Quaestio ad Cyrillum

A petition presented to the holy Cyril, faithful high priest, genuine servant of God, the holy Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, from the brotherhood. It would have been well for us to remain at peace, even if perhaps accomplishing some of our endeavors, yet no less, even when absent from there, we consider ourselves benefited solely by the sight of you, and especially we shall gain, being taught piety from your very mouth. For reading the books and works of your holiness while dwelling far off in the land is both good and beneficial and leads forward those who attend to them; but to be watered with teaching from those divine lips from which grace and spiritual sweetness flow is at once more secure and more vital. Therefore we have come again, through desire for you and for piety, and for our own advancement and the correction of others. For having previously received from your holy hands the book that resolves the inquiry concerning the correct doctrines among us, we derived no small benefit. For the discourse became for us a confirmation, and for others a correction; and there are few who have not approached the sound teaching, whose mouths have been stopped.

But the people of the Abilene region, contending bitterly with one another over certain doctrinal questions, have driven themselves to such a pitch of madness that they decree depositions and anathemas against each other, inflict persecutions upon one another, endure plunderings, and yield neither to the bishops nor to the fathers there, nor to those among us, nor to any other holy men, claiming to be deemed worthy of a greater measure of knowledge. Thus has satanic instability utterly enslaved them, far from divine peace. Moreover, some of the Egyptians, having been taught to think incorrectly about God, suffer from the same madness as those others, and engage against one another in equal efforts of greed. But each party, divinely stung, has come to the holy men in Palestine and presented to them the inquiries under dispute. We, however, having measured our own ability, judged that we ought not to decide these matters ourselves, nor are we sufficiently competent to render an account concerning such investigations. Therefore, when the aforementioned men learned that we have freedom of speech with your holiness, they earnestly entreated through our insignificance that the word of your teaching might bring an end to their mutual strife. So, with the consent of the holy fathers among us, we voluntarily accepted the entreaty, gratifying ourselves more than them, in that we might both enjoy the sight of your face and rejoice in your presence, and in a living word, not in a letter sent through others, which only kindles desire the more.

We have therefore seized upon your arrival, rejoicing not a little, so that through us, the least of men, they might lay aside the battle they are waging against one another, and that through your sound teaching the peace of Christ might be awarded as quickly as possible both to them and to us—whether we depart for the sake of beloved quiet, or remain for the sake of love and fellowship and the progress that comes from these, and send what is to be written at a more opportune time. But do not, most holy father, genuinely refuse to look upon us, preserving a father's compassion even toward us. For I do not think we shall even need an apology, partaking as we do of frankness with modesty, by the grace of God and your kindness, which we ask to be extended to us equally with our own genuineness, and this with sobriety. For thus it would come about that we should for the present receive reciprocal treatment, and that your holiness, acting fittingly toward us, should be acknowledged with gratitude—which the Savior of all would approve the more, as it descends to us, the least, not by the constraint of force, but by the genuineness of love, and offers this as a gift to him. The questions under investigation are those subjoined. [The chapters were contained in the request, but lest we write them twice, we have joined each chapter in the interpretation.]