Page:Nestorius and his place in the history of Christian doctrine.djvu/62

back Nestorius into his monastery. This resolve which was followed, though perhaps not instantly^[1], by the return of Nestorius to Antioch, seemed regrettable to all Antiochians^[2], but corresponded, as we saw, to the request of Nestorius. The emperor, however, did not order this because Nestorius had wished it. Nestorius was now in open disfavour; not even his name could be mentioned before the emperor^[3]. But as for Cyril the situation had changed in his favour: he had been able to escape from custody and to return to Alexandria^[4], and as

erroneously styling it an order of banishment—with the election of Maximian, which happened a month later, is not trustworthy (comp. Tillemont, xiv, 777 a).

1. Nestorius, ep. 10 (Nestoriana, p. 195 f. = Mansi, v, 793), and the epistola praefecti, answered by this letter, seem to indicate a delay, and the Antiochians as late as in their answer to the second letter of their delegates (for the heading of chapter xxvi in Mansi, v, 794, belongs to chapter xxviii, comp. Bibliotheca Casinensis, i, 1, p. 60) apparently did not know anything about the departure of Nestorius, for they wrote only: ea vero, quae contra personam, quae injustitiam pertulit, facta sunt, cognoscentes, totius obstuporis sumus taciturnitate perculsi (Mansi, v, 796 b).
2. Comp. epist. legat. orient., Mansi, v, 794 a b: … imperatori placuerit, dominum Nestorium ab Epheso dimitti, quocumque ire voluerit. Et omnino doluit anima nostra, quia, si hoc verum est, ea, quae absque judicio et illicite facta sunt, interim roborari videntur.
3. Comp. Theodoreti ep. ad Alex. Hieropol., Mansi, v, 800 b, and epistola legatorum orientalium, Mansi, iv, 1420 e (= v, 802 a).
4. That Cyril escaped from custody is told not only by Acacius of Beroea (Mansi, v, 819 c: dum custodiretur in Epheso, fuga est usus) and by Nestorius (Liber Heraclidis, Bedjan, p. 388; Nau, p. 249: Cyrille … échappa à ceux qui le gardaient …, et gagna sa ville); also the postscript given to the ultima sacra imperatoris ad synodum (Mansi, iv, 1465; v, 805) in the Synodicon (Mansi, v, 805) says: