walks after the teaching of the fathers, and contends for its pastor unto death in word and deed. |289
"Embracing, therefore, union with you and brotherly unanimity in Christ and the laws of the Church, we declare by this Synodical epistle that we cleave to the one definition of faith, that of our three hundred and eighteen holy fathers at Nicaea, which also the one hundred and fifty who assembled here against the fighters against the Spirit ratified, and to the holy Synod which met at Ephesus with the assent of Celestine and in the presence of Cyril, who in the twelve chapters demolished the doctrine of Nestorius. To these I assent, and I embrace the rest of his writings; and I receive the formula of Zeno uniting the Churches, which aimed at the annulling of the Synod of Chalcedon and of the Tome of Leo. And I confess that God the Word, the only Son, who was begotten of the Father in eternity, through whom all things were made, Light of Light, living image of the Father and sharing His nature, in the last times became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and of Mary the Virgin, and became a man perfectly without variation and confusion, in everything like unto us except sin; and He remained God immutable, and, when He assumed our attributes, He was not diminished in His Godhead; and that which was derived from us He made His own by dispensation by a natural union. For He who was begotten without time and without a body of God the Father, the same underwent a second birth in flesh, inasmuch as in an ineffable manner He became incarnate of a virgin mother; and, after she had borne Him, she continued in her virginity; and we justly confess her to be the Theotokos, and that He who was born of her in the flesh is perfect God and perfect man, the same out of two natures one Son, one Lord, and one Christ, and one nature of God the Word who became incarnate; and each one of the natures which combined to form an indivisible unity remained without confusion. And so He is very rightly one of the holy and connatural Trinity, both before He took flesh and after He took flesh, and a fourth number was not added to the Trinity; and He is impassible in that He is of the nature of the Father, but passible |290 in the flesh in that He is of our nature. For God the Word did not suffer in His own nature, but in flesh of our nature; and He who personally united this to Himself suffered in our likeness. And Gregory the Theologian defined the matter and called Him impassible in His Godhead, passible in the assumption of flesh. 191 And He is one in the miracles, and also in the passions, and by dispensation He made our passions His own, voluntary and innocent ones, in flesh which was passible and mortal after our nature, endowed with a soul and an intellect, and passible and mortal all the time of the dispensation; for He suffered not in semblance but in reality, and in flesh that was capable of suffering He suffered and died on the cross; and by a Resurrection befitting God He made and rendered it impassible and immortal, and in every way incorruptible, since it came from the union of the womb, which was holy and without sin.
While recognising, therefore, the distinction between the elements which have combined to form the unity of nature, I mean between the Godhead and the manhood, we yet do not separate them from one another; also we do not cut the One into or in two natures, nor yet do we confound Him by rejecting the distinction between the Godhead and the manhood, but we confess Him to be one out of two, Emmanuel.
"And, thus believing and taking my stand upon this belief, as upon a rock, I also anathematise the deviations from the truth of such and such men."
And the rest, consisting of the greeting in the epistle. |291
CHAPTER XXVI
THE TWENTY-SIXTH CHAPTER OF THE NINTH BOOK, THE EPISTLE OF THEODOSIUS TO ANTHIMUS THE CHIEF PRIEST
"To 192 our all-pious and all-holy brother and fellow-minister, the archbishop and patriarch, my lord Anthimus, Theodosius greeting in our Lord.
"And how else could it have come about that you, a chief priest wise and watchful towards the Creator of all things and their Saviour and God, should in the midst of events openly show yourself crying out like Jeremiah the divine prophet, 'I have not wearied of going after thee, and the day of a man have I not desired,' 193 except that you despised such human honour, and placed the observance of religion before all things? The thing, therefore, which has been thus done by your Holiness is great without controversy, and all the believers who have heard of it are already wondering at it, while hereafter also all the bond-servants of the Lord who shall be hereafter will wonder at it, when it is duly proclaimed in all the holy Churches. But it is no higher than the rest of your apostolic and truly sublime and holy life. For it was truly fitting for you, who by unceasing energy in ascetic exercise have mortified your earthly members, that you might speak in the words of Scripture, and with Paul are able to say, 'I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet now not I, but Christ liveth in me,' 194 after the manner of Moses the great to esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of this world, and to choose rather to be afflicted with the people of God than to enjoy the temporal pleasure of sin.195
"For I, who am feeble, judge that it is on account of my shortcomings that I endure all the troubles which befall me; |292 but, since I am bound to represent the Church which is under the evangelical throne, which is now enduring many ills (and how many it is enduring is not easy to say), therefore in due season I say as the divine Paul said, 'As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also is our consolation great in Christ.' 196 For the fact that you, the pious chief priest and patriarch of the royal city, should use boldness on behalf of the right and apostolic faith, and should be eager to show that in respect of the strict observance of the divine doctrines you are of one mind and one accord with Severus, the holy patriarch of the Eastern Churches, has almost made me forget in the evangelical see and acceptation of the divine Mark the whole of the troubles which are upon us. For, 'what thanks can we render to God?' 197 For this apostolic saying also do I use on account of the help with which He has helped His holy Churches, who has now stablished you as a stablisher of these, and as a foremost fighter in the danger to religion. For you have shown, O pious man, that you have dwelling in you the holy utterance of the Lord, which says, 'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy soul and body in hell,' 198 and that you 'reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.' 199 While, therefore, your spiritual light so shines before men, God is glorified in this great increase of those that are being saved, which His true Church receives.
"So it is with joyful exultation and delight that I have canonically received your piety's letter of concord and union, which has just been brought to me, 200 because the holy patriarch Severus above mentioned told me beforehand that it was coming to me, who is the cause of all blessings and benefits to the Church of Christ and to me; and he has also sent me, as befitted him, a copy of what you canonically wrote to one |293 another, which also made it clear that your communion was brought about with great caution and great benefit. And, while inditing this letter with my whole heart, I say the same things to your Holiness which also I wrote to him, 201 that I confess as the one definition of faith and accept that which was laid down by our three hundred and eighteen holy fathers at Nicaea through the Holy Spirit, and ratified by the Synod of one hundred and fifty and by that at Ephesus, which was assembled by our father Cyril, who in the twelve chapters rejected Nestorius; and I accept also the formula of Zeno uniting the Churches, which aimed at the annulling of the Synod of Chalcedon and of the Tome of Leo, while I confess that God the Word, of the nature of the eternal Father, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, became incarnate and also became man by the Holy Spirit and of Mary the ever-virgin, in flesh endowed with a soul and an intellect after our nature, and was made like unto us in everything except sin, for, 'sin He did not, neither was guile found in His mouth,' 202 as the Scripture said. For it was right and just that the nature which was vanquished in Adam should in Christ put on a crown of triumph over death. And so also the apostle said, 'Since the children partook of flesh and blood, He also in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, Satan, and might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to sin. ' 203 But, if we were vanquished in another nature, and the Word of God did not partake of it or make the same flesh which was assumed from us and personally united to Him impassible and immortal through the union with Him, as some foolishly say, our faith is vain, because it is no great thing that Satan |294 should be vanquished by the Lord; but in a body which was passible and of our nature He suffered innocent passions, and underwent death, and trampled on the sting of sin, and dissolved the power of death. Now, if He received the seed of Abraham, and in everything was made like unto us His brethren except sin, as the wise Paul said, and through death, which He underwent in His own flesh, vanquished Satan, who had the power of death, while He remained beyond the assault of passions in that He is recognised to be and is justly God, on account of His victory we glory, because we have been delivered from the yoke of bondage. Who is there, therefore, who will not marvel at the accuracy of the divine words, which everywhere supply due direction and in the same words refute the 'semblance' of Eutyches, and those who are like him, and the doctrine of Nestorius?
For he says that Christ partook of our likeness in flesh and blood; and, that no one might think that He did so in phantasy, he went on to say that He partook of the same that through death He might bring to naught the power of death.
"Moreover they contend against those who divide the one Christ into two natures by the example of children. For,204 as the child and the man, who is made up of soul and body, is one out of two, and the two are called one nature, though the soul was not converted into flesh nor the body changed into the essence of the soul; so also Christ, who consists of the two elements, the Godhead and also the manhood, which have a perfect existence, each in its proper sphere, is one and is not divided; and the union is not confused in Him in that [He united to Himself personally flesh of our nature and] 205 allowed it in all the dispensation to be passible and mortal (but the same was holy without sin), and by the Resurrection made and rendered it impassible and immortal and in every |295 way incorruptible. For our former father Cyril said, 'He first raised His body in incorruption, and He first exalted it to heaven.' 206 So believing therefore, I anathematise such and such."
And the rest, consisting of the greeting in the epistle.
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[Note to the online edition: footnotes have been moved to the end. Footnotes concerned only with bits of Syriac and Greek have been omitted because of the time it would take to transcribe it.]
1. 1 Cf. bk. 6, ch. 6.
2. 2 526-7.
3. 4 537.
4. 1 The text has "Alexandria," but Halicarnassus is obviously meant, as in the heading of the chapter below.
5. 3 This seems to refer to the MS. from which the scribe was copying, as the prologue of Moro is not inserted at this place in our MS.
6. 4 527.
7. 5 Bk. 7, ch. 14; 8, 1.
8. 7 See bk. 6, ch. 6.
9. 8 Mich. fol. 167 v, 168 r; Greg. p. 78.
10. 10 527.
11. 11 Mich. fol. 162 r.
12. 13 Mich. fol. 161 r.
13. 2 Probably Timostratus (Wright, C. B. M. p. 559).
14. 6 The text has "Justinian," but clearly Justin must be meant.
15. 4 Perhaps Hieriphthum (Gelzer, Geo. Cypr, p. 159).
16. 4 Perhaps the "Simas" of Procopius {Bell. Pers. i. 13).
17. 1 ...The Herulians, whom the Greeks frequently called Helouroi, are meant.
18. 3 531.
19. 8 Mich. fol. 168r; Greg. pp. 78, 79,
20. 4 527.
21. 1 531.
22. 2 Syr. " sister's son."
23. 3 The native title of the tribal chief: Arm. bdeashkh. See Noeldeke, I.e. note 2.