- From November 430 to June 431 (when the council officially opened session), the Syrian churches had as their main spokesman John of Antioch. Theodoret went along with him. Andrew of Samosata was not in attendance at the council of Ephesus. For the rest, John of Antioch restricted his representatives to his metropolitan archbishops. They were repeatedly delayed on their travel way to Ephesus.
- Nestorius brought 16 bishops from Constantinople with him to the council. He was surrounded by imperial guards when he arrived in Ephesus.
-Memnon, metropolitan bishop of Ephesus, was to be the closest ally of St. Cyril of Alexandria during the council itself.
- Juvenal of Jerusalem also brought 16 bishops with him to the council. They aligned themselves with St. Cyril and Memnon of Ephesus.
- Memnon had closed the churches to Nestorius, in order to make him feel as though the council was going to be an examination of him (Nestorius), rather than St. Cyril.
- There was lots of upheaval in the city of Ephesus during the period of preparation for the council, while the Syrian bishops were delayed. Both the Cyrillians and Nestorians sought to get the "neutral" bishops onto their side of the debate.
- At his lodging house, Nestorius had public debates with Theodotus of Ancyra and Acacius of Melitene. These two oriental bishops siding against Nestorius was one of the events that "secured" the condemnation of Nestorius.
- Cyril, being told by John of Antioch to begin the council without him if he was further delayed, officially opened the council on June 21, 431. Count Candidian and 68 bishops protested this action, but they were shown the door. The council was in session.
- Nestorius was asked multiple times to attend the council in person, but he continued to refuse or at least implicitly do so. The debates proceeded without him.
- Juvenal of Jerusalem said that the Nicene Creed should be proclaimed. Peter of Alexandria (the notary and secretary who has given us the official acts of the council) read out loud the Creed, and this was followed by a reading of Cyril's Second Letter to Nestorius. Cyril asked the bishops to declare his letter orthodox, and being in agreement with the Nicene Creed. Juvenal lead all the bishops in declaring that this was their faith.
- Nestorius' reply to St. Cyril was then read out loud. The bishops voted that the theology of Nestorius was blasphemous and opposed to Nicaea.
- Juvenal then requested that the letter of Pope Celestine be read. Peter of Alexandria then read out another letter of St. Cyril to Nestorius. A group of bishops testified that they had delivered these letters to Nestorius in person, but that he refused to listen and remained obstinate.
- Theodotus of Ancyra and Acacius of Melitene then reported some of the statements that Nestorius had said to them, when they were in his lodge-house a couple days' prior to the opening of the council. Nestorius said that he could not accept as God one who was at one time two or three months old.
- After this, a collection of patristic quotations and extracts from Nestorius' writings were read aloud, to demonstrate what was the ancient belief of the church of the previous centuries. It was shown that the testimony of the historic church was against Nestorius, and that he had many blasphemous statements regarding the person of Christ.
- Peter of Alexandria then read out loud a letter from Capreolus, bishop of Carthage.
- At last, an official condemnation of Nestorius was made, being signed by 197 bishops. St. Cyril was victorious and sent a report of the proceedings to the emperor Theodosius II.
- Nestorius and his supporters were angry and protested the proceedings and deposition. Count Candidian declared all of the proceedings to be void, and urged the council to wait for the instructions of the emperor.
- Soon after, John of Antioch and the Syrian bishops finally arrived in Ephesus. They convoked their own council in John's hotel and received the reports from Count Candidian.
- 43 bishops signed a creed which was produced by John of Antioch, that condemned Cyril, Memnon of Ephesus, and their supporters.
- On June 29, the emperor annulled the actions of the June 22 session, and forbid any bishop to leave Ephesus.
- Soon, the papal legates (Arcadius, Projectus, and Philip) arrived in Ephesus. They were instructed to defer all things to St. Cyril.
- The council assembled at Memnon's residence for its second session and accepted a letter from Pope Celestine. The next day, the proceedings were read to the papal legates and they agreed to the deposition of Nestorius.
- In the early days of August, the imperial commissioner Count John arrived and confirmed the deposition of Nestorius. Both the Nestorians and the Cyrillians realized they need imperial confirmation for their party for any progress to be made.
- The emperor convened a conference of eight bishops in Chalcedon, with representatives from both sides of the debate. In the end, the Nestorians lost and failed to officially condemn Cyril, Memnon, and the orthodox.
- The emperor broke off the discussions and invited the Cyillians to the consecration of Maximilian as the new patriarch of Constantinople. Nestorius had lost.
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