Cyril, to the priests and deacons, fathers of monks and to those practicing the solitary life with you who are firm in faith in God, beloved and most dear; greetings in the Lord.¹

Some of your brethren, as it is the custom, arrived in Alexandria. I asked and very eagerly inquired whether you yourselves are striving to excel in true and blameless faith, walking in the footsteps of your fathers’ gentleness, and are distinguishing yourselves in that excellent way of life, and whether you yourselves highly esteem the toils of your religious training by considering it truly a joy to...

To his most pious and most God-loving fellow bishop Nestorius, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Generable men worthy of belief have arrived in Alexandria. They reported that your reverence was both extremely annoyed and was leaving no stone unturned to vex me. When I wished to learn what your reverence’s vexation was, they told me that some men from Alexandria are carrying around the letter sent to the holy monks and that this has been the origin of your dislike and displeasure. I am surprised if your reverence has not taken into account a well-known fact, for there was...

To my most God-loving and most holy fellow bishop, Cyril, Nestorius sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Nothing is more forceful than Christian forbearance. By it now, through that most pious priest, Lampon, we have been constrained to write this letter, for he said much to us about your piety and heard much. In the end, he did not yield until he exacted the letter from us and we have been conquered by the forcefulness of the man. For I confess that I have great respect for all the Christian forbearance of every man since it possesses God indwelling in it....

To his most pious and God-loving bishop, Nestorius, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord. 1

Some men keep on chattering, as I hear, of my reply to your reverence, and do this often, especially watching out for the assemblies of the magistrates. Perhaps because they think they are tickling your ears, they utter ill-advised words too. They do so even though they have not been wronged but duly convicted: one of being unjust to the blind and the poor, another of brandishing a sword at his mother, another of stealing someone else’s money with the help of a maid servant....

To his most pious and God-loving fellow bishop, Cyril, Nestorius sends greetings in the Lord.¹

I dismiss the outrages against me of your amazing letters as deserving healing forbearance and of being answered in due season through circumstances themselves. But as to that which does not permit of silence, since it involves great danger if silence be kept, of this, as far as I may be able, I shall attempt to make a concise statement without exerting myself to wordiness, being on my guard against the nausea of obscure and indigestible tediousness. I shall begin from the very wise utterances...

To my brother and fellow bishop.¹

I did not believe that what was said about you heretofore was true; nor did I think that the letter, which was delivered to me under your name, was written by you, since in it I found the most false opinions full of blasphemy attributed to the saints. Therefore, I advise you to desist from such blasphemies and contentions. You do not have such strength that you are able to fight against God, who truly was crucified for us and died in the flesh, and lives through the power of his divinity, “He it...

A letter of Cyril against those who accused him in writing that he did not maintain silence on hearing that the impious teaching of Nestorius was making more menacing inroads.¹

Since your piety has written to me that the most devout Nestorius was grieved because of the letter I wrote to the monks desiring to hold in check those who were scandalized at the rumor, I say this of necessity, that it arose not so much from us as from his reverence. I expounded the doctrine of the true faith to those scandalized by his interpretations. He himself in the...

A letter of Cyril to a certain devotee of Nestorius.¹

I know the sincerity of your charity and I have not been ignorant of your zeal. If I were writing to someone who did not know my character, I would have used many words persuading him that I am very peaceful, and not quarrelsome or warlike but, on the contrary, praying to love all and be loved by all. But since I am writing to one who knows me, I explain this concisely, that if it were possible to endure the loss of possessions or money, and to put an...

A letter¹ of the same.²

I read the Memorandum dispatched by you, through which I learned that when Anastasius the priest met you, he pretended to be seeking friendship and peace and said, “As he wrote to the monks; so we think.” Then, looking toward his own objective, he said about me, “He himself also said that the holy council³ did not mention the expression; I mean, Mother of God.” But I had written that even if the council did not mention the expression, it had acted rightly, for at that time no such question had been raised. Wherefore it...

To his most holy and God-loving Father, Celestine, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

If it were possible, by not writing to your reverence² everything going on, to be silent and without blame, and to escape appearing troublesome, especially in matters so necessary when even the truth of the faith is being undermined by some, I would have said to myself that silence is good and without danger, and to be at rest is better than to be involved in turmoil. But since God also demands of us wariness in these matters, and the long-standing customs of the churches persuade...

A Memorandum¹ of the most holy bishop Cyril to Posidonius in Rome, sent by him on account of matters pertaining to Nestorius.²

This is the tenor of the faith of Nestorius or rather his false opinions. He says that God the Word, because he knew beforehand that the one born of the Holy Virgin would be holy and great, chose him for this and provided that he be born of the Virgin without man, granted him the favor of being called by his names, so that he is called both Son, Lord and Christ and prepared him to die for...

Celestine, to his beloved brother, Cyril.¹

To us in our sadness the documents sent through our son Posidonius, the deacon, from your holiness brought joy and we exchanged our sorrow for happiness. As we looked at and reflected upon what the one who is attempting to disturb the church in Constantinople with his distorted homilies said, our soul was overwhelmed with no little sorrow. We were tormented by the goadings of various doubts, pondering the way to aid the preservation of the faith. But as we turned our attention to the writings² of your fraternity, immediately there appeared to us...

To my beloved brother and fellow bishop John, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Your reverence,² doubtless, completely and through many persons knows of the present condition of the holy Church of Constantinople, that it is exceedingly upset, and many even of the very zealous and moderate people have remained excommunicated, enduring no ordinary disturbance about the faith itself from the things said in that church by the most devout bishop, Nestorius. I also counseled him by letters to abstain from questions so wicked and perverted, and to follow the faith of the Fathers.

(2) But he thought I wrote...

To my beloved lord, brother and fellow bishop Acacius, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Those who are much grieved and have a heart wounded by anxieties have great comfort when they tell some like-minded persons the reasons for their grief. And I am such a one. Indeed because of this I thought it necessary to write to your perfection² the causes for which, justly, as I think, I have been grieved or rather I am grieved even still. It was not enough for the most pious bishop, Nestorius, to say in church things which gave scandal to the church...

To my lord, Cyril, the most holy and most God-loving bishop, Acacius sends greetings in the Lord.¹

I read the unhappy letter of your reverence, which was recently delivered to me, one filled with tears and lamentations on account of the common talk in Constantinople. In it the profundity of your faith in Christ prevails and also states, as is necessary, how extraordinary it was to have brought this matter into our midst even in the beginning. What did it profit Apollinaris of Laodicea to be one of those fighting in the forefront, a great combatant fighting powerfully in behalf...

To my most beloved brother and fellow bishop Juvenal, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

I prayed that the most pious bishop, Nestorius, would follow closely in the footsteps of men of good repute and would follow the true faith. Which of those who are well-disposed would not pray that the most esteemed may be the ones who have been assigned to guide the flocks of the Savior? Beyond our expectations the nature of the affair has gone past all bounds. The one whom we thought would be a true shepherd, we have found to be a persecutor of the...

Third Letter to Nestorius

To the most pious and most God-loving fellow bishop Nestorius, Cyril and the synod assembled in Alexandria from the diocese of Egypt send greetings in the Lord.¹

Since our Savior distinctly says, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me,”² what shall we suffer who are demanded by your reverence to love you more than Christ, the Savior of us all? Who on the day of judgment will be able to help us? What kind...

To his most beloved and most cherished priests and deacons and people of Constantinople, Cyril, the bishop, and the synod which met in Alexandria of the diocese of Egypt send greetings in the Lord.¹

Finally² and with difficulty we have arrived at the point at which it were better to start from the beginning, we mean our concern for the salvation of all and for the lack of need to endure disturbance in matters of faith. We speak in defense of ourselves because of the indignities to all of you caused by this. We spent the time just past not...

To the most reverend and most God-loving fathers of the monasteries which are in Constantinople, Cyril and the holy synod convened in Alexandria send greetings in the Lord.¹

We have clearly learned of the zeal of your reverences which you have shown for Christ when he was being blasphemed and this in a church of sound faith, and we strongly approved your affection for Christ and your love for his name. But we continue to weep and to call upon Christ, the Savior of all, that he may now destroy the snare of the devil, take the scandal away from...

Cyril, to the most beloved and most cherished priests, deacons, and people of Alexandria sends greetings in the Lord.¹

By the grace and benevolence of Christ, the Savior of us all, we safely crossed the wide sea, great with soft and gentlest winds, so that after finishing the voyage without fear or any danger we arrived at Rhodes, glorifying God and saying with the voice of the Psalmist, “You rule the power of the sea, and you curb the surging of its waves.”² But since it was necessary that we, being absent in body but present in spirit,³ embrace you...

Cyril, to the beloved and most cherished priests, deacons, and people of Alexandria sends greetings in the Lord.¹

When I was thirsting to address your goodness again, time and place for writing were given me. We are accordingly in the city of Ephesus, continuing in stout health through the prayers of all of you, and think moreover that the time of the synod is near. We trust that Christ, the Savior of all, will cleanse his churches of distorted concepts and will restore most brilliantly the true faith, so that all men everywhere, being clean and blameless, by keeping it...

To my lord, Cyril, the most God-loving and most holy fellow bishop, John sends greetings in the Lord.¹

In no small way does it vex me that I have been delayed these few days,² when your holiness was already present at Ephesus. The longing for your sanctity caused by need pressed upon me the more to complete the journey quickly. I am already at the gates because of the prayers of your holiness, after having endured the great toil of my journey. I have traveled thirty days, for such is the space of time of the journey, not at all...

Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, to the bishops Komarius and Potamon, and to the archimandrite of the monasteries, my lord Dalmatius, and to Timothy and Eulogius, beloved and most cherished priests, dedicated in Christ, special greetings.¹

We were expecting the honorable Nestorius to come and repent the evil words which he used after he was consecrated, and ask the pardon of the holy council, even if in this way it would be most dangerous to grant pardon to him; for it is not allowed to grant pardon to a man preaching such things, for he perverted the entire world, and enfeebled...

Cyril sends greetings to the priests, deacons, and the people of Alexandria, most beloved and most cherished in the Lord.¹

Even though I ought to make known to your reverence more fully the recent happenings, yet because the bearer of this letter is in a hurry, I write with brevity. Accordingly, I am letting you know that the holy council met in Ephesus on the twenty-eighth day of the month Pauni² in the city’s great church, dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God. Having spent the entire day, finally we subjected the blasphemous Nestorius, who did not dare to appear...

Cyril sends greetings in the Lord to the beloved and most cherished priests, deacons and people of Alexandria.¹

Great and distinguished successes are brought to completion not without labors. No doubt it is necessary that for every good thing sweat must be caused first. And no wonder if we see that such occurs in great matters, since common and inferior ones are full of care and come to pass through labors. But even in labor we have learned to say, “Be strong, and be of stout heart and wait for the Lord.”² For we have taken heart that a glorious...

Cyril, to the most reverend and most religious fathers of monks and to those practicing the solitary life with you firmly rooted in faith in God, beloved and most dear, greetings in the Lord.¹

Our lord, jesus christ, when he endured the violence of the unholy Jews, being reviled, and slapped, and flogged, and in the end being nailed to the cross because of us and for our sakes, beholding all those ill-treating him and shaking their unholy heads against him, said, “And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for those...

The holy council was disturbed very much when it heard that our most magnificent and most esteemed count, John, did not bring back all the news correctly, so much so that those who were there (in Constantinople) were making plans regarding even exile against us, as if the holy council was accepting the uncanonical and unlawful deposition from office issuing from John and the heretics with him.²

(2) Then, lo and behold, another report was made by the holy council, explaining both that it was grieved by the imperial letter and that we did not accept the deposition from office...

Cyril, to Theopemptus, Potamon and Daniel, beloved fellow bishops in the Lord, greetings.¹

Many calumnies have come to exist there against us, some as if a mob had followed us from the baths of Alexandria and others as if consecrated virgins or widows had gone forth with us, since they say that it is reported by my calumniators that Nestorius underwent deposition according to my intrigue and not according to the purpose of the holy council. Blessed be our Savior since he has refuted those who say such things. For after my lord, John, the most magnificent and glorious count...

Alypius, the priest of the apostles, to Cyril, the most holy and most God-loving archbishop, greetings in the Lord.¹

Blessed is the man whom God will deem worthy to be first to see with the eyes of love your divinely favored and holy head, bearing the martyr’s crown of your confession. For you, most holy father, have trodden the way of the holy Fathers with watchful eye, and you have taught those “lame in both knees”² to walk upright toward the truth. You have put on the outspokeness of Elias³ and you alone have assumed the zeal of Phineas.⁴ You...

Maximian, the bishop, to the most God-loving and most reverend fellow bishop Cyril, greetings in the Lord.¹

That you have desired, your reverence, has been fulfilled. What you have intended for the sake of piety has been accomplished. What you have yearned for on behalf of piety has come to pass. You have become a spectacle both to angels and to men² and to all the bishops of Christ. You not only believed in Christ but you also suffered for his sake. You alone have been judged worthy of the sufferings of Christ,³ you who have been deemed deserving to...

Cyril, to his most reverend and God-loving fellow bishop, Maximian, greetings in the Lord.¹

It is fitting, I think, even now, since your perfection has been consecrated in the episcopal office which we prayed much that you would receive, to say according to the words of the prophet, “Let heaven rejoice, let the entire earth be glad and cry out withjoy.”² For no longer does that “mouth that spoke great things”³ exult itself against the glory of our Savior, nor does he who was accustomed to do this lift up his horn on high and speak wickedness against God⁴ by...

Cyril, to my lords, my most cherished and God-fearing brothers and fellow bishops, Juvenal, Flavian, Arcadius, Projectus, Firmus, Theodoretus, Acacius, and Philip, the priests, greetings in the Lord.¹

We have been filled with assurance again, and through the very experience we have realized that “the truth lives and prevails”² according to the saying of the holy man, and nothing at all is arrayed against her. Thus she is the strongest, so that she rises up against every enemy and destroys the strength of those opposing her. For behold, behold she has stilled the lips of those who spoke falsehoods, and...

To my lord, my most beloved brother and fellow bishop, Acacius, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Your holiness has taken upon itself even now a proper care. For your reverence has the intention according to the goodwill of God, the Savior of us all, that the churches be united² and, so that a certain smallness of soul be removed from their midst, that those be persuaded in truth who ought to be of one mind. Everything which saddens them should be removed, and those elements which have been split apart should be bound again in the bonds of charity...

To Rabbula, Bishop of Edessa.¹

The most pious and Christ-loving emperor directed my lord, the most admirable tribune and secretary, Aristolaus, a Christian man and one who is fighting strongly for the true faith, to unite the churches in peace. The emperor also wrote clearly that the Antiochene² ought first to subscribe to the condemnation of Nestorius, to anathematize his wicked teachings and then to seek communion with us. My lord, the most religious and excellent old man, Acacius the bishop, wrote to me a certain incongruous proposition as if composed by the bishops ofthe East, or rather, if one...

John and all the others who are with me send greetings in the Lord to my most holy and most God-loving brothers and fellow bishops, Sixtus, Cyril and Maximian.¹

Both eagerness and concern for all those who have obtained consecration and have been entrusted with the divine liturgy of the episcopacy by Christ, the Savior of us all, demand that they be outstanding in the true faith so that they may teach the people in their charge. This is true, and during the year which has passed² from the time of the decree of the most reverend and Christ-loving emperors,...

A petition delivered to Cyril the archbishop through Paul, the Bishop of Emesa, sent by John, the Bishop of Antioch. To my lord, the bishop Cyril, in all things most sacred and most holy, Paul the bishop sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Our most religious and invincible emperors manifest the zeal and care which they have deigned to have from the beginning concerning their subjects and especially concerning the holy churches of God and the sacred, pure, and true faith which they received from their fathers. They sent a message in writing through the famous tribune and secretary, Aristolaus, to...

Cyril, to Theognostus and Charmosynus, priests, and to Leontius, the deacon, greetings in the Lord.¹

We write to you about all our affairs; then you² write as if you comprehend nothing, filling us with perplexities. I know certainly that I informed you by letter that the most venerable and God-revering Acacius of Beroea, after he had been urged by some of the most pious bishops of the East, wrote to me through the lord, the most magnificent Aristolaus, that it was necessary to suppress what was written in my books and letters, and to agree only to the profession of...

To the most holy and most God-loving bishop, Cyril, John [of Antioch] sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Not long ago as a result of the decree of our most pious emperors a council of the most God-loving bishops was summoned to convene at the city of Ephesus on account of ecclesiastical matters and the true faith. But we found what the situation was at our arrival in the city already mentioned and returned without a meeting with each other. It is superfluous now in a time of peace to mention the causes of disagreement.² The churches were being torn apart...

To my lord, my beloved brother and fellow bishop, John, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice.”² “The intervening wall of the enclosure”³ has been broken down and grief has ceased, and every manner of disagreement has been removed, since Christ, the Savior of us all, has granted peace to his churches. The most pious and most God-loving emperors have summoned us to this, who have become excellent emulators of their ancestral piety and guard safe and unshaken the true faith in their souls. They have taken special care of the holy...

A letter of the same to Acacius, Bishop of Melitene.

To my lord, my beloved brother and fellow bishop, Acacius, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

Addressing one another² is a sweet thing for brothers and admirable and deserving of all consideration among those of truly sound thinking, and I say that it is necessary that those of one faith and of one soul unceasingly should hasten to do this, since nothing is in the way nor indeed does anything rebuff the warm desire and eagerness towards it. But there are times when the length of the distances between, or...

A copy of the letter written from him [Cyril] to Acacius, the bishop, concerning the scapegoat.¹

I was pleased very much to receive the letters sent by your holiness² recently, and I almost clasped and kissed them. In the state of mind which I reached you somehow did not seem to be far away. The communications of sincere men are enough to produce such a thought. These are my reactions at the moment and I am persuaded that the thoughts of your holiness are not different. I had to say this since you have deigned to ask that I ought...

To Rufus, Bishop of Thessalonica.¹

It is fitting to communicate to your holiness everything of interest to our churches and matters arising day by day, so to speak, lest whisperers disquiet the God-fearing bishops there by saying some things instead of others. Accordingly, the bishops from the East have written requesting communion and expounding their clear faith and saying clearly that the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God, and that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is one and was ineffably begotten of the Father before all ages and finally born as man from a woman, and that he is one person²...

To Rufus of Thessalonica.¹

Because of the peace of the churches and the fact that they are not pulled asunder in dissensions, considerations are not unprofitable. For it is likely that those who have not been received into communion may come to some other opinion ill-advisedly because of lack of care. For heresies are brought forth and schisms follow or else uninterrupted disorders, since they are not accustomed to endure great censure.

(2) In view of this I was very much pleased when the bishops from the East pursued and sought communion with us and especially because it also happened...

A Memorandum to Eulogius, the priest, who is staying at Constantinople, from the most holy bishop Cyril. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, to Eulogius. Greetings.¹

Some attack the exposition of faith which those from the East have made and ask, “For what reason did the Bishop of Alexandria endure or even praise those who say that there are two natures?” Those who hold the same teachings as Nestorius say that he thinks the same thing too, snatching to their side those who do not understand precision. But it is necessary to say the following to those who are accusing me, namely,...

Cyril, to Succensus, most blessed Bishop of Diocaesarea in Isauria.¹

I read the memorandum sent by your holiness and I was exceedingly pleased because, although you are able to help both us and others from your very great love of wisdom, yet you deign to urge us to write about what we hold in our own mind and what we understand you think also. Accordingly, concerning the dispensation of our Savior we think as the holy Fathers before us thought also. For, when reading their works, we put their thought in such order as to follow after them and to...

Another copy of a letter written in response to our inquiries from myself to the same Succensus.¹

Truth makes herself plain to see for those who love her, but hides herself, I think, and tries to hide from the thoughts of intriguing men. They do not show themselves worthy to behold her with clear eyes. The lovers of blameless faith pray to the Lord “in integrity of heart”² as it is written, but those who walk in crooked paths and have “a crooked heart,”³ according to the saying in the Psalms, gather for their own purposes intriguing pretexts of perverse...

From John, Bishop of Antioch, to Cyril, my fellow bishop, most beloved of God and most holy. Greetings.¹

We have welcomed one another back, my lord, with the blessing of God or by the intervention of my lord Paul the bishop, who is most God-fearing in all things to the benefit of us both and is a man careless of all things in his own regard provided that the causes of the disturbances in the churches of God might be lulled to rest and the greatest concord might exist for the glory of God. Hence he has returned in peace...

A letter of the same to Dynatus, Bishop of Ancient Nikopolis of Epirus.¹

I thought it necessary to set down for your reverence what is known to have followed hard upon the peace of the churches. Accordingly, there arrived at Antioch my lord, the most admirable tribune and secretary, Aristolaus, bearing imperial letters which advised the most pious Bishop of the Church of Antioch, John, to anathematize the abominable teachings of Nestorius, to approve his deposition in agreement with the holy council, and thus to seek communion with us. And this was the sense of the letters. Some of the...

To my lord, beloved brother and archbishop, Maximian, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

There was no doubt that the prayers of your holiness were always and in every way efficacious. The Savior of us all readily nods assent to those who love him so that each with joy and exultation at this says, “From his holy temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him will reach his ears.”² Behold, behold the limbs of the body of the church which had been torn apart have been joined again to each other and nothing severs into discord those ministering...

To my beloved lord and fellow bishop Valerian, Bishop of Iconium, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.¹

It is sufficient, as I see it, or rather it is the nature of truth, to invoke the prudence of your holiness² very manfully and as far as possible to place accuracy in opposition to the random remarks of some people. Like old gossips they use frigid phrases mixing everything up and down and pretending to be subtly busy concerning the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord, the only begotten. Yet they do not even perceive this, but change the mystery to...