Page:Nestorius and his place in the history of Christian doctrine.djvu/46

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34
THE TRAGEDY

man shall not hope that he can be my judge. I will withstand him, if I come thither, and it is he who shall answer for error[1]. Nevertheless Cyril says in a following section of this letter preserved only in its Latin text: If he professes the right faith, then shall be made the most perfect and firmest peace. If he longs for that, let him compose an orthodox confession of faith and send it to Alexandria. … Then I, too, … will publish a writing and declare that nobody shall reproach one of my fellow-bishops because his words—so I shall say—are rightly meant[2]. Does not this mean: If he does what I wish (pointing naturally and especially to the accusations, mention of which is cleverly omitted), then he is no heretic! To give you a full idea of the plottings of Cyril as shown by his communication with his agents I must add a further quotation from the letter which occupies us. It is out of the last part of the Greek text which by ancient scholars[3] was held to be a supplement to the letter.

  1. Cyril, ep. 10, Migne, ser. graeca, 77, p. 65 d; comp. the Latin translation of Marius Mercator, ed. Baluze, p. 106 = Migne, l.c. p. 74 f . It is noteworthy that Marius Mercator, a partisan of Cyril, suppressed the words ὁ δείλαιος [μὴ προσδοκάτω]; he translates: Non igitur speret, etc. Veracity was not a common virtue among the Christians of that time!
  2. ed. Baluze, p. 108 = Migne, l.c. p. 77 f.: Si rectam fidem profiteatur, fiet plenaria et firmissima pax. Quam si in voto gerit, scribat catholicam fidem et mittat Alexandriam. Si haec ex affectu cordis intimi scribantur, paratus sum et ego pro viribus meis similia scribere et edere ac dicere, nullum debere gravari consacerdotum meorum, quia ejus voces, dicimus, habent intentionem ac propositum manifestum.
  3. Garnier in his edition of Marius Mercator, 1673, ii, 56 = Migne,