Reference:CPG 5667/8635
Incipit:Saepe scripsi beatitudini tuae propter Iulianum
Date:late 429
Latin Text:ACO 1.2:14-15
English Translation:FCC: R. Read and G. Thompson; CE: 100-102

In the first half of 429 Nestorius had addressed a letter to the Roman bishop centering on the excommunication at Rome of several men for their Pelagianism (CPG 5665), When no answer was received, Nestorius sent the cubicularius Valerius to Rome with this second letter, even more insistently demanding documentation concerning the excommunications and implying that the verdict may have been unjust. He then mentions certain “blind men” who were continuing to spread the errors of Apollinaris and Arius, teaching that there was a “mixture” of Christ’s divine and human natures—that his bodily sufferings passed into his divine nature and his divine immutability into his human nature. The Roman bishop must have viewed this request as a challenge to its decision about the Pelagians, and as an attempt by Constantinople to increase its own patriarchal authority. In any case, the letter only increased Rome’s ire and again went unanswered. To learn more about the historical context and the further development of this controversy, click here.

The letter survives only in a Latin translation and is given below in an adaptation from the ACO. The English translation was prepared for FCC by R. Read and G. Thompson.

Incipit Nestorii Epistula Secunda ad CelestinumThe beginning of Nestorius’ second letter to the same [Pope Celestine].
Saepe scripsi beatitudini tuae propter Iulianum Orontium et ceteros, qui sibi usurpant episcopalem dignitatem et creberrimam aditionem apud piissimum et praedicatissimum imperatorem faciunt nosque concidunt frequentibus lamentationibus, tamquam temporibus orthodoxis de Occidente proiecti. Et huc usque scripta de his a tua ueneratione non suscepimus; quae si haberem, possem eis respondere daremque compendiosum responsum luctibus eorum. Nunc enim ab incertis dictis eorum non habeat quis ad quod se conuertat, aliis haereticos eos uocantibus et ideo de Occidentalibus partibus proiectos esse dicentibus, ipsis uero iurantibus calumniam se sustinuisse et periculum pro orthodoxa fide ex subreptione perpessos, quorum utrumuis certum sit, nobis grauis est ignorantia. Nam condolere eis, si uere haeretici sunt, crimen est; et iterum non condolere, si calumniam sustinent, durum et impium est. Dignetur igitur amantissima dei anima tua informare nos, qui ad utrumque momentum huc usque diuidimur, id est et ad odium et ad miserationem eorum, doceri autem uolumus quam de his sententiam teneamus; defecimus enim eosdem uiros per dies singulos dissimulantes spe et expectatione beatitudinis tuae.I have repeatedly written to you, blessed one, in regard to Julian, Orontius, and the others. They are usurping the bishop’s authority, relentlessly approaching the admirably devout emperor, and cutting us down with their constant lamentations, as if they were thrown out of the West because of their orthodox positions. We have not yet received your writings about these people, but if I possessed them, I would be able to respond to them and would quickly answer their lamentations. At present, regarding the dubious things said of them, no one can believe what arrests his attention. Some call them heretics and therefore say that they were thrown out of the western regions. But they themselves swear that they have suffered an unjust charge and endured danger on behalf of the orthodox faith because of deception. We are gravely ignorant as to which of these claims is true. For it is a crime to sympathize with them if they are truly heretics. On the other hand, it is obstinate and irreverent not to sympathize with them if they are suffering an unjust accusation. Therefore, let your most God-loving mind deign to instruct us. We are dividing for each cause to this very moment, both hating and pitying them. But we want you to teach us what opinion we ought to hold about them, for we have abandoned them, dissembling day by day in anticipation and expectation of your blessedness.
Non est enim, o uenerandissime, sicut nosti, res uilis discussio piae sectae, nec parua est probatio eorum qui hoc agunt. Multus enim etiam nobis labor hic celebratur, dum elaboramus eruere sordidissimam impietatem pessimae opinionis Apollinaris et Arrii de ecclesia dei. Nescio enim quemammodum quidam de ecclesiasticis quandam contemperationis imaginem deitate et humanitate unigeniti accipientes aegrotant aegritudine praedictorum haereticorum, dum et corporis passiones audent superfundere deitati unigeniti et immutabilitatem deitatis ad naturam corporis transisse confingunt et utramque naturam, quae per coniunctionem summam et inconfusam in una persona unigeniti adoratur, contemperationis mutabilitate confundunt, caeci, qui nec sanctorum illorum patrum expositionem meminerunt, aperte ad eos reclamantem: “credimus in unum dominum Iesum Christum, filium dei, incarnatum ex spiritu sancto et Maria uirgine.” […] Haec enim uox in nomine quod significat [ad] utramque naturam, id est Christo et […] deitati patris omousius, humanitas uero posterioribus temporibus nata sit ex sancta uirgine, quae propter coniunctionem deitatis ab angelis et hominibus simul colitur.As you know, O venerable one, the discussion of a religious sect is not a trifling matter. The approval of those who do so is not trivial. Indeed, much even of our labor is employed in this affair as we endeavor to root out the disgracefully irreverent, awful opinion of Apollinaris and Arius from the church of God. For I do not know how certain church officers languish with the sickness of the previously named heretics. They think of the deity and humanity of the only-begotten in terms of a mixture. They dare to extend the bodily sufferings to his divine nature and imagine that the immutability of the deity passed over to his bodily nature. They thus confuse each nature with the capacity of a mixture to change. Each nature is worshipped on account of the highest union, unconfused, in one person, the only-begotten. These blind men forget the explanation of the holy fathers, which plainly exclaims against them: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the son of God, who took on flesh by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.” For this statement uses a name which signifies both natures, that is, Christ; and […] he has the same being [homousia] as the Father’s deity, while at the same time his human nature (which was born later of the holy virgin), is worshipped by angels and humans because of its union to the divine nature.
Eum ergo qui hic propter sectarum puritatem tot laboribus fatigatur, considera quid iterum pati necesse est, si negotium praedictorum uirorum nesciat timeatque nimis ne additamentum haereticorum per ignorantiam hic positis faciat. Unde rogo ut undique studiosum sit sanctae animae tuae donare notitiam praedictorum uirorum, maxime cum litterarum sequester fidelissimus Valerius cubicularius possit beatitudini tuae aperte exponere molestias eorum.Therefore contemplate what the one who is fatigued by so much labor for the purity of sects must suffer a second time if he is ignorant of the previously named men and overly afraid lest he cause an increase of heretics through ignorance of things set down here. Therefore, I ask that your holy mind be eager to share in all respects your knowledge of these men, especially since my faithful assistant Valerius, who has been entrusted with this letter, can clearly explain to your blessedness the troubles they have caused.
Omnem in Christo fraternitatem quae tecum est, ego et qui mecum sunt, plurimum salutamus.I and those who are with me greet the whole brotherhood in Christ which is with you.

Last updated: 12-12-2024 by JSW

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