surrendered himself to Nestorius and to those who hold his" [Nestorius'] "opinions, we suspect either that he in order to punish us as enemies to him, or those who with him administer the episcopate of Heraclea, may come to ordain Bishops, contrary to old and prevalent custom, in the cities mentioned, which have never had Bishops of their own; and so old manners (122) and a custom which has prevailed aforetime and from the beginning, will be disturbed by reason of those who are planning novelties. We therefore pray your Piety, that a decision be pronounced on this thing by your Holy and Great Synod, and that it be ratified with your own seal; so that we may not be deprived of our Churches in which we have labored very much: and so that a custom already confirmed by length of time, may not be disturbed by any one of those forementioned, and so that contentions and inordinations (123) may not be made, especially among the Bishops of" [the Province of] "Europa" [in Thrace]. "If we gain this our request, we will return thanks to the God of all, who has congregated your Holiness here to correct the Churches of the world. The Holy and Universal Synod said, The request of the most pious Bishops Euprepius and Cyril, which their petition exhibits, is honorable. Wherefore, inasmuch as it is an old custom (124) in accordance with the holy canons, and with external laws, and inasmuch as it now has the force of law, no innovation shall be made in the cities" [of the province] "of Europa" [in the diocese of Thrace,] "but let them, in accordance with the old custom, be governed by the Bishops by whom they were governed aforetime, since as yet no Metropolitan has taken away their power, nor hereafter in future times can any innovation be made in old custom," (125)." NOTE 1.2.-Latin, itaque priscos mores et consuetudinem, etc. NOTE 123.-The Latin here is "inordinationes," which may be rendered "irregular ordinations," or disorders. So we have transferred the word. Such ordinations would of course be invalid, for by Canon VI of Ephesus and its other enactments and decisions, Fritilas, like the rest of the Nestorian Bishops and clerics, would be degraded from their orders. NOTE 124.- The Greek of this document I do not find in Coleti's Concilia, and the Iatin there given is corrupt. In the margin of column 1333 of tome IV of his Concilia two readings are given which we have followed in our translation. And in column 1334 of the same tome, referring to some things in the Latin of this document, it reads, "These things seem mutilated and corrupted. (Haec mutila et depravata videntur.) We have endeavored to do the best we could under the circumstances. NOTE 125.-Bingham, in his Antiquities of the Christian Church, book IX, chapter IV, HERE END THE ACTS OF THE THIRD ECUMENICAL SYNOD, THAT IS THE THIRD COUNCIL OF THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN WORLD. Its decisions we profess to believe and to obey when we say in the words of the Creed of the Second Ecumenical Synod, "I believe in one holy, Universal and Apostolic Church." He who rejects or even tries to unsettle these Decisions or any of them, be it their condemnation of the Nestorian denial of the Incarnation, their condemnation of the Nestorian sin of IVorshipping a human being (A-Oporolarpsía), or of Relative Worship, or of Cannibalism (A0poroparía) in the Lord's Supper, or their condemnation of all those who try to rob any Christian Province or Diocese of its Freedom, or to unsettle any of their other Decisions, be he a Man-Worshipping, Creature Worshipping, or Host Worshipping, or Cannibalizing Romanist, or Greek, or Nestorian, or Monophysite, or a degenerate and apostate so-called Anglican, is by their Canons deposed if he be a Bishop or a cleric, and excommunicated if he be a laic. See the said Canons. And by Christ's command, he is to be unto us "as a heathen man and a publican' (Matt. XVIII, 15-19); and we are to "reject" him (Titus III, 10). section 2, shows that this enactment was disregarded in times not long after Ephesus. In that respect it has shared the fate of different canons when profit or necessity called for it, and when no wrong was done. Aye, decisions of Ecumenical Synods on saving and necessary doctrine have been violated, as, for example, all those decisions of the Third Council which depose all Bishops and clerics guilty of 'Av@pwróżarpɛía, that is, "the worship of a human being," and the excommunication of all laics guilty of the same sin of creature worship; and the same penalties, imposed by the same Council on those guilty of the disgusting and degrading error of 'Av0рwπоpaɣia have been practically done away in the Latin Communion, the Greek, and the Monophysite, as well as in the Nestorian, in which we first find that sin, that is the eating of a human being, that is, Christ's humanity in the Eucharist, that is in plain English, the error and heresy, condemned in that Synodthat Christians are guilty of cannibalism in that sacred rite. See on that error note 606, pages 240-313, vol. I of Ephesus in this set, and note 599, pages 229-2°8, and note E, pages 517, 523, notes 692, 693, page 407; under 'Av@рʊñоpayia, on page 695, 'Aπosτacia, on page 697. 'Apxɛri there, and oiμßokov, the Eucharistic Symbol, on page 755,all in the same volume. On the sin and heresy of worshipping a human being see the sime volume, note 183, pp. 79-128; note 582, pp. 225, 226; note 664, pp. 323, 324; note 679, pp. 332-362; and on the relative worship of Christ's humanity, and the Universal Church's condemnation of it, and, by logical and necessary inclusion, of all other relative worship, note 949, pp. 461-463; note 156, pp. 6169, and notes 580-58, pp. 221-226. On God the Word as the Sole Mediator by His Divinity and His humanity, see Cyril's Anathema X, pp. 339-346, text and notes 682-688 on it inclusive, and especially note 688, pp. 363-406, and Nestorius' Heresy 2 on pp. 639-641, and pp. 694-696, under *Ανθρωπολατρεία and 'Ανθρωπολάτρης. |