Page:Nestorius and his place in the history of Christian doctrine.djvu/24

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12
A FRESH INTEREST IN NESTORIUS

the Syriac text was delayed longer than scholars seemed to have had a right to hope. The first detailed notice of the work, therefore, was given by Professor Bethune-Baker in his work, Nestorius and his teaching, edited 1908. This scholar had been enabled by means of an English translation of a friend to make use of the Book of Heraclides or "Bazaar of Heraclides" as he called it. Long quotations from the book of Nestorius made this publication of great value. As late as 1910 the edition of the Syriac text by Paul Bedjan appeared and at the same time a French translation by F. Nau[1]. It is especially this publication which is able at the present time to arouse interest in Nestorius.

First the preface of the Syriac translator attracts our attention. The translator remarks at the conclusion that the following book of Nestorius belongs to the controversial writings on the faith and must be read after the "Theopaschites" and the "Tragedy", which he wrote as apologetic answers to those who had blamed him for having demanded a council[2]. This remark not only confirms what we already knew from Evagrius about the Tragedy of Nestorius, but it enables us also to identify the second book of the banished Nestorius known to Evagrius. Evagrius tells us that it was directed against a certain Egyptian—Cyril is often

  1. Nestorius, Le Livre d'Héraclide de Damas, ed. P. Bedjan, Paris, 1910; Nestorius, Le Livre d'Héraclide de Damas, traduit en Français par F. Nau, Paris, 1910.
  2. Bedjan, p. 4; Nau, p. 3.