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NESTORIUS. 737 
He did not ftop here; but caufed feveral ecclefiaftics, 
monks, and laymen, the friends of Cyril, to be appre¬ 
hended, dragged to the public prifon, and there feverely 
fcourged as difturbers of the public peace, and fowers of 
herefy and fedition. At the fame time, Neftorius wrote 
to Celeftine, bifliop of Rome, endeavouring to gain him 
to his fide, by explaining the doCtrines which he held 
without the leaft difguife or equivocation ; and adding, 
that by difputing the title Mother of God, he only meant 
that the Logos was not born of the Virgin Mary. Cyril 
alfo wrote to Celeftine that famous letter againft Neftorius 
which has reached our times; and prejudiced him to fuch 
a degree againft the bifhop of Conftantinople, that he 
aflembled a council at Rome, which condemned Neftorius 
as the author of a new and very dangerous herefy. In a 
council held at Alexandria, likewife, where Cyril’s letter 
was recited, no, lefs than twelve anathemas were hurled 
at the head of Neftorius, and twelve propofitions drawn 
up, which he was required to anathematize on pain of 
being depofed. But, notwithftanding the refolutions of 
the councils of Rome and Alexandria, Neftorius would 
not condemn propofitions which he believed, and juftly, 
to contain the orthodox doctrine of the church. In this 
determination he was fupported by feveral refpedlable 
bifliops. John, bifhop of Antioch, was entirely in his 
intereft; and Theodoret, bifliop of Cyrus, the hiftorian, 
drew up twelve propofitions in anfwer to thofe of Cyril, 
the objefl of which was to fliow that he confounded the 
two natures of Chrift, and gave to his human nature the 
honour that was due to the Logos. 
As there was no profpecl of an amicable iffue to this 
abfurd and unintelligible controverfy about terms, the 
emperor called a council to aflemble at Ephefus, in the 
year 431, which is the third general council in the annals 
of the church. Neftorius and Cyril both arrived at Ephe¬ 
fus at the appointed time; but John of Antioch, with 
the bifliops of his patriarchate, who were fuppofed to 
favour Neftorius, and many bifliops who were coming 
from Italy and Sicily, had not yet arrived. Of this cir- 
cumftance Cyril and lqs party determined to avail them- 
felves; and proceededimmediately tobufinefsjin oppofition 
to the remonftrances of Neftorius, and the commifiioner 
whom the emperor had fent to aflift at the council in his 
name. And, what was (till more inconfiftent with juftice 
and decency, Cyril himfelf, a principal party concerned, 
and the avowed enemy of the accufed bifliop, took the place 
of prefident. Before an aflembly fo conftituted, Neftorius 
refilled to appear, though fummoned three times, de¬ 
claring his refolution to wait for the arrival of the oriental 
bifhops, who might be expefted within four days. Upon 
this refufal, the council met early on the following day, 
when Cyril received the depofitions againft Neftorius, 
examined the witnefles, gave liis own conftrudlion to the 
words of his opponent, and delivered his opinion the 
firft. In that opinion the majority of the bifliops prefent, 
who were devoted to him, tumultuoufly concurred; and 
the fame fefiion was clofed with pronouncing a fentence 
of depofition and excommunication againft Neftorius. 
When the imperial commifiioner protefted againft the 
precipitation and violence of their proceedings, they drove 
him by force out of the aflembly ; and to the remonftrances 
of feventy-fix bifliops, who abfented themfelves from the 
council, that they might not feem to give the leaft coun¬ 
tenance to the bufinefs of that day, they paid not the 
flighted: attention. Five days afterwards, J0I113 of Antioch 
and the oriental bifliops came to Ephefus, and, having re¬ 
ceived information of what had palled, refufed to aflift at 
the council, unlefs the whole matter ftiould be inveftigated 
anew. To fuch a propofal, as may readily be imagined, 
Cyril would not liften ; upon which the oriental bifliops, 
and others who had difapproved of the fteps taken by the 
council under the influence of the bifliop of Alexandia, 
formed themfelves into a feparate aflembly. By this new 
council the proceedings of the other were unanimoufly 
declared null; the doftrine of Cyril was pronounced 
Vo l. XVI. No. xi 50, 
heretical; and a fentence of depofition and excommuni¬ 
cation was palled againft Cyril, and Memnon bifliop of 
Ephefus, who was one of his moft zealous fupporters. 
On the other hand, Cyril, and the prelates who adhered 
to him, pronounced all the bifliops of the new council to 
be Neftorians, and, with Neftorius, depofed, excommu¬ 
nicated, and anathematized. Open war being thus de¬ 
clared. between the lioftile aflemblies, both parties made 
an appeal to the emperor, who gave orders for thebanilh- 
ment of Neftorius, Cyril, and Memnon, as equally 
difturbers of the peace of the church, and fent a perfon 
high in office to perfuade all the bifliops to aflemble in one 
council. Finding, however, that they were fo exafpera- 
ted againft each other that it was impoflible to reconcile 
them, he ordered a certain number of deputies from each 
council to appear before him at Chalcedon, where he 
patiently heard them refpedtively defending their own 
principles, and combating thofe of their opponents. At 
firft he feemed favourable to the Orientals; but, being 
prepoflefled againft Neftorius by his filter Pulcheria, he 
fuddenly changed his mind, and declared for Cyril’s 
council. Immediately afterwards he reinftated Cyril and. 
Memnon in their fees, and iflued an edift, declaring 
Neftorius juftly depofed. At firft our ex-prelate was per¬ 
mitted to retire to the monaftery in which he had been 
educated, where he continued four years, and by his be¬ 
haviour gained univerfal refpeft. But his enemies were 
fo prefling in their folicitations to the emperor, to inflict 
a feverer punifhment on fuch an obftinate heretic, that 
they obtained an order for his banifliment to Petra in 
Arabia. Thinking his confinement to that place too 
mild a punifhment, they afterwards perfuaded the empe¬ 
ror to diredt that he fliould be removed to Oalis, a place 
in the deferts between Egypt and Libya, where the 
greateft criminals were ufually confined. It appears from 
Socrates that he was here in the year 439. Afterwards, 
the town being furprifed by a people called Blemmyes, 
he was carried into captivity, thotigh lie foon obtained, 
his releafe. Upon this he withdrew to the city of Pano- 
polis in the Thebais; whence he was foon dragged by a 
band of foldiers to Elephantina, at the extremity of that 
government, and from thence cruelly harrafl'ed from place 
to place, till nature funk under the fatigues which he 
was forced to undergo, and he died, but in what year is 
not known. 
Such was the end of the famous Neftorius, whofe fuffer- 
ings muft have been greatly aggravated by the reflection, 
that he was only treated by his enemies with the fame 
unchriftian feverity which in the day of his power he had 
fliown towards others. If we examine fuch of his writings 
as remain, we (hall find that he was very unjuftly con¬ 
demned. It appears that he rejected the errors of Ebion, 
Paulas Samofetenus, and Photinus; that he maintained 
in exprefs terms, that the divine Word was united to the 
human nature in Jefius Chrift in the moft ftridt and inti¬ 
mate fenfe poflible; that thefetwo natures, in this ftate of 
union, make but one Chrift and one perfon; that the 
properties of the divine and human natures may both be 
attributed to this perfon; and that Jefus Chrift maybe 
faid to have been born of a virgin, to have fuffered and 
died; but he never would admit that God could be faid 
to have been born, to have fuffered, or to have died. 
When we confider that every perfon partakes of the fub- 
ftance of his mother, and that it is this which conftitutes 
the parental and filial relation between them, it is indeed 
furprifing that the expreflion “Mother of God” fliould 
ever have been admitted into the Chriftian church, or 
that any man who underftands the meaning of the words 
fliould condemn Neftorius for not having ufed them. 
The perfecution of which he was a vidtim, however, 
did not put a ftop to the progrefs of his diftinguifiiing 
tenet, which from this time i'pread more than ever, and 
prevails in the Eaft at the prelent day. In the tenth 
century, the Neftorians in Chaldea, whence they are 
ibmetimes called Chaldeans, extended their fpiritual con- 
9 B quells 
