Monday, May 9, 2011

“Twelve Anathemas” – St. Cyril of Alexandria (ca 376 - 444 AD)

These are the twelve anathemas pronounced by our venerable father St. Cyril of Alexandria against Nestorius at the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431 AD).

1. If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and therefore that the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God,  let him be anathema. 
    
2. If anyone shall not confess that the Word of God the Father is united to flesh, and with that flesh of his own, He is one Christ only both God and man at the same time: let him be anathema.

3. If anyone shall divide the one Christ after the union, joining them only by a conjunction of dignity or authority or power, and not rather by a coming together in a union by nature: let him be anathema.

4. If anyone shall divide those expressions which are contained in the Gospel and Apostolic writings which have been said concerning Christ by the Saints, or by Himself, and shall apply some to him as to a man separate from the Word of God, and shall apply others to the only Word of God the Father, on the ground that they are fit to be applied to God: let him be anathema.

5. If anyone shall dare to say that the Christ is a God-bearing man and not rather God in truth, being by nature one Son, even as "the Word became flesh", and assumed blood and flesh precisely like us: let him be anathema.

6. If anyone shall dare say that the Word of God the Father is the God of Christ or the Lord of Christ, and shall not rather confess him as at the same time both God and Man, the Word having become flesh, according to the Scriptures: let him be anathema.

7. If anyone shall say that Jesus as man is only energized by the Word of God, and was clothed with the glory of the Only-begotten, as a being separate from Him: let him be anathema.

8. If anyone shall dare to say that the assumed Man ought to be worshipped together with God the Word, and glorified together with Him, and recognized together with Him as God, and yet as two different things, the one with the other and shall not rather worship the Emmanuel with one adoration and pay to Him one glorification, as “The Word was made flesh”: let him be anathema.

9. If any man shall say that the one Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by the Holy Ghost, so that He used through Him a power not His own and from Him received power against unclean spirits and power to work miracles before men and shall not rather confess that it was His own Spirit through which He worked these divine signs; let him be anathema.

10. Divine Scripture says that "Christ became High Priest and Apostle of our confession, and that He offered Himself for us a sweet-smelling savour to God the Father." Whosoever shall say that it is not the divine Word Himself Who was made flesh and became Man like us, but another one, a man born of a woman, different from Him, who has become our Great High Priest and Apostle; or if any man shall say that he offered Himself in sacrifice for Himself and not rather for us alone, since being without sin, He had no need of offering or sacrifice: let him be anathema.

11. Whosoever shall not confess that the flesh of the Lord life-giving and it belongs to the Word of God the Father, but shall pretend that it belongs to another person who is united to God, the Word only according to honour, and has served only as a dwelling for the divinity; and shall not rather confess, as we say, that that flesh is life-giving because it belongs to the Word who giveth life to all: let him be anathema.

12. Whosoever does not confess that the Word of God suffered in the flesh and was crucified in the flesh and tasted death in the flesh and became the first born of the dead, although as God, He is life and life-giving: let him be anathema.