152 Memoir of St. Nierses Clajensis. [March, 



Armenians are also free from that of the Eutychian* confusion. Concurring 

 in the fundamental principles of religion, the Armenians and Greeks are united 

 together by the grace of God in the similarity of the creed of the Catholic and 

 Apostolic Church. Fixed in the determination of our happy union, I shall 

 address all our bishops residing in different quarters of Armenia, and ask their 

 consent to some important points proposed by you for our acceptance, lest by 

 their being excluded from taking a part in the furtherance of this desirable 

 object, the result of our endeavours may prove contrary to our sanguine expec- 

 tations. I have also, conformably with the desire of Theorianey, furnished him 

 with another letter descriptive of the confession of our Church." 



In this letter, after treating of the incarnation of our Saviour, in ac- 

 cordance with the tenor of his former one, he adds, that it is consist- 

 ent with the orthodox faith to admit duality of nature in Christ, by 

 reason of his perfect divinity and perfect humanity ; that the Arme- 

 nians, by attributing one nature to the incarnate word, on the authority 

 of Cyrillus, confess an unconfounded and indivisible combination of 

 the divine with the human nature ; and that the Church of Armenia 

 anathematizes those who, in the sense of the heretical doctrine of 

 Eutychbs, may confessedly ascribe one nature to Christ. 



On the return of Theorianey and Johannes Uthman to Constanti- 

 nople, they felt great satisfaction in presenting to the emperor the 

 letter of Nierses, together with an account of the proceedings of the 

 council. The perusal of these interesting documents afforded the 

 greatest delight to the emperor, the patriarch, and the other dignitaries 

 of the Greek Church. Their joy at the favourable prospect of their 

 undertaking could only be increased by a sense of veneration, with 

 which they were impressed on their being informed by Theorianey of 

 the piety, mildness, and pleasant address of Nierses the Graceful. The 

 fame of the amiable qualities of the pontiff of Armenia rivetted the 

 hearts of the Greeks to the cause of the sacred union, and made them 

 exclaim with admiration, " Behold the wise course pursued by the 

 pontiff of Armenia, and consider the orthodox creed followed by him- 

 self and the whole of his congregation ! Thanks to Heaven, that in these 



* The heresies of Eutyches are thus alluded to by Eusebius in his Ecclesi- 

 astical History : 



Tls 8' ovv KXrjdels E'i/ti/y/J/s ovk eArjA-i/Se* te 8e, Kcti irapayepSpevos eaXu. eip-f)K<;t 

 yap, dfioAoyu) e/c 5vo (pixreuu yeyevricrOai rhv Kvpiov rj/jLuif irp6 tt)s tvdxrews' /xera Se 

 t)\v evwcriv, pLiau (pvcriv 0jU.0A.07w. '6s ovSe to aufia rod Kvpiov 6(xoov(Tlov rjfuv e\eyey 

 elvai' tcadaipelrai /itey. 



Eutyches igitur, cum ad synodum vocatus non venisset, ac deinde coram 

 convictus esset hsec dixisse : Fateor Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, ante 

 unitionem quidem duas habuisse naturas : Post unitionem vero unam duntaxat 

 naturam confiteor. Sed et corpus Domini negabat ejusdem esse substantia; 

 cujus sunt nostra : depositus est. — Eusebii Ecclesiast. Histor. torn. iii. p. 261. 



