Collectio Tertia

Third Collection, Excerpts from Various Treatises of Nestorius, by Saint Cyril in the Five Books of Contradictions Concerning these five books of Contradictions by Saint Cyril, Photius writes as follows (Cod. 169): The five books of Saint Cyril against the blasphemies of Nestorius were read; of these, the first refutes ten chapters of Nestorius’s calumnies; the second, thirteen; the third, six; and the fourth and fifth, seven each, etc. From Book I. “Often,” he says, “I asked them: Do you say that the Divinity was born from the holy Virgin? At these words they immediately recoil,” etc. Sermon 5. “See what follows, heretic. I do not begrudge this title to the Virgin who bore Christ,” etc. Sermon 5. Thus also elsewhere he says: “He spoke to us in the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the ages: who, being the splendor of glory,” etc. Sermon 7. “If Christ is God,” he says, “and Christ was born from the blessed Mary, why is the Virgin not the Mother of God?” etc. Sermon 5.

Concerning the blessed John the Baptist it is proclaimed by the holy angels that the infant is to be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb of his mother, etc. Sermon 5. For I rejoice, he says, looking upon your zeal, etc. Sermon 3. But we must note what has now come to my mind, that the Synod of Nicaea nowhere dared to say that God was born of Mary, etc. Sermon 3. They followed the evangelist; for the evangelist, when he came to narrate the incarnation, avoided speaking of generation in the Word of God, and set down incarnation, etc. Sermon 3. Yet with the Divinity certainly being greater, they babble that the Word of God itself is more recent, etc. Sermon 3. I have already said more often: If anyone among you is more simple, etc. Sermon 5. From Book II If you were to utter “Mother of God” with simple faith, there would be no envy of the expression on my part, as one who examines the meaning of the word, etc. Sermon 5. Therefore, when the sacred Scriptures set forth the nativity of Christ from the blessed Virgin, they nowhere place “God,” but either “Christ” or “Lord,” etc. Sermon 2.

For he sent, he says, his Son, made from a woman, made under the law, etc." Sermon 3. "But just as we call that one God the creator of all things, and God himself Moses, etc." Sermon 2. "Speak of the one who assumes that he is God, etc." Sermon 2. "Therefore I wish you to hold cautiously and firmly, etc." Sermon 2. "That glorification of the Only-begotten is sometimes ascribed to the Father, etc." Sermon 10. "He was indeed that Word of God, even before he became man, Son and God, and consenting with the Father, etc." Sermon 2. "So that it may be shown even to the magi themselves who this is whom they worshipped, etc." Sermon 11. "Nor is Christ a mere man, O calumniator, but at once man and God, etc." Sermon 7. "I venerate him as the image of the omnipotent divinity, etc." Sermon 7. "That which is formed in the womb is not God in itself, etc." Sermon 7. "But this one is a kinsman of Israel according to the flesh, etc., this one is a man according to visible nature, this one, according to Paul's word, born from the seed of David, etc." Sermon 2.

From Book III. For when they hear the name "apostle," they understand the Word of God himself to be the apostle, etc. Sermon 6. He did not take hold of angels, but he took hold of the seed of Abraham, etc. Sermon. The seed of Abraham is that which was yesterday and today, as Paul says, not that which said: "Before Abraham was, I am," etc. Sermon 6. This one, made a faithful pontiff to God, was made, for he was not from eternity, etc. Sermon 6. Since, therefore, this one alone is for us a merciful, kindred, and steadfast pontiff, beware lest you be moved from his faith, etc. Sermon 6. You remember, indeed, those things which I have often said to you, when I distinguished two natures in Christ, etc. Sermon 2. From Book IV. The Word of God became flesh, and dwelt in us. The Father made the assumed humanity sit with him, etc. Sermon 3. And there is evident proof of this cooperation, etc. Sermon 10. "Greater," he says, "building an injury against him, and separating the spirit from the divine nature, who formed his humanity," etc. Sermon 3.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him, etc. Sermon 9. I will also speak the words of that scandal, etc. Sermon 9. Hear also this name, Lord, sometimes placed concerning the humanity of Christ, sometimes concerning his divinity, sometimes concerning both, etc. Sermon 2. But why also, as we were hearing a little earlier, if both, as you suppose, are mixed together, does our Lord, when he was teaching the power of the mystery to the disciples, speak thus, etc. Sermon 8. From Book V. That in the birth from Christ’s Virgin Mother divine Scripture places the name of the Son, we have declared. Hear now also in death, whether anywhere the name of God is placed, so that we might introduce a passible God: “When we were enemies,” he says, “we were reconciled to God through the death of the Word of God.” Sermon 2. Hear also another testimony of theirs. For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory, etc. Sermon 5.

Since I am the form of God, I put on the form of a servant; since I am God the Word, I am seen in flesh; since I am the Lord of the universe, I put on the person of a poor man for your sake; since I hunger visibly, I supply food to the hungry. Sermon 5. I would gladly question the heretics at this point, who mix the nature of divinity and humanity into one essence, as to who it is that is now handed over by the traitor Judas to the Jews, etc. Sermon 8. This is he who was encircled with a crown of thorns, etc. Sermon. Therefore, when blessed Peter was dealing with those first fruits of ours, and was recounting the exaltation of the visible nature made by the power of the divinity, etc. Sermon 7. But since, if they had said: We believe in one God the Word, it would have happened that death would be attributed to the divine nature, etc. Sermon 3.