Epistle to Celestinus, Bishop of Rome

Letters to St. Cyril of Alexandria relates to the emergence and development of the Nestorian dispute, the Third Ecumenical Council, negotiations with Antioch and the achievement of peace, the controversy regarding Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, etc. In the “Epistle to Celestinus, Bishop of Rome” (probably 430), St. Cyril of Alexandria officially announces the heresy of Nestorius and invites the Bishop of Rome to express his judgment about it, and also calls for joint action to preserve the Orthodox faith. St. Cyril talks about how Nestorius spreads heretical teaching, rejects the title of Mother of God from the Virgin Mary and insults Orthodoxy. The saint notes that his position is supported by other Orthodox bishops, especially in Macedonia. To the most reverend and most God-loving Father Kelestin, Cyril wishes every good thing for the Lord. If I could remain silent and not write to your piety about all the real troubles, if I could avoid complaints and get rid of grief, especially during such important events when the right faith is shaken by some, then I would say to myself: “Good! And the silent one has nothing to fear - peace is better than anxiety! But since God requires us to be vigilant in such circumstances, and the long-standing custom of the Churches directs us to enter into communication with your piety, then I must write to you and inform you that Satan is even now throwing everything into confusion, raging against the Churches of God and everywhere trying to deviate from the straight path of faith those who follow him. This ever crafty beast does not subside, quickly spreading wickedness. Until now, I have been silent and have not written anything about the current ruler of the Church of Constantinople either to your piety or to any of our fellow ministers, thinking that haste in such a matter will earn disapproval; but since the evil had already reached its extreme degree, I considered it an indispensable duty not to remain silent any longer and to say everything about the unrest that had occurred. The one I’m talking about, as soon as he entered the bishopric, instead of doing good with edifying teachings not only to the permanent residents there, but also to temporary newcomers, of whom, they say, there are a lot of people there from all cities and villages, he set himself the task of speaking strange, absurd things - such that it deviates far from the apostolic and evangelical faith, which the fathers preserved exactly and passed on to us as a pearl of great price. His conversations, which he spoke in church, and very often - and still does not stop speaking - I sent to your piety as direct proof of his teaching. I admit that I wanted to bring to his attention by a conciliar letter that we cannot enter into communication with someone who speaks and thinks like that, but I did not do this. Considering that those who slip need to be given a hand to support them and those who have fallen need to be lifted up like their brothers, in my letters to him I advised him to give up such an ungodly teaching, but we did not receive any benefit from this. As soon as he learned that we were not only far from thinking the same way as him, but also, not approving of him, we were encouraging him to lag behind the inventions - I don’t want to call them teachings - he began to treacherously against me in every possible way and has not stopped causing trouble to this day. When we expected him to be healed of his illness and to refrain from anti-Christian teachings, we learn that we were mistaken in our hope by the following event. In Constantinople there was Bishop Dorotheos, of the same thoughts as him, a selfish man, and flattering, and impudent in words. During one public service - this was already at the time when Nestorius occupied the throne of the Church of Constantinople - he stood up from his seat and in a loud voice dared to say: “Whoever says that Mary is the Mother of God, let him be anathema.” All the people raised a strong cry and left the church; he did not want to be in communication with those who had such thoughts; so that even at the present time the people of Constantinople do not attend conciliar prayers, except for a few people who are frivolous and who please them. Almost all of the monasteries, and their archimandrites, and many of the members of the Senate, do not attend divine services, fearing that their faith might become wrong from the perverse teaching that he and his minions who came with him from Antioch are spreading everywhere. His conversations were brought to Egypt, and I learned that some foolish people were led astray by them, and some asked each other in bewilderment: are his words true or is he mistaken? Fearing that the poison of this disease would not penetrate the hearts of the simple-minded, I wrote a circular message to all Egyptian monasteries, strengthening them in orthodoxy. Lists from it were also transferred by some to Constantinople; those who read it received great benefit from it, so many of the state dignitaries thanked me in writing. But this only irritated his annoyance with me more: he raises an attack against me as against an enemy, although he does not find any other fault in me than that I do not want to have the same thoughts as him, that in spite of him I supported in many the faith that we received from our fathers, convincing many to consider true what we learned from the Holy Scriptures. Not being concerned about his intentions against me and entrusting myself to the omniscient and omnipotent God, I wrote another message to him, in which, briefly outlining the teachings of the right faith, I convinced and conjured him by God to think and speak accordingly; but even with this I did not bring any benefit: he is still the same as before, and does not stop saying false things. I consider it necessary to inform your piety that all the eastern bishops agree with my words; they are all now in grief, in sadness, and especially the pious bishops in Macedonia. And he, knowing this, considers himself wiser than everyone else, thinks that only he knows the meaning of the Divinely inspired Scripture and has comprehended the mystery of Christ. Shouldn't he rather be convinced that when all the Orthodox bishops and laity throughout the Universe confess that Christ is God and that the Virgin who gave birth to Him is the Mother of God, He alone, by rejecting this, is in error? But he, blinded by pride, thinks that, acting on everyone with the power of his throne, he will force us and all others to think the same way as him. So what can we do now, when we can neither reason with him nor turn him away from such conversations, when the people in Constantinople are becoming more and more infected with evil from day to day, and some with languor in their souls are waiting for help from the Orthodox bishops? It is not just any ordinary matter that is subject to our consideration, and silence here will in no way justify us. Christ is being reproached - how can we remain silent? Each of us knows the words of Paul: “If I do these things willingly, I am rewarded; but if I do them against my will, the building is delivered up” (1 Cor. 9:17). Therefore, we, who are entrusted with the service of the Word, who are entrusted with protecting the inviolability of the faith, what will we say on the Day of Judgment if we remain silent during the present events in the Church? But we do not want to openly interrupt our relationship with him without first making contact with your piety. Therefore, deign to express in writing your opinion about whether we should still have communication with him or directly declare that no one enters into communication with him when he remains with this way of thinking and teaches this way. The judgment of your piety on this matter will also need to be conveyed in writing to the most pious and most God-loving bishops of Macedonia and to all other shepherds of the Eastern Churches. According to their desire, we will give them support and weapons so that they can all stand with one accord and one mind and fight for the right faith, against which the war has opened. And he himself has already been anathematized by our great, venerable and glorious fathers, who taught that the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God, and we, who are now living, are with them. He did not want to express his teaching himself in his own language, but put out for that other one, Dorotheus, about whom I spoke, and set him up to express his thoughts while he himself was sitting here and listening; having descended from his seat, he allowed him to perform the Divine Mysteries. In order for your piety to see more clearly what he teaches and how he thinks, as well as what our blessed and great fathers taught, I sent you books containing the main articles of the teaching; By my order, a translation was made from them, such as could have been done in Alexandria. I gave the letters I wrote to my beloved Posidonius, instructing him to deliver them to your piety. You might be interested in: