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To my Lord, Beloved Brother and fellow-minister John, Cyril greeting in
the
Lord.
Let the Heavens rejoice and the earth be glad, [Ps. 96.11] for the
mid-wall of partition
[Eph. 2:14] is undone,, and that which vexed been stopped and the cause of
all our dissension been
taken away, Christ the Saviour of us all dispensing peace to His Churches,
the most pious and
devout kings calling us hereto, who most excellent emulators of ancestral
piety, guard the right Faith
sure and unshaken in their own souls, and take very special pains for the
holy Churches, that they
may have glory renowned for ever and render their kingdom most famous: to
whom the Lord of
Hosts Himself imparts good things with wealthy Hand and gives them to
overcome their adversaries,
grants them the victory. For He would not lie Who says, I live, saith the
Lord, for them that
honour Me I will honour. [1 Sam. 2:30]
My Lord therefore our most pious Brother and Fellow-minister Paul
having come to
Alexandria, we were filled with joy of soul and that with reason, at such
a
man mediating and being
pleased to engage in toils above strength, that he might overcome the envy
of the devil and join
together things that had been sundered and stripping off the
stumblingblocks
which had been cast in
the way, might crown with concord and peace the churches among us and
those
with you. For how
they were sundered, it is needless to say, I think it right rather both to
think and utter things which
befit the time of peace. We were delighted therefore at the coming of the
above-mentioned most
pious man, who perhaps supposed that he would have no small toil, in
persuading us that one ought
to join the churches in peace and to bring to nought the laughter of the
heterodox, and moreover to
blunt the sting of the devil's perversity: but he found us so well
prepared
for this, that there was no
trouble at all, for we remembered the Saviour Who saith, My Peace I give
to
you, My Peace I
leave to you [John 14:27], and we have been taught to say in prayers, O
Lord
our God give us
Peace, for Thou freely gavest us all things. [Isa. 26:12] So that if any
be
in participance of the
peace which is administered by God, he will be without lack of every good
thing.
And that the dissension of the churches was wholly superfluous and
without any good reason,
we have been now fully convinced, on my Lord the most pious Bishop Paul
handing a paper, which
held an irreprehensible confession of the Faith, and affirming that this
had
been composed both by
your Holiness and the most devout Bishops with you. This is the writing
inserted word for word in
this our Letter: -
"And how we both think and speak concerning the Virgin Mother of God,
and the mode of
the Incarnation of the Only-begotten Son of God: - needs will we not in
the
way of addition, but of
demonstration, as we have received and holden from of old, both from the
Divine Scriptures and
from the tradition of the holy Fathers, briefly say, adding no whit to the
Faith put forth by the holy
Fathers which were in Nicaea. For as we just now said, it suffices both to
all knowledge of piety
and to the banishment of all heretical misbelief. And we will say it, not
daring impossibilities, but with
the confession of our weakness, excluding those that would attack us, in
that we are looking into
things above man.
"We confess therefore our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only
Begotten, Perfect
God and Perfect Man of reasonable Soul and Body, Begotten before the ages
of
His Father
according to His Godhead, the Same in the last days for us and for our
salvation of the Virgin Mary
according to the Manhood: Consubstantial with the Father according to the
Godhead and
Consubstantial with us according to the Manhood: for an Union hath taken
place of two natures,
wherefore we confess one Christ, One Son, One Lord.
"According to this idea of inconfused Union we confess the holy
Virgin
Mother of god, by
reason that God the Word was made Flesh and made Man and from the very
Conception united to
Himself the Temple taken of her. And as to the Gospel and Apostolic words
concerning the Lord,
we know that Divines make some common, as to One Person, apportion others,
as to two Natures,
and give the God-befitting to Christ according to His Godhead, the lowly
ones according to His
Manhood."
Reading these your holy words and finding that ourselves too so think
(for there is One Lord,
One Faith, One Baptism [Eph. 4:5]), we glorified God the Saviour of all,
rejoicing one with
another because the Churches with us and those with you hold the faith
coinciding with the
God-inspired Scriptures and with the tradition of our holy Fathers. But
when
I learned that certain
of those who love to find fault, buzz around like fierce wasps, and belch
forth knavish words against
me as though I said that the holy Body of Christ were brought down from
Heaven and were not of
the Holy Virgin, I thought I ought to say a few words to them about this:
O
senseless and only
knowing how to calumniate! how were ye led astray to this opinion and have
grown sick of so great
folly? for one must, one must clearly consider that nearly the whole
contest
respecting the Faith has
been at issue on our affirming that the holy Virgin is Mother of God. but
if
we say that the holy Body
of Christ the Saviour of us all was made from heaven, not from her, how is
she yet conceived of as
Mother of God? for whom did she at all bring forth, except it be true that
she bare after the flesh
Emmanuel? Let them be laughed at then who babble these things of me, for
the
blessed Prophet
Isaiah does not lie, saying Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a
Son
and they shall call
His Name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us [Isa. 7:14]:
altogether true is the
holy Gabriel too saying to the blessed Virgin, Fear not, Mary, for thou
hast
found favour with
God, and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son and
shalt call his
Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins. [Luke 1:30-31,
Matt. 1:21]
But when we say that our Lord Jesus Christ is from Heaven and from
above, we say so not
as though His holy Flesh were brought down from above and from Heaven, but
following rather the
Divine-uttering Paul, who manifestly cried aloud, The first man is of the
earth earthy, the second
man the Lord from Heaven. [1 Cor. 15:47] We remember the Saviour Himself
too
saying, No
man hath ascended up to Heaven save He that came down from Heaven, the Son
of Man
[John 3:13]: albeit He was born after the flesh, as I just now said, of
the
holy Virgin. But since He
That came down from above and from Heaven, God the Word, hath emptied
Himself, taking
servant's form [Phil 2:7], and was called son of man, along with remaining
that He was, i.e., God
(for He is withoug change or turn by Nature); as now conceived of as One
with His own Flesh, is
He said to have come down from Heaven: and He is likewise called, Man from
Heaven [1 Cor
15:47]: being Perfect in Godhead and the same Perfect in Manhood and
conceived of as in One
Person. For One is the Lord Jesus Christ, even though the difference of
the
natures whence we say
that the Ineffable Union was wrought, be not ignored.
But them that say there was a mixture or confusion or mingling of God
the Word with the
flesh, thy holiness will think good to stop their mouths. for it is like
that some are bruiting these things
also of me, as though I either thought or said them. But I am so far from
thinking any such thing that
I hold that they are even mad who at all suppose that a shadow of turning
[James 1:17] could take
place in respect to the Divine Nature of the word: for He abideth ever
what
He is and is not
changed, yea and never will He be changed and be recipient of variation.
And
we all confess
moreover that the Word of God is Impassible, even though Himiself
all-wisely
dispensing His
Mystery, is seen to attribute to Himself the Sufferings that befell His
own
Flesh. Therefore says also
the all-wise Peter, Forasmuch therefore as Christ suffered for us in the
flesh [1 Pet. 4:1], and
not in the Nature of the Ineffable Godhead. for in order that Himself may
be
believed to be Saviour
of all, He attributes to Himself (as I said) by an Oeconomic appropriation
the sufferings of His own
Flesh, like that which is fore-announced by Prophet's voice,of Him, I have
given My Back to the
scourges, My Cheeks to blows, My Face I turned not away from the shame of
spittings. [Isa.
50:6]
But let your holiness be persuaded that we ever follow the opinions
of
the holy Fathers,
specially of our blessed and all-celebrated Father Athanasius, refusing to
be borne one whit outside
of it: and let no else doubt the same. And I would have annexed many
authorities of theirs,
supporting my own words by them, only I was afraid of the length of the
Letter, lest it should
thereby be wearisome. And in no way do we endure that the Faith should in
any way be shaken by
any, which was defined, (I mean the Symbol of the Faith) by our holy
Fathers, assembled in Nicaea
in their season; nor yet do we allow either ourselves or others, either to
alter a word of what is there
laid up, or to overpass even one syllable, remembering Him Who said,
Remove
not the
everlasting bounds which they fathers set [Prov. 22:28]: for not
themselves
were the speakers
but the Spirit of God the Father [Matt. 10:20, John 15:26], which
proceedeth
indeed from Him,
but is not alien from the Son in regard to Essence. And to this the words
of
the holy initiators
confirms us: for in the Acts of the Apostles it is written, And when they
were come to Mysia, they
began trying to go into Bithynia and the Spirit of Jesus permitted them
not.
[Acts 16:7] The
blessed Paul too writes, They that are in the flesh cannot please God, but
YE are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you, but if a
man have not the Spirit
of Christ, this man is not His.
But when any of those who are used to pervert right things turn aside
my words to what
pleases them, let not your holiness marvel, knowing that the authors of
all
heresy gather the occasion
of their error out of the God-inspired Scripture, corrupting by their own
perversity things that have
been rightly uttered through the Holy Ghost, and pouring out upon their
own
heads the
unquenchable flame.
But since we have learnt that some have garbled and put out the
Letter
of our all-celebrated
Father Athanasius to the blessed Epictetus, which is orthodox, so that
many
have been injured
thereby; we therefore thinking of something servicable and necessary for
the
brethren, send
transcripts to your holiness from old copies that we have here which are
genuine.
The Lord shall keep thee strong and interceding for us, most honoured
brother.
Donated to the St. Pachomius
Library by
Rev. T. Mayes.
Have mercy, O Lord, upon Thy servants the translator Philip and the
scribe Richard!