Epistle to John, Bishop of Antioch, and to the Council assembled in Antioch

In the “Epistle to John, Bishop of Antioch, and to the Council assembled in Antioch” (presumably early 431), St. Cyril of Alexandria strongly condemns the teachings of Nestorius, rejecting his idea of ​​“two Christs” - the Son of God and the human son of David. Emphasizing the unity of the Person of Jesus Christ, he affirms the Orthodox teaching about the Incarnation: the eternal Word of God became a true man, without being divided into two hypostases. The saint recalls the unanimous anathematization of the heresy of Nestorius, referring to the authority of the holy fathers and Holy Scripture. He emphasizes that Christ, while remaining God, voluntarily assumed human nature with a rational soul, suffered and rose again in His own flesh. The message also contains a call for mercy: those who sincerely renounce Nestorianism should be accepted into church communion without reproach. The dragon, the apostate, the beast, truly the most stubborn and hostile to God, has not yet calmed down, has not yet parted with the malice that has settled in him: constantly bursting out with hatred of the holy Churches, in his insolence he turns against the dogmas of truth the unbridled tongues of ungodly and ignorant people who have a seared conscience (1 Tim. 4:2). (However, he is everywhere caught and defeated with the help of our common Savior - Christ, who weakens his cruelty and the ferocity of his attacks.) Thus, even before you, very many entered into battle with our holy fathers, raised the weapons of their bold lips against the ineffable glory (Christ), but were exposed as reckless and ignorant people, indulging in vanity and not understanding the Truth of what itself The truth is declared to be correct, pure, and not subject to any criticism. But since the inventor and teacher of all wickedness, besides and after those we have mentioned, aroused against us the new-voiced voice of Nestorius, then by the grace of God and according to the understanding given to us from God, we all unanimously anathematize the apostate, imitating the glorious zeal of our fathers, overthrowing the enemies of the Cross of Christ, giving honor to the true faith and preaching in the Churches that we should not at all join the wickedness of those who say that there are two Christs and two sons: one by nature, true, as the Word from God the Father, and the other from the seed of David, by adoption and by grace. In accordance with the confession of the fathers, according to the pure and impeccable faith that has come to us from our ancestors, we confess that there is one Son and Lord, Jesus Christ, i.e. that the very Word of God the Father became man and became incarnate, so that one and the same is and is confessed to have come both from God the Father divinely, from His essence naturally, as His Word, and from the seed of David according to the flesh, i.e. from the Holy and Mother of God Mary. “Who from the beginning were witnesses and servants who were Words” (Luke 1:2) taught us the teaching not about two different sons, but about one and the same God and at the same time man, the only begotten and the firstborn: the only begotten in Godhead and the firstborn in humanity, because, having condescended to become like us, He appeared to be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29 ), not by uniting with another person, as some would like to philosophize, but by Himself actually becoming a man, without ceasing to be what it was. Being God by nature and above suffering, He willingly suffered in His own flesh. The body of no other person was given up for us, but the only begotten Word of God Himself, having become a man, offered Himself as a pure sacrifice to God and the Father. That is why, due to the circumstances explained, it was necessary to establish a bright festival when we drove away from ourselves the evil teaching of Nestorius and all other voices that spoke in any way similar to his errors. We celebrated this celebration to the shame of all those who think or have ever thought the same as Nestorius. Here both we and your Reverence resolutely declared that we anathematize those according to whose teaching there are two sons and two Christs, because, as I said, both we and you preach one Christ, the Son and Lord, the only begotten Word of God, who, according to the words of the wise Paul, appeared “in the likeness of humanity and was found in the likeness of man” (Phil. 2:7). And that, according to your confession, the flesh of the Lord is animated by a rational soul - this has already been proven many times. The same thing was clearly stated in the letter to the Armenians, rightly explaining the teaching of the truth, by our most reverend and pious brother and co-bishop Proclus, a pious man and skilled in the fight against the perverters of the right teaching, so that for him, a reverent reader of the truth, victory is a common thing. We beg you, let no one dare to assign absurd opinions to our holy and Orthodox fathers: Athanasius, Basil, Gregory, Theophilus and others - I mean, Diodorus and Theodore and some others who do not deserve at all, not to say something stronger, at least praise for the fact that they rushed, as it were, with full sails against the glory of Christ, otherwise it is easy to give rise to temptation to those in whom the the idea that the first thought and taught the same with the latter - these zealots of everything right, who left behind them books to refute the false teachings of not only Nestorius, but also others who, even before Nestorius, thought and wrote in the same way. We ask that everyone mind their own business, that no one causes disturbances in the Churches, which, by the grace of God, have already been pacified everywhere by the vigilance of secret leaders, and that no one thus digs up special troubles for himself. If any of the followers of Nestorius, having sincerely converted and departed from his absurdities, expresses a desire to accept the pure faith, then such should be accepted and should not at all be reproached for their past, so that this does not serve as a reason for others to slow down in converting to the true path. We wish those who are obsessed with bodily illnesses recovery and rejoice in the event of recovery - shouldn’t everyone rejoice much more about the conversion of the erring one, about his active striving with a good conscience towards the light of true knowledge? Even angels have the custom of celebrating on the occasion of the conversion of the erring (Luke 15:7) - this is known to your reverence, who teaches and preaches this way in all Churches, knowing the sayings of our Savior. Then, we pray to you, as brothers and co-teachers: command the clergy to speak of nothing else, especially in the Churches, except what is right, approved and recognized as worthy of preservation, but primarily to adhere to the confession of the right faith and to be strictly circumspect in reasoning about objects of faith. If there is a need to instruct someone in the mysteries of faith, under no circumstances should they allow themselves, when presenting the teachings of faith, to go into reasoning that disagrees with the right faith. Since the reasons for unrest must be suppressed by the vigilance of your reverence, we have outlined to you what, in your opinion, is good in this regard. So, if one of the clergy, despite communication with the Church, was suspected from the outside of being of the same mind with the wicked Nestorius, then such clerics or monks among you, the rulers of the Churches, should belong only to the listeners in the Churches, and then you need to pay careful attention to their words. It can easily happen that those who want to accuse them of their outrageous intolerance of speech will turn to external (civil) courts. And it is best and most fair to raise and resolve church issues in the Churches than in the face of others, who are not at all inclined to judge them. Salute your brotherhood; our brotherhood greets you in the Lord. You might be interested in: