Defensive speech to Emperor Theodosius

“Defensive speech to Emperor Theodosius” by St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote in 431-432. after returning to Alexandria from Ephesus. The work was a response to the displeasure of Emperor Theodosius II caused by the books “On the Right Faith.” The emperor accused St. Kirill is that he sent out several letters with the aim of causing discord in the imperial family. The saint writes that he did this because he considered it his pastoral duty to strengthen believers in the right faith and repel attacks on Christ. He explains his zeal in the fight against Nestorius by the danger that threatened the true faith, while briefly setting out the doctrine of the Divine economy and the Incarnation. The saint talks about the actions of the Council of Ephesus and names Archbishop John of Antioch as the culprit of the discord that took place in Ephesus. *The title of the work in Greek is ᾿Απολογητικὸς πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Θεοδόσιον. *The title of the work in Latin is Apologeticus ad Theodosium imperatorem. To our most pious, God-loving and Christ-loving emperor Theodosius, always victorious, Augustus, Cyril wishes salvation in the Lord. The Divine and immortal Nature, Which rules over everything, Which lives in the unapproachable light and sits on a high throne and befitting Him alone, Who stands before the principles, dominions, powers and holy seraphim, before Whom, as the Holy Scripture says, all creatures fear and tremble - this nature, so glorious and worthy of extreme wonder, has and a condescension equal to the greatness of His excellent and ineffable power. Otherwise, created nature could not bear His great and ineffable power and authority. Therefore, the blessed prophet David, offering prayers to God for himself and all others living on earth, says: “Remember, O Lord, that we are dust” (see Ps. 103:14); and again: “If you see iniquity, O Lord, O Lord, who can stand” (Ps. 129:3)? Therefore, blessed Job, tempted by the devil, depressed by the most severe and unbearable calamities, exclaimed to God: “Why did you bring oblivion to my iniquity and the cleansing of my sin” ( Job 7:21 )? “You have sealed iniquity in my bag, and you have marked it out for me if I have transgressed against my will” (Job 14:17). But here, I think, someone will immediately say: why, O most magnanimous of ascetics, do you reproach God for not showing His mercy? When you have sinned, is the Lawgiver to blame for not forgetting sins? Not at all. He said: Why does not the merciful One, by His very nature and His infinitely superior glory to all others, show His mercy and His glory to me? If it were possible for the human mind not to fall under circumstances of all kinds, then the Judge would strictly and carefully judge it, seal iniquities as if in a bag, and refuse to forget their sins to those who sinned involuntarily. But since we all sin a lot and to be free from every wrongdoing is characteristic of Him alone, then the sins of the weak should be forgotten. So, it is common for the exalted and great to have condescension. And indeed, this kindness, this condescension belongs to the highest Divine nature, and following his example, your Majesty, the most Christ-loving emperors. Truly you are some image and likeness of the Heavenly Kingdom; you alone have been destined to rule over everyone, to preserve and protect your subjects with fear and meekness, and to pour out glorious and peaceful prosperity over the entire Universe. This is what prompted me to calm your offended piety with a truthful defense. At the same time, I involuntarily omit what would be especially useful for my purpose, for fear of offending your Majesty’s recognized right. For although I can say that I am alien to his (Nestorius’s) madness, if, forgetting all decency, I began to assert, and moreover, before you personally, that I was not carried away by anything, I would say this, perhaps, not with impunity. I am afraid to oppose your opinion not out of fear of being exposed to injustice or anything that befell Israel. Was anyone so innocent as not to have ever rushed? We all sin a lot, and human nature, as if stricken by illness, is prone to sin, so that even the most zealous guardian of the law could never consider himself completely pure and sinless before God and heard God speaking to him: “Behold, I have a judgment with you, always saying to you, ‘We have not sinned’” (Jer. 2:35). So, it is better and more prudent to give in to the strong and pray to them for forgiveness of sins. For, as I said, Your Majesty should forget wrongdoing, imitating God himself in this. I wrote first to your piety, then also to the glorious empresses, and I did not do this at all in order to create discord or some kind of confusion in your most sacred house - no, I am not so stupid and weak-minded; but I know that those who are appointed to serve the most holy God must be sober and watchful, must observe and carefully do what is pleasing to Him, must fear that they will not suffer certain destruction if they turn out to be lazy in the performance of their duties. We must confirm in faith those who have already believed in our Lord Jesus Christ, whom He purchased with His blood, made true worshipers and called them a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people of renewal, so that they would proclaim the virtues out of darkness of all who called into His wonderful light (see 1 Pet. 2:9). Pronouncing the commandments to those chosen for the sacred rank, the Lord says this to the blessed Ezekiel: “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people, and say to them: the earth, if I bring the sword on anyone, and the people of the earth will understand the only man of themselves, and will make him their guard, and will see the sword coming on the earth, and will sound the trumpet, and preach to the people, and will hear He who hears the sound of the trumpet and is not preserved, and finds the sword and overtakes him, his blood will be on his head: for if he hears the sound of the trumpet and is not preserved, his blood will be on him: but this one, even if he is preserved, will deliver his soul. And if the guard sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet (and does not preach to the people) and the people do not guard themselves, and the sword finds the soul from them, for it took iniquity for its own sake, and I will require its blood at the hand of the guard” (Ezek. 33:2-6). I think it would not be superfluous to pay attention to the power of these words and not useless to find out their hidden meaning. So, when they expect the invasion of some barbarians, the city commanders post sentries in open places and on high towers, ordering them to constantly look into the field and carefully observe so that one of the enemies does not sneak into the city from any direction. When the sentries inform the city in good time about the enemy's plans, they are recognized as worthy of considerable honors; on the contrary, when through their carelessness they allow the enemy to take possession of the city or easily achieve something, in this case they pay with their heads and are sentenced to the most severe executions. In the same way, each of the priests (since he was appointed by God as a guard) will gain a crown for himself with his vigilance if he tries to proclaim to people the dangerous and threatening evil. If he is silent, then he falls into disasters, usually sent by the wrath of God, because by his silence he allows those whom he should direct with his voice to the true path to fall into great disasters. The battle was not undertaken against some private person similar to us, but against the Savior of us all, Christ the Lord. According to Scripture, no one speaks anathema against Jesus, except about Beelzebub (see 1 Cor. 12:3), i.e. no one denies Christ unless he is prompted by Satan, and no one doubts this. So, this renegade dragon, i.e. Satan, having found a careless pastor, especially a man depraved in mind, with his bold tongue unreasonably condemns the dogmas of truth, takes away from Christ, our Savior, His most essential and obvious glory (for he is impudent and in unbridled treachery recklessly decides for the most vile), filled all the churches with turmoil and discord. When the right faith was thus overcome, disagreements arose everywhere and greatly confused and disturbed the believers with doubt: whether they were not sinning by considering Christ to be the true God. And what happened next? A contagious disease, having its origin in lies and its father in Satan, has struck the entire universe. And since we are appointed by God as sentinels, obligated to have constant care for people, shouldn’t we immediately boldly take the sacred and church trumpet and announce the invasion of the devil’s sword to those who wish to maintain piety? For what punishment has God determined for those who remain silent? “I will require her blood at your hand,” He says (Ezek. 33:6). But your heart, most God-loving emperor, was unshakable and safe. Yes, I solemnly proclaim, and even better than me and louder, the very deeds speak of this and time testifies that you were ardently zealous for piety and argued about glory with your ancestors - moreover, since it is also an honor for them that you surpass them complacency, then I will say without any flattery that you expressed a much better and more praiseworthy view of this matter. I knew how unshakable your faith is, how strong your love for Christ is. And it was not in vain that I wrote, asking you to help others, or, better, all churches, because you are accustomed to helping. And just as the trumpet announcing the invasion of the barbarians, in every warrior, especially strong and brave, arouses courage, and makes the timid and the new recruit fear lest, having somehow fallen through imprudence into the ranks of the enemies, he will not become a prey to their cruelty, so what I wrote about Christ aroused your piety against the swords of the devil, and others - the frivolous and those who were inclined to evil were made cautious and firm. Many do not so easily and conveniently accept the sacrament of Christ; the teaching about Him is extremely deep; even people who are especially strong in mind and constantly study the Scriptures barely know Him, and then only, as it were, in a mirror and fortune-telling. And since, in the words of the most sacred Paul, “good customs are corrupted by evil talk” (1 Cor. 15:33) and a drop of a drop, as Solomon says, pierces the mountains, then if those harmful speeches fell on the minds of people like a drop dripping from above, then even in this case they would once have caused quite a lot of harm. So, the admonition I compiled is useful and necessary, on the one hand, to curb those who, without any reasoning, raised a fight against Christ, and partly to confirm and admonish those who did not have an entirely accurate knowledge of the sacrament and were shaken and shaken by the speeches of the deceiver, as if by a cruel storm. And what I wrote out of necessity can be proven from the very essence of the matter. In former times and many centuries ago, everything human was far from God, because the whole earth sinned and, as blessed David sings, “everyone turned aside, and were found together without keys,” even every single one (Ps. 13:3), but the East visited us from on high (Luke 1:78), the only begotten Word of God appeared to us, and dealt with those living on earth (Bar. 3:38), becoming like us as a man, but being at the same time by nature God, having destroyed the mediastinum of the fence, united us through Himself with God and the Father (Eph. 2). Forgetting our insults, It freed us from sin, which removed us from Him, and justified us by faith. For It “is our peace,” according to Scripture (Eph. 2:14). So, damage to faith would entail the dissolution of the bonds of our world - the bonds by which we are united with God, and the darkening or disappearance of the path of truth for our minds, to say the least; because we are justified through holy baptism, proclaiming the death of Christ and confessing together His Resurrection (Rom. 6:3-11). However, we, the most Christ-loving emperor, proclaim the death not of an ordinary person, but of God made man, who, as is written, suffered for us in the flesh, living as God, and remaining impassive by His nature. Consequently, when the hope of Christians was in obvious danger from the speeches of the deceiver and his ignorant, unbridled tongue, then we, O Emperor, forced by necessity, assisted by the weapon of truth itself, could not leave the faithful unprotected. And what prompted us to do this in particular was the following. Our blessed fathers, having received the priesthood from God, fearlessly opposed the corruption of the heretics of their time, and especially the wicked Arians, despite the fact that the government of that time did not know the truth, was even of the same mind with the heretics and gnashed its teeth against the teachers of the Church. Overcoming all fear within themselves, they boldly preached the right and irreproachable teaching of the faith. They knew what our Lord Jesus Christ said: “Fear not those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; fear them more than those who are able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). So, when they did not keep silent, defending the glory of the Savior of us all from the attacks of enemies, despite the fact that they had the most cruel enemies in persons who at that time had power over everyone in their hands, could we not follow them along the path of their zeal for Christ and devotion to Christ? Could we not contrast the truth with the words of that detractor? As I said, I knew the firmness of your piety in faith: I was firmly convinced that he (the heretic) was pleasing to you no more than to me. What could prompt me to remain silent? Indecision almost distracted me from a pleasant duty and led me to offending God. But I told myself: your silence cannot have an excuse; by your silence you will gravely sin both before God and before people: pious and Christ-loving is the one whom God has honored with imperial dignity. The glorious duo of the most illustrious empresses shine with the same virtues; such are other honest and wonderful virgin faces; then the rest, close to the first both in rank and dignity, adorned with a right and immaculate faith, are also depressed by excessive sorrow, seeing contempt for the glory of our Savior. Why don’t you courageously do what you consider pleasing to God? Shouldn't a shipowner be considered negligent if he doesn't want to sail when the ship is being guided by a favorable wind? Would he not be accused of cowardice and cowardice if, having been placed in the ranks and supported by many brave warriors, he became cowardly and threw down his shield at a time when he could have won a victory? Prompting myself with such reflections and trusting in the piety of your Majesty, I fearlessly stepped into the middle, considering it necessary to expose unworthy curses against Christ. To what has been said so far, I consider it necessary to add the following. Nestorius was chosen as experienced in the evangelical and apostolic teachings, skilled in spreading and increasing piety, and, moreover, containing a right and completely immaculate faith; and your Majesty, all the heads of the holy churches, and I myself desired the election of this man. Because when I received letters from the most pious bishops who ordained him, informing me of his ordination, I, without any delay, wrote to them myself, expressing my joy, and praising their election, and wishing (the newly ordained) all the best from God. And what followed should not be considered as the fault of your election, but of his lewdness. He was chosen as a lamb, but turned out to be a wolf; chosen as a good and faithful servant, but loved the opposite; chosen as a fruitful vineyard, but “create”, as it is written, “thorns” (Is. 5:2); chosen as a hardworking farmer, and he laid nets in the arable land; chosen as a good shepherd, but became fiercer than the fiercest beasts. Then, when he - I don’t know for what reasons - became ill with corrupt opinions, he was often admonished, and by many. But did these admonitions make him a better person? Did they awaken remorse in him? Has he been turned for the better? Did he receive any benefit from them for his soul? Did you hate lies? Did you love the truth? Has the darkness of ignorance been rejected? Have you sought the light? Have you stopped talking idle talk against Christ? Was he afraid of the many who contradicted him? Did you stop when you saw many and almost countless opponents? Not at all, as the very outcome of the case clearly proved. When, by order of Your Majesty, our holy council gathered from all sides in the Ephesian metropolis, he (Nestorius) also arrived there; and, while he should have wept and grieved over the past, he, as if he had not punctuated anyone by boldly speaking idle words while living in this great city, added even worse things to the previous ones and did not hesitate to spew out even more vile things against the glory of our Savior, too little, not even paying attention at all to the accusation of blasphemy brought against him. It is better to remain silent about what he dared to say, and, moreover, reasoning with saints and bishops of all kinds who were glorified in virtues, and, moreover, very skilled in the Divine Scriptures. Greatly distressed by his blasphemous speeches against Christ and brought into extreme indignation by his unbridled and impudent tongue, these latter washed their hands of him and, not without tears, reported to the holy council what they had heard from him, but not secretly, but boldly, with full confidence in the justice of their words and ready to expose him that he had said against Christ what it was unlawful to even think about. They acted in this way, fearing the judgment of the divine judgment seat. They did not lack love, but were more flaming with divine and immaculate love for Christ. Just as those who are submissive to the scepter of your sacred power, whether they be noble military leaders or adorned with some other rank and honors, become especially famous and dear to you if they are filled with indignation against those who stir up an insolent and unbridled tongue against your power or who would like to do something else illegal and illicit: in the same way a priest becomes worthy of all praise before God and before the angels. The Lord, if he does not allow anyone to talk idle talk against the divine glory, and even considers all such to be his greatest enemies. That is why blessed David, counting this to himself as great glory, proclaims this: “Has she not hated You, O Lord? and about all your stories? I hated them with complete hatred: they became my enemies” (Ps. 139:21-22). So, if those who blaspheme Christ love Him, then those who attack them are acting unfairly. But if they clearly hate Christ - and this is beyond any doubt - can those who oppose true, godly teachings not be worthy of respect and very dear to God? But there is also another reason why it was useful and necessary for your Majesty to drive away from the divine altars the one who desecrated them. If you wish, I will prove this from Divine Scripture. Once upon a time, the Israelites, having little respect for the institutions of the wisest Moses and despising the commandment given to them, retreated from God and, as it is written, “served as an idol ... and all the power of heaven” (2 Kings 17:12,16). They reached such obscenity and wickedness that they desecrated the divine church itself. For this, God was angry with them and delivered them into the hands of their enemies. When Hezekiah, a righteous and pious man, received the kingdom, he corrected and cleansed the divine church from criminal innovations and made decent offerings to God Almighty. The Scripture tells about this as follows: “And Hezekiah began to reign twenty and five years. And he spoke to them (priests and Levites), saying: Hear me, (men) Levites, now be cleansed, and cleanse the house of the Lord God our fathers, and remove uncleanness from the sanctuary. For our fathers turned away, and did evil before the Lord our God, and forsaken Him” (2 Chronicles 29:1,5,6). Having told them something else saving, he added: “And now do not neglect, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you may serve Him and burn incense. And they rose up, it is said, to the Levites... and gathered their brethren, and were sanctified according to the commandment of the queen by the commandment of the Lord, that they might cleanse the house of God. And the priestess came into the church of the Lord, and cast out all the uncleanness that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the courtyard of the house of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 29:11-16). Then the Holy Scripture adds: “And on the sixth day of the first month he finished. And he went in unto king Hezekiah, and said, Let us cleanse all that is in the house of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 29:17-18). Then it is added here: “And Hezekiah the king arose early, and the rulers of the city gathered together, and went up to the house of the Lord. And he offered up seven bulls, and seven he-goats, for sin, for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Israel” (2 Chronicles 29:20-21). Note, O most Christ-loving emperor, that the pious and righteous Hezekiah, intending to offer a sacrifice to God, did not enter the church of God and fulfill his intention before ordering the priests of God to cleanse the house of the Lord and cast out all uncleanness from it. When his order was fulfilled, he solemnly offered up the burnt offering and rejoiced, and it is quite right that he now offered a pleasant sacrifice to God, and especially because he cleansed the church of uncleanness. Something similar was done for the glory of Christ and by your Majesty. It is your custom to burn incense, decorate churches and, with a generous hand, make offerings in them for the glory of God. But it was necessary first to free and cleanse the church from all uncleanness, and then you could make a favorable sacrifice to God. To your greater glorification before God and angels and people, you gave the order to the priests - and they cleansed the church and sanctified it, curbing the senseless and profane tongue. So, the holy and ecumenical council, pleasing to Christ, the Savior of us all, caring for faith in Him and as if saying along with the scripture: “I was jealous for the Lord” (1 Kings 19:10), tried with all its might to destroy the temptation that had occurred. And those who, along with these ascetics, had the tendency, even the need, to courageously go into battle immediately and willingly enter into battle and become, together with us, participants in the rewards for the labors suffered for Christ, to be inflamed with the same zeal as us and to be filled in their souls with pious zeal - they turned out to be insensitive and hard-hearted, completely similar in wickedness to that blasphemer. Grieving and lamenting not about the glory of Christ, but about him who had spoken a lot and insanely of idle talk against Christ, they attacked those who bravely fought and declared themselves opponents of those who dared to think foolishly about Christ, crying out almost the following: why did you curb your impudent and unbridled tongue? Why did they peel the sheep's skin off a predatory wolf and make him known to everyone? For to be indignant at the fact that that blasphemer has been exposed, in my opinion, means nothing more than to exclaim the very thing that I have already said. The ruler of the Antiochian Church, although he received your Majesty’s command to arrive on the appointed day, was not present at the holy council. He deliberately delayed on the way, so that by this slowness he would promote the wickedness of the one who talked idle words against Christ, or (which is likely or even certain) because he was of the same mind with him. After the sixteenth day had already passed, the foremost of his companions (they were metropolitans) finally arrived and on his behalf announced to the holy council that they should not wait at all for his arrival, but rather hasten to fulfill the decisions. Then, finally, the holy council, having gathered in the holy church called Mary, made Christ himself its chairman and head: the honest Gospel was placed on the sacred throne, as if calling to the clergy: “Judge righteous judgment” (Zech. 7:9), judge between the evangelists and the speeches of Nestorius. By the general consent of all (the fathers), the council condemned his (Nestorius') opinions and declared the purity and superiority of the gospel and apostolic tradition, and thus the power of truth triumphed. Because everyone has affirmed the right and immaculate faith in accordance with your opinion, most Christ-loving emperors, since every intention of yours is directed towards what pleases God and is united with piety, since you have never preferred anything to the truth. Meanwhile, John, who received the lot of primacy in the Antiochian Church, careless, careless and condescending when Christ is insulted, on the contrary, attentive and implacable when he is accused of opening slanderous lips against the same Christ, arrived in Ephesus with the speed of a bird, arbitrarily did in favor of him (Nestorius) everything that he wanted, without paying absolutely any attention to anything, as if there were no church at all laws and God does not care at all about human affairs. Acting more out of stupidity than prudence, submitting more to anger than to the rule of a sober mind, he, as soon as he jumped off the chariot and entered the sleeping room, still covered with dust, immediately received his like-minded people, pronounced with them a vile and extremely unjust sentence (his allies were exiles, notorious Celestians, and associates of Nestorian madness, for some great recklessly took part in his criminal blasphemy against Christ), tried in every possible way to disgrace the entire holy council, subjecting to imaginary excommunication from the Church all the glorious men who had gathered in Ephesus from all over the world, very well known to your Majesty and famous for all kinds of virtues. And he inflicted an even more serious insult on me and the head of the Ephesian Church, uttering slander and saying that we are of the same mind with the wicked Apollinaris and approve of the nasty and wicked opinions of Arius and Eunomius. He did this, as I said, under the influence of implacable anger, in unholy rage and in excessive pride. Truly, this surprises me very much, because he always seemed supportive and friendly towards me, never condemned my speeches, with great favor he wrote to me and accepted my letters back; just before the very gates of Ephesus, he almost strangled me in his arms and in his letters to me he wrote like this: “To my most God-loving master, my holy co-servant Cyril, John wishes good things in the Lord. What saddens me a lot is that when your holiness arrived in Ephesus, I still had a few days of travel left. The desire for your holiness, more than any other necessity, prompts me to quickly complete this path.” And further: “So, pray, sir, that we may spend these remaining five or six days without sorrow and be able to see you and embrace your sacred and divine head. Greet your holiness, most God-loving sir, Bishop John, Paul and Macarius. I and others who are with me humbly bow to the entire brotherhood with you. Farewell and continue to pray for us, most God-loving and most holy man.” So, why, without any insult on my part, did the one who called me his colleague and brother suddenly become my enemy? In apology for his misconduct regarding me, it seems to me, he says that he wrote to me, still hiding the enmity that he intended to openly declare in due time. But how could he call me a co-servant if I was a heretic, if I was a participant in the obscene wickedness of Apollinaris, Arius and Eunomius? Why did you call my head holy and, moreover, sacred! Is it not obvious to everyone that whoever conspires with the barbarians is, of course, an enemy of your most sacred empire? And he, as he says, hid hatred and lavished pleasantries, and had a heart full of deceit and vexation. Who dares to praise a person who is used to living this way? Perhaps he is thinking of finding some of his chosen enemies? But they also hated someone who says one thing but carries another in his heart. Let us focus on Divine Scripture. We have heard God saying the following to this kind of people: “An arrow pierces their tongue, the flattering words of their mouth: He speaks peace to his friend, but has enmity within himself. I will not eat food on these, says the Lord, or will my soul not take revenge on such people?” (Jer.9:8-9). Deceit and harsh, hidden displeasure are hateful to God: to be peace-loving in words, but at the same time to have enmity in the soul is an unforgivable sin, according to the judgment of God. And therefore He threatens with vengeance for this too. But that impudent scolder and insidious slanderer, in apology for his above-mentioned offenses, not out of ignorance, however, as it seems, will answer this and say: “And I was just as zealous for the Lord as the holy council; and my definition upset you because you are heretics.” In saying this, he is similar to those who say in the prophet Isaiah: “By laying down our hope, we will be covered with a lie” (Is. 28:15). Let us even admit that perhaps no one says this in words, but this is clearly proven by the very actions. Because the proud and arrogant person is first of all exposed by the fact that, by blaspheming and striking with one scourge all (how many of them there are in the universe) holy clergymen, he wanted to excommunicate them with his sentence. However, by this he caused harm not so much to the latter as to himself, excommunicating himself from their communication: the unmeaning always with their indecent actions harm themselves more than those whom they thought to harm. Moreover, is it proper, is it legal to determine punishments for elders, and is it not reckless to rebel against people occupying the highest rank, to despise church discipline, the organizer of the world, and not to imitate those who live prudently in the world? Your pious Majesty has defined the degrees of merit. Each of those awarded any honor, if only he is aware of his rank and his place, yields to his superiors and does not assign to himself rights equal to the rights of the latter. And he (John, Primate of Antioch), not paying attention to this and neglecting all kinds of decency, in some kind of unbridled and reckless passion rushes at everyone and, depriving himself of the communication of everyone, nevertheless imagines that he is excelling in his affairs. If he truly knew that I and the bishop of Ephesus were infected with heresy, then what prevented him from accusing us in writing even before his arrival in the city of Ephesus and making the subject of his dispute with us public? What prevented him, upon his arrival in Ephesus, from seeing us, bringing an open complaint against us, revealing our crimes, calling us to account in the presence of the holy council and, finally, together with others, either freeing us from accusation if we were wise and speaking fairly, or subjecting us to punishment if it turned out that we wanted to philosophize contrary to church dogmas? He did not know that he accused us in vain and laid down an impious slander against the righteous. He pursued us and secretly harmed us out of respect and friendship for Nestorius and, as if in a night battle, aimed a throwing spear at us, without seeing us. Having drawn up a charter full of false accusations, he dared to bring it to your pious ears, not paying attention to what is said in the Divine Scripture: “Let nothing be spoken falsely by the tongue of the prince” (Proverbs 24:22). Having learned about this, we presented the scrolls to the holy and ecumenical council, on the one hand, confessing in them the right and intact faith of the Church, on the other, anathematizing those who follow Arius, Eunomius and Apollinaris. Our action, I think, was quite consistent with the law. Meanwhile, he fell into such recklessness, even cowardice and despair, that he did not dare to come to us or look at the holy cathedral, whereas, on the contrary, he should have courageously walked forward, not waited to be called, but appeared voluntarily, declared the guilty worthy of condemnation and defended his own decision. His conscience did not allow him to do anything like that, and he was so afraid to be present at the holy council that he did not dare to leave the house. Was it likely that the elected clergy, remembering the priesthood, remembering the words of the Lord: “Judge righteously, and let ye not know the face of the court, for the judgment of God is” (Deut. 1:16-17), would not condemn us if they realized that we were heretics? In addition, he had to compile notes of deeds and present them to you. In all regions and great cities, by the will of your authority, one judge is appointed, who is given judgment over the most important cases; He regards you as a legislator and carries out judgment according to your decrees. If so, is it likely that people chosen by God for priestly service (and such a number of them), people who aroused amazement in everyone by the brilliance of their lives, honored us more than the divine commandment? And that his mind was filled with unbridled pride and arrogance is clearly evident from his other deeds. It has been almost three years since the inventor of new dogmas, Nestorius, began preaching his blasphemous teachings in the Church. When the illness of his soul was revealed in letters to the most holy bishop of the Roman Church, Celestine, he immediately heard not a strict and severe condemnation, but an exhortation to abandon the corrupt opinion that afflicted him, and to maintain the right and immaculate faith. He was exhorted not just once, but very often. On the contrary, he, a careful (as he imagines) interpreter (I do not want to say anything offensive to him) of divine dogmas, although he boasts a lot about his knowledge of divine laws, never, however, addressed his admonitions to those whom he had mocked, did not say a single word to them, did not even dare to defend his insolence. He subjected them to reproach with his wicked decision and, perhaps, loudly boasted of this, so that he would hear blessed David, or, better, the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of David saying: “Why do you boast in wickedness, the mighty? Iniquity all day long, your tongue devises iniquity, as if you have created a cunning razor for flattery. You loved evil more than goodness, rather than speak truth. Thou hast loved all the verbs of the flood, and the flattering tongue. For this reason God will completely destroy you: He will take you away, and will remove you from your village, and your root from the land of the living” (Ps. 51:3-7). I know that some justify his behavior towards us, claiming that he was rightly angry with us because the council against the blasphemous Nestorius took place without his presence. But these people would have acted incomparably more justly if instead of us they blamed their own slowness. Moreover, why did he (John) not hate as liars and deceivers those who arrived before him and announced to the holy council that they should not wait for him and that they came not of their own accord, but at his command - why not only did he not hate them, but has them among his best friends? But let’s say that he, perhaps, was really offended - should he therefore despise the Divine laws and forget the commandment of God: “You are innocent and righteous, and you shall not kill” (Ex. 23:7)? Should he have convicted those who were not convicted of any crime? Should he have attacked his brothers with the sword of wickedness, despised church laws, slandered, lie, and, moreover, before your majesty? Was it necessary to destroy the true and intact faith? Should he, at the same time and for the same reason, patronize the one who spewed blasphemies against Christ and try to confirm the lie and overthrow the truth? Will anyone say that this is the fruit of a pious mind, the work of a council of clergy? But I hear the words of God: “The lips of the priest will preserve understanding, and the law will be required at his mouth” (Mal. 2:7). So, obviously, from the very thing with which he thinks to justify his reckless act regarding us, it is only clearer that he acted wickedly. And I, the Christ-loving emperor, retired from my homeland and left your Alexandria with joy. A strong wind strained the sails and struck the ship like thunder, the high-rising waves made a terrible noise around the high sterns, but I was cheerful and calm in spirit, despising the dangers of the storm in order to achieve the most desired sight of your Majesty. Again, when those elected from the holy council to defend its deeds set out from Ephesus to the glorious city (i.e., Constantinople. - Ed.), I also wanted to be among these chosen ones: firstly, to see Your Majesty personally, and then to resolve the dispute with the Bishop of Antioch and clearly show that he is a slanderer and that he was unfairly enraged and raged in impotent rage because I anathematized the main blasphemies of Nestorius, because the correctness of my faith was testified by the Roman Church and the Holy Council, which met with all, so to speak, sunflower. When they read my letters to Nestorius, at the council everyone unanimously confessed and testified in writing in the notes of the council’s acts that I had in no way deviated from the gospel and apostolic tradition and was following the straight path of sacred dogmas. But it was not for these reasons alone that I wanted to go there, but also in order to prove the falsity of the testimony made against me by others. The champions of Nestorian opinions, straining the bow of malice and hatred against me and resorting to various means in an impotent rage, among other things, bribed some people (“whose God is in their belly, and their glory is in their cold”, in the words of Blessed Paul - Phil. 3:19) and brought them up as accusers against me, although I did not do them any injustice and had absolutely no business with them, and through them they tried to disturb your Majesty. Having sold their tongues to my attackers, these idle talkers in vain showered me with all possible slander. People of this kind stop at nothing, because they seem to have become close to everything that is vicious. It means nothing to them to pretend to be convinced of the justice of the false accusations they make, to slander at any time and against anyone, even if they do not know at all those whom they accuse. That this is exactly what they (my accusers) are and this is what they usually do - this is known to everyone living in your Alexandria. All this caused me great grief. And how could it be otherwise? However, I remembered the words of the Savior of us all: “Blessed are you when people revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil things against you who lie, for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven; Thus I drove out the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11–12). When the father of iniquity, Satan, tries to entangle the Church and those who have the right faith with his nets and to desecrate through his helpers and ministers the tradition of the Apostolic and Evangelical faith, and when the guardians of the true faith oppose him with the truth and offer the right teaching to the corrupters, having in the struggle Christ himself, who is the truth, as his ally and helper, then the father of lies immediately stirs up hordes of slanderers, and these hordes immediately rise up to fight against those who want to live godly. We know that even the prophets experienced this kind of sorrow. So, when Amos began to prophesy in ancient times and strongly reproached the Israelites for the impoverishment of love for God among them and for neglecting the laws given to them, Amaziah, a false prophet and servant of demons, immediately rebelled and armed himself against him and made a denunciation to the king of Israel against this truly holy man and prophet, accusing thus: “Amos is committing debauchery against you in the midst of the house of Israel, the earth cannot lift up all his words" (Amos 7:10). In the same way, blessed Jeremiah exhorted the wicked people of Israel to correct their ways (Jer. 26); but there were those who slandered him and with their slander restored Zedekiah, who at that time occupied the royal throne, against him. Of course, it was unpleasant and difficult for the saints to endure this, but, preferring even their own lives to what they considered pleasing and pleasing to God, they continued the work they had undertaken, remembering the words of Scripture: “The heart of a king is in the hand of God: if it desires to convert, it will turn away” (Proverbs 21:1). And indeed, God made the kings of Judah meek and merciful again, although they were often driven into great anger. But we will not talk about what the prophets suffered - let us remember our glorious and blessed father Athanasius, who was once a bishop in your Alexandria. He fought against the wicked teaching of Arius, and the champions of this idle talk constantly and zealously slandered him and spoke daring and unbridled speeches against him. Not content with other slander, they carried a severed human hand everywhere and, showing it to everyone, said that Athanasius had cut it off from a certain Arseny. For a long time they caught the inexperienced with this, until it finally became known that that Arseny, who had been hiding until then, was still alive, and thus their wicked intentions were revealed. True, it is unpleasant and very difficult to hear slander against oneself for someone who has an innocent soul and a clear conscience - they cruelly affect the soul of the one who is subjected to them, but the hardest thing to endure is this kind of trouble and grief if they are inflicted in vain, without any reason. However, that this will befall the servants of truth is foretold in the Divine Scripture. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, instilling in His disciples good boldness and convincing them to despise all slander and all kinds of persecution, says this: “If you cast out Me, you will also be cast out” (John 15:20). “If you have discredited the lord of Beelzebub’s house, how much more will he do it to his household” (Matthew 10:25). And so that they would not become proud, He adds: “A disciple is above his teacher, a slave is above his master” (Matthew 10:24); Therefore, if they contradicted Christ, then what can we say about our teaching, and if slander was invented against every saint, then could we avoid them? The wicked tongue is insolent and unbridled towards the saints, but it is vile and hateful to God. “The Lord will consume all flattering lips and a lofty tongue,” sings the blessed prophet David (Ps. 11:4). Together with me, the beloved monk Victor experienced the arrows of an unbridled tongue. Some, accustomed to lying, spread slander about him, as if he had spoken absurdities against me, for which, when he arrived in Ephesus, he was severely condemned by some of the fathers of the holy council; even everyone turned away from him and hated him as one of the wicked: he was called parricide, fratricide, and other similar names. When Elder Victor learned about this, in the presence of many holy bishops, he raised his hands to heaven and, contrary to his custom, swore by holy baptism and the honest Mysteries of Christ that he did not know any of these crimes; and finally he and I could hardly curb the scolders. No matter how great the number of those who want to lie, no matter how much they intensify to harm us, or, better yet, no matter how much the adherents of Nestorius incite them to this, we are not afraid, because the grace of the Savior and the justice of your piety have never left us and will not leave us without help. You snatched us up and saved us, as if from a flaming furnace, with your light wave, so that, together with other holy bishops and monks scattered throughout your entire Egypt, for your majesty, for your victory and firmness, you would unceasingly offer thanks to Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. 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