Reference:CPG 5316/8643
Incipit:Ηὐχόμην μὲν τοῖς τῶν εὐδοκιμησάντων
Date:mid-August, 430
Greek Text:ACO 1.1.1:96-98
Latin Text:ACO 1.3:41-42
English Translation:FCC (below); Price, CE #18;  McEnerney, FC 76:78-79

The English translation below was produced for FCC by J. Winkel. For information about the historical context of this letter and its connection to the escalating Christological controversy of the time, click here.

GreekEnglishLatin
Κυρίῳ μου ποθεινοτάτῳ ἀδελφῷ καὶ συλλειτουργῷ Ἰουβεναλίῳ Κύριλλος ἐν κυρίῳ χαίρειν.To my lord, my greatly missed brother and fellow worker Juvenal, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord.Domino meo desiderantissimo fratri et comministro Iuuenali Cyrillus in domino salute.
Ηὐχόμην μὲν τοῖς τῶν εὐδοκιμησάντων ἴχνεσι καὶ τῇ ὀρθῇ πίστει κατακολουθεῖν τὸν εὐλαβέστατον ἐπίσκοπον Νεστόριον (τίς γὰρ τῶν εὖ φρονούντων οὐκ ἂν εὔξαιτο δοκιμωτάτους εἶναι τοὺς καθηγεῖσθαι λαχόντας τῶν τοῦ σωτῆρος ποιμνίων;)·I pray that the most God-fearing bishop Nestorius would follow in the footsteps of those who are highly esteemed and in the right faith (for who of sound mind would not wish that he who has been chosen to lead the flock of the Savior be respected?).Optabam quidem probatissimorum patrum uestigia rectamque fidem sequi reuerentissimum episcopum Nestorium; quis enim bene sapientium non optet probatissimos esse eos qui regimen sunt sortiti ouilium saluatoris?
ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρ’ ἐλπίδας ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡμῖν ἐκβέβηκε φύσις (ὃν γὰρ ἔσεσθαι προσεδοκῶμεν ποιμένα γνήσιον, τοῦτον τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως διώκτην εὑρήκαμεν), δεῖ λοιπὸν μνημονεῦσαι τοῦ πάντων ἡμῶν σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ λέγοντος οὐκ ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ἀλλὰ μάχαιραν. ἦλθον γὰρ διχάσαι ἄνθρωπον κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ.Because the nature of things came out against hope for us (for we expected that he would be a genuine shepherd, him who we find a persecutor of right faith), it is therefore necessary to remember our Savior Christ saying “I have not come to bring peace on the earth, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father” [Matt. 10:34-35].quia uero praeter spem rerum natura nobis egressa est (quem enim futurum expectabamus pastorem peculiarem, hunc rectae fidei persecutorem inuenimus), oportet iam reminisci dicentem omnium nostrum saluatorem Christum: non ueni mittere pacem in terra, sed gladium. ueni enim separare hominem aduersus patrem suum.
εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ πρὸς γονέας ἡμῖν ὁ πόλεμος ἀνέγκλητός τε καὶ ἀνεπίληπτος, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ παντὸς ἐπαίνου μεστός, ὅτε τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δόξῃ συναθλεῖν ἐγνώκαμεν, πῶς οὐκ ἀνάγκη πᾶσα, καίτοι δακρύοντας ὡς ἀδελφὸν ἀπολέσαντας, τὸν θεοφιλῆ περιζώσασθαι ζῆλον καὶ μόνον οὐχὶ τοῖς ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐκεῖνο εἰπεῖν εἴ τις πρὸς κύριον, ἴτω πρός με. But if indeed even war against our fathers is above reproach and blameless, but rather even all full of praise when we know that we struggle together for the glory of Christ, how is it not entirely necessary, indeed although weeping as when having lost a brother, for the God-loving to gird up with zeal as if to say this to those on all the earth, “if anyone is for the Lord, come to me” [Exod. 32:26]?si uero et contra parentes nobis bellum sine crimine et inreprehensibile est, magis autem etiam omni laude plenissimum, quando Christi gloriae concertari dinoscimus, quomodo non omnis necessitas est, licet flentes tamquam fratrem lapsum, deo amabilem accingi zelum et per omnem terram quasi illud dicere si quis domini est, ueniat ad me.
ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ καὶ δι’ ἑνὸς καὶ δευτέρου γράμματος ὡς ἀδελφὸν παρεκάλεσα μὴ ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀκολουθεῖν ἐννοίαις, ἀλλὰ τῇ ὀρθῇ καὶ ἀποστολικῇ πίστει τῇ παραδοθείσῃ ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, οἰηθεὶς ἀπαλλάξαι αὐτὸν τῆς τῶν αὐτοῦ γραμμάτων σκαιότητος·For I also through one and two writings urged him as a brother not to follow his own thoughts, but the right and apostolic faith handed down to the Church, thinking to set him free from the awkwardness of his own writings.ego siquidem et per unam et per secundam epistulam tamquam fratrem rogaui ut non suos sequeretur intellectus, sed rectam apostolicamque fidem traditam ecclesiis, aestimans eripere eum a suarum prauitate scripturarum.
ἀλλ’ οὐδὲν ὤνησε τὸ τῆς διαθέσεως φάρμακον, ἄπρακτος γέγονεν ἡ συμβουλὴ καὶ τοσοῦτον ἀπέσχε τοῦ θέλειν τοῖς τῆς ἀληθείας ἕπεσθαι δόγμασιν, ὥστε καὶ ἐπιστολὴν ἀπέστειλε πρός με μεθ’ ὑπογραφῆς ἰδίας, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ἐπιπλήττει μὲν ὡς λυπούμενος, διωμολόγηκε δὲ σαφῶς θεοτόκον οὐκ εἶναι τὴν ἁγίαν παρθένον, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐναργῶς εἰπεῖν μὴ εἶναι θεὸν ἀληθῶς τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ, ἐφ’ ᾧ τὰς τῆς σωτηρίας ἔχομεν ἐλπίδας.But it profited nothing, the medicine of rhetoric; the counsel was ineffective and he drew away so much from being willing to follow the doctrine of the truth, that he even sent letter to me with his own signature in which on the one hand he rebuked as one grieving, on the other he clearly confessed that the holy virgin is not the God-bearer, which is obviously to say that Immanuel is not truly God, in whom we have the hope of the Savior.sed nihil profuit affectus medicamentum, effectum non habuit adhortatio, et in tanto recessit uelle ueritatis dogmata sequi, ut etiam epistulam mitteret ad me cum suscriptione sua, in qua redarguit quidem tamquam contristatus, professus autem aperte est dei genetricem non esse sanctam uirginem, quod est apertum dicere non esse deum uere Emmanuhel, in quo salutis habemus spem.
οἰηθεὶς δὲ ὅτι καὶ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἐκκλησίαν συναρπάσαι δυνήσεται, ἔγραψε πρὸς τὸν κύριόν μου τὸν εὐλαβέστατον καὶ θεοσεβέστατον ἀδελφὸν καὶ συλλειτουργὸν Κελεστῖνον τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐκκλησίας ἐπίσκοπον, ἐνθεὶς ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς τῶν αὐτοῦ δογμάτων τὴν διαστροφήν.And thinking that he could even snatch away the Roman Church, he wrote to my lord the most pious and God-fearing brother and fellow-worker Celestine, the bishop of the Roman Church, putting in the letter the perversion of his own doctrine.arbitratus autem quia etiam Romanorum ecclesiae possit subripere, scripsit ad dominum meum reuerentissimum et dei optimum cultorem fratrem et comministrum Caelestinum ecclesiae Romanorum episcopum, interponens epistulis suorum dogmatum prauitatem
πέπομφε δὲ καὶ ἐξηγήσεις πολλάς, ἐξ ὧν ἐλήλεγκται φρονῶν τὰ διεστραμμένα, καὶ κατεγνώσθη λοιπὸν ἀραρότως ὡς αἱρετικός.But he sent many explanations, from which brought to light him thinking perversions, and was therefore condemned strongly as a heretic.destinauit quoque plurimas expositiones, ex quibus est sapere peruersa conuictus et reprehensus indubitate ut hareticus.
ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ὁ μνημονευθεὶς εὐλαβέστατος καὶ θεοσεβέστατος τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐκκλησίας ἐπίσκοπος Κελεστῖνος φανερὰ γέγραφε περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ πέπομφε πρός με τὰς ἐπιστολάς, δεῖν ᾠήθην ἀποστεῖλαι ταύτας καὶ ἀκονηθεῖσαν οἴκοθεν εἰς εὐσεβῆ ζῆλον τὴν σὴν θεοσέβειαν διαναστῆσαι διὰ τοῦ γράμματος, ὅπως ἂν ἐκ μιᾶς ψυχῆς καὶ συντόνου προθυμίας τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ἀγάπην ζωσώμεθα καὶ σώσωμεν λαοὺς κινδυνεύοντας καὶ στήσωμεν ἐκκλησίαν τὴν οὕτω διαφανῆ, σύμφρονες δηλονότι γεγονότες ἑκάστοις ἅπαντες καὶ κατὰ τὸν ὁρισθέντα τύπον ἐπιστέλλοντες αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς λαοῖς.Therefore because the remembered, most pious, and God-fearing bishop of Rome Celestine wrote about him and sent to me the letters, I knew that it was necessary to send this and to arouse your godliness, spurred on from home, to pious zeal through the letter, so that from one soul and eager goodwill we might gird up with the love for Christ and save the imperiled laity and make the church to stand thus distinctly, thinking together clearly, each being with the other and according to the appointed place writing letters to him and to the laity.quia igitur memoratus reuerentissimus et dei cultor Romanorum ecclesiae episcopus Caelestinus certa quaedam scripsit de eo et misit ad me epistulas, oportere credidi eas destinare et exercitatam ex propriis ad pietatis zelum tuam reuerentiam excitare per litteras quatenus ex una anima et ualido fauore caritate quae in Christo est, accingamur et saluos faciamus populos periclitantes et statuamus ecclesiam, quae sic est clara, concordes utique facti ad inuicem singulis uniuersi et secundum determinatam formam scribentes et clero et populis.
ἂν μὲν ὠφελήσωμεν καὶ μεταστήσωμεν κατὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς αὐτὸν ὧν πεφρόνηκεν, κεκερδάκαμεν ἀδελφὸν καὶ σεσώκαμεν ποιμένα· ἐὰν δὲ ἄπρακτος ἡμῶν ἡ συμβουλὴ γένηται, αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ ἐπιγράψας τὸ συμβὰν αὐτῷ τῶν ἰδίων πόνων ἔδεται τοὺς καρπούς. δεῖ δὲ ἡμᾶς ἀναγκαίως καὶ τῷ φιλοχρίστῳ καὶ εὐσεβεστάτῳ βασιλεῖ, καὶ ἅπασι δὲ τοῖς ἐν τέλει γράψαι καὶ συμβουλεῦσαι μὴ προτιμῆσαι τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσεβείας ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ χαρίσασθαι τῇ οἰκουμένῃ τὸ βέβαιον εἰς πίστιν ὀρθὴν καὶ ποιμένος ἀπαλλάξαι πονηροῦ τὰ θρέμματα, εἰ μὴ ταῖς ἁπάντων εἴκει συμβουλαῖς.If we would help and turn him so that he would be thinking according to the truth, we have gained a brother and have saved a shepherd. But if our counsel is ineffective, he has written to himself what has happened to him; he will eat the fruit of his own labor [Is 3:10]. But it is necessary for us also to write to the most Christ-loving and pious emperor, and to all the ones in power and to advise them not to honor a man above the piety in Christ, but to give to the whole world certainty in the right faith and to set the sheep free from the wicked shepherd, if he will not yield to the counsel of all.si quidem profuerimus et conuerterimus pro ueritate eum ab his quae sapuit et docere praesumpsit, lucrati sumus fratrem et saluificauimus pastorem; si uero sine effectu fuerit nostrum consilium, ipse sibimet adscribens quod euenit ei, suorum laborum comedet fructus. oportet autem nos necessario et Christo amabili ac piissimo imperatori et omnibus proceribus scribere et suadere ne praeponant Christi pietati hominem, sed praebeatur orbi terrarum firmitas in fide recta et pastore nequissimo liberentur oues, si non omnium sequatur suasiones.
Πρόσειπε τὴν παρὰ σοὶ ἀδελφότητα· σὲ ἡ σὺν ἡμῖν ἐν κυρίῳ προσαγορεύει.Greet the brothers with you. The brothers with us greet you in the LordSaluta apud te fraternitatem. te quae nobiscum est, in domino salutat.
 And this letter was sent from Cyril to Juvenal before the synod was held.Et hæc epistula antequam fieret synodus, missa est a Cyrillo Iuuenali

Back to Documents from the Escalating Controversy

Last updated 12/12/24 by JSW

No Responses yet