Symbolum Theodori Mopsuesteni Et Ejus Refutatio

III. THE CREED OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA AND ITS REFUTATION. PREFACE OF MARIUS MERCATOR. Marius Mercator, servant of Christ, to his fellow servant Lactor, greetings. The Greek text is that of Theodore, once bishop of the town of Mopsuestia in the province of Cilicia. This, therefore, to the best of my ability, I have attempted to translate into Latin, word for word; his perverse opinion concerning the Lord’s dispensation, alien to the Catholic faith and quite estranged from it, by which he once wickedly deceived Nestorius, formerly bishop of the city of Constantinople, I wish to make known to Latin ears, so that it may be avoided by all means, not followed. At the same time, I wish to point out that Julian, from bishop of the town of Eclanum a Pelagian or Coelestian heretic, followed this Theodore, to whom, after traversing lands and crossing the sea and surveying the East, with his companions, partakers, and his own people, with great effort, as to a proclaimed teacher of Christian doctrines, he hastened; so that he might be confirmed by him in the Pelagian or Coelestian heresy, which he had undertaken to defend and follow; and that from there, as one better instructed, he might compose those eight volumes, as he thinks most learned, against the Catholic faith rather than against Augustine of holy memory.

Let the aforementioned Julianus recognize from this translation, if he does not disdain to read it, that the said Theodorus, as we have said, deceived Nestorius with him in bad faith, and that he is also contrary to himself and to his own teaching, about which, swollen and insane, he composed books; and that, after his departure from Cilicia, he was condemned by anathema in the assembly of the bishops of his province. Therefore, let him not be angry or indignant with us, if we uncover, convict, and lament that he, together with Theodorus, whose infinite praises he recites in his books and on whose authority he boasts that his own erroneous opinion rests, is alien to the catholic faith and justly condemned—for he is more to be lamented than pursued with any hatred. EXPOSITION OF THEODORUS'S PERVERTED CREED. Those who are either now being instructed for the first time in clearly understanding ecclesiastical teachings, or who have decided to convert from heretical error to the truth, ought to be taught what we believe. (And the rest, which is set forth in the latter part. These are the final words of the Creed:)

Let anyone who thinks otherwise be anathema. (Here follows Mercator’s refutation:) On the contrary, we Catholics say to you, who have uttered such things with your most impure mouth and most wicked tongue, anathema without ceasing, and to all your adherents, etc. (Then Mercator continues:) But let us also demonstrate how great the faithlessness of the aforementioned Theodorus is, from his writings, which we have translated from Greek. FIRST EXCERPT OF THEODORUS From the second codex, book four, folio ten, against Saint Augustine, who defends original sin and argues catholically that Adam was made mortal through transgression. 1.a Since so many things stand which show that Adam was formed from the earth in such a way that he was entirely mortal, he wished to occupy the discourse concerning his own food, and being unable from that to perceive the truth, he acts as an advocate for a false dogma, from a seductive lie, etc. God does not say, “You will be mortal,” but “You will die by death” (Gen. 2:17); for those who are by nature mortal, he threatened to inflict the experience of death, which he also, according to the custom of his own benevolence, delayed in bringing to effect. Just as when he says: “Whoever sheds a man’s blood, his blood shall be shed for it” (Gen.

ix, 6); he does not say that whoever kills a man will be mortal, but that he is worthy of being condemned to such a death; so also in the present case he said, "You will die the death," not that they would then become mortal, but that they were worthy of receiving the sentence of death through transgression. But also consider the divine sentence which God seems to pronounce upon Adam after the sin. For thus he says (Gen. iii, 17): "Because you listened to the voice of your wife, and ate from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat from this alone, you have eaten from it: cursed is the earth in your works, in sorrow you will eat it all the days of your life; it will bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the grass of the field, and in the sweat of your face you will eat your bread, until you return to the earth." By these words he threatened that he would have a life full of hardship, thereafter taking fruit from the earth with labor, by which he would be nourished and sustained, no longer having, as before, such great abundance set before him as he enjoyed from the bounty of paradise. For God did not give the tilling of the earth as a punishment, as if transferring men from an immortal nature to mortality, since he also commanded him to till and guard paradise (Gen. ii, ); but he threatens that his sustenance from the fruits of the earth will be full of hardship, in contrast to the former abundance and delight of paradise.

For indeed, having been made mortal, he then needed the fruits of paradise, just as now he seeks the fruits of the earth; and as a punishment, deprived of his former delights, he is afflicted with this most wretched and laborious manner of life. Hence, at the end, he consequently added, "Because you are earth, and you will return to earth" (Genesis 3:17), thereby also signifying the mortality of nature; for he did not compose the word "earth" for one who is immortal and now for the first time beginning to receive a sentence of death, as the most wise defenders of original sin—or rather, the marvelous fathers of sin—assert; but rather, from the beginning, having been naturally made mortal, divine Scripture indicated that this appellation was fitting for him, often using this word for men to show their corruptible and dissoluble nature. For it says, "He remembered that we are dust; man, his days are like grass, and like a flower of the field, so he will flourish, because the spirit has passed through him, and his place will be no more" (Psalm 102:15). It means that we are all corruptible and dissoluble, like grass that flourishes for a short time and perishes shortly after. For we lead our lives for a brief time, and then we come entirely to non-existence. So also Abraham says, "I am earth and ashes" (Genesis 18:27), as if to say, I am not worthy to converse with such a great God, being a man made from earth, and destined to be this in every way.

Therefore he should have said rather, "You are earth, and to earth you shall return," if indeed mortality of nature were now first coming into being. SECOND EXCERPT OF THEODORE. From the second codex, third book, four leaves before the end of the book. But the marvelous champion of original sin could perceive none of these things, inasmuch as he was by no means trained in the divine Scriptures, nor from infancy, according to the voice of blessed Paul, had he learned the sacred letters (II Tim. 3:18). But whether discoursing on the meanings of Scripture or on doctrine, he often, ineptly and improperly or commonly, shamelessly brought forth many things from the Scriptures themselves and from very many doctrines: for fear of his power allowed no one to speak against him, but only silently, those who had knowledge of the divine Scriptures disparaged him. Most recently, however, he fell back into this novelty of doctrine, whereby he said that God, in anger and fury, commanded that Adam be mortal; and that on account of his one transgression, he punished with death all men, even those not yet born.

But in arguing thus, he is not ashamed nor confounded to think such things about God as no one has ever attempted to suppose even about men who are sound of mind and have some concern for justice. Nor has he recalled that divine saying, that this parable would no longer be spoken in Israel: "The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge," because thus says the Lord Adonai: "The teeth of those who have eaten a sour grape will be set on edge" (Ezekiel 17:2); showing through this that God does not at all punish one for another, according to the error of some, but that each one will render account for his own faults. The blessed Paul also adds things consistent with these: "God," he says, "who will render to each according to his works" (Romans 6:5); and, "Each of us will bear his own burden" (Galatians 6:5); and, "Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you scorn your brother? For we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ" (Romans 14:10).

But this wonderful man, on account of a single sin (??) of one (??), has supposed God to be stirred with such fury that He subjected even that one to the most atrocious punishment, and extended the same sentence to all his descendants without exception—among whom, how many have been righteous, one could not easily count. From these considerations, he ought especially to have reflected how utterly incongruous it seemed that Noah, Abraham, David, Moses, and countless other righteous men were rendered liable to punishment because of the offense of one man, and that one sin committed by tasting from a tree; and that God, beyond the measure of justice, extended His wrath so far as to cast aside all the virtues of so many righteous men and consign them, because of the sin of one man, Adam, to such a penalty. For even if he had weighed nothing else in his mind, he ought at least to have formed a fitting judgment concerning Abel, who, being the first righteous man, was also the first to die; and if indeed God had established death as a punishment for men, how was it not the height of impiety that the one who was the cause of the sin should live, and that Eve, the contriver of wickedness, should also live with him? I pass over the fact that the devil has endured in immortality up to this very day; but the first righteous man, the discoverer of virtue, and the first to take care for divine worship, was struck down before all others by the punishment of sinners.

But this most wise man ought to have carefully considered Enoch, who did not die. For he was not endowed with such great virtue or piety that he surpassed all others—I mean Moses, the prophets, the apostles, and all the rest of whom the most blessed Paul says: "Of whom the world was not worthy" (Heb. 11:38)—so that, while they died, he alone would endure without experiencing death. Rather, from the beginning God had this determined within Himself: that first they would become mortal, but afterward would enjoy immortality, arranging this for our benefit. And a little later: "God shows this same thing more clearly," he says, "when He translates Enoch and makes him immortal. For if God inflicted death as the penalty of punishment on account of sin, and had not from the beginning determined this within Himself, ineffably dispensing all things for us according to His own wisdom, then Enoch would by no means be immortal, and the Lord Christ would not come to experience death.

And a little later: "For this reason," he says, "the Lord became the author of all good things for men, so that just as Adam stood as the beginner of the first and mortal state, so He Himself, existing as the initiator of the second and immortal state, would first preserve the natural characteristics of the prior Adam: in that He is born from a woman; in that He is wrapped in swaddling clothes and gradually receives the increments of age—for, he says, 'Jesus advanced in age, wisdom, and grace before God and men' (Luke 2:52); in that He undergoes circumcision; in that, according to legal custom, He stands before God in the temple, is subject to His parents, and is bound over to lawful conduct. Thus also, for the completion of the remaining things, He finally undergoes death, as a tribute of nature: so that, dying according to the law of human nature, and rising from the dead by divine power, He might become the beginning for all men, who undergo death according to their own nature, that they might rise from the dead and be changed into an immortal substance.

For just as we have all been made conformable to Adam according to the present state, so we shall be made conformable to Christ the Lord [Baluz. according to the flesh] in the future: For He will transfigure the body of our humility to be made conformable to the body of His glory (Phil. 3:21); and, As is the earthly one, so are the earthly ones; and as is the heavenly one, so are the heavenly ones; and just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, let us also bear the image of the heavenly one (1 Cor. 15 and 49): showing that, having been made partakers of the first state of Adam, we necessarily also obtain participation in the future state of the second Adam, Christ the Lord, according to the flesh: as one who, having arisen from this same nature, took up everything that was of the nature; and therefore endured death, so that, by taking up the death of the nature and rising from the dead, he might perfect the nature free from death. And he took up death indeed for this reason, but sin by no means; rather, he remained entirely immune from this. For what was of nature, that is, death, he undoubtedly assumed; but sin, which was not of nature but of will, he in no way took up. But if sin had been in nature, according to the utterance of this most wise one, sin existing entirely in nature, he would necessarily have taken it up.

THIRD EXCERPT OF THEODORE From the second codex, out of the third book, folio eighteen. If, he says, God truly knew that Adam would sin, let this response be given to those most wise men [Baluz. adds: to him], that it is utterly insane even to conceive of this; it is manifest that He both knew he would sin, and because of this, without doubt, that he would die. How, then, is it not the height of madness to believe that He first made him immortal for six hours (for that was the time from his creation until the commission [of the sin], since he was made from the earth on the sixth day, and, eating contrary to the divine command, was driven from paradise), but after the sin showed him to be mortal? For it is certain that if He had wished him to be immortal, not even the intervening sin would have changed God’s sentence; because He did not make the devil from immortal to mortal, and he indeed is the origin of all evils.

FOURTH EXCERPT OF THEODORE From the second codex, out of the third book, folio twenty-five. For, he says, He would not bestow the great prize of resurrection upon those who, from Adam up to the coming of Christ the Lord, were in such great impieties and iniquities as the blessed Paul expressed in his own words, as has been declared from his utterances in the foregoing, if He were to hand them over to certain punishments without end and without correction. For where will the resurrection be considered in the place of a reward, if punishment without correction is inflicted upon those who rise? And a little later. Who, he says, is so insane as to believe that such a good thing becomes the material of infinite punishment for those who rise, for whom it would have been more useful not to rise at all, than to undergo, after the resurrection, the experience of such great and such evils under infinite penalties?