1.1Cyril explains the Nicene creed's "became incarnate and became man": the Word united to himself, according to hypostasis, flesh with a rational soul; the natures stay distinct but form one Christ, born eternally of the Father and in time of a woman.
1.2The Word was united to his flesh from the womb, so its birth, suffering, death, and resurrection are rightly called his, though the divine nature itself is impassible and immortal.
1.3Christ is worshipped as one, not as a man alongside the Word; rejecting the union according to hypostasis leads to two sons. The fathers therefore called Mary Theotokos, and Cyril urges Nestorius to teach the same for the peace of the churches.
2.1First anathema: Emmanuel is truly God, and Mary is therefore Theotokos.
2.2Second anathema: the Word is united to flesh according to hypostasis and is one Christ, God and man.
2.3Third anathema: Christ's hypostases may not be divided after the union or joined only by dignity or power.
2.4Fourth anathema: the sayings about Christ in Scripture may not be divided between two persons.
2.5Fifth anathema: Christ is not a God-bearing man but truly God, the one Son by nature.
2.6Sixth anathema: the Word is not the God or Master of Christ; Christ himself is God and man.
2.7Seventh anathema: Jesus was not a man moved by the Word and clothed with a glory not his own.
2.8Eighth anathema: Emmanuel receives one worship and one doxology, not a man worshipped alongside the Word.
2.9Ninth anathema: the Spirit by whom Christ worked miracles is his own, not a foreign power lent to him.
2.10Tenth anathema: the Word incarnate himself is our high priest, and he offered himself for us alone, not for himself.
2.11Eleventh anathema: the Lord's flesh is life-giving because it is the Word's own flesh.
2.12Twelfth anathema: the Word of God suffered, was crucified, and died in the flesh, and is the firstborn from the dead.
3.1The Formula of Reunion of 433: Christ is perfect God and perfect man, of one substance with the Father and with us; the two natures are united without confusion, so Mary is Theotokos.
About this work
Author
Anonymous
Attribution
authentic · Documents received by the council or by later councils: Cyril's Second Letter to Nestorius (approved at Ephesus 431 and Chalcedon 451), the Twelve Anathemas of Cyril's Third Letter (430, not accepted by the Antiochenes), and the Formula of Reunion (433). Only the parts printed in Hahn (1897) are staged: the doctrinal part of the Second Letter, the Anathemas without their letter, and the Formula with Cyril's introduction. Not staged for lack of a clean Greek text: the openings of the letters, Nestorius's reply, the Third Letter itself, and the sentence of deposition.
Standing
Honoured by the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions. Documents of the ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431) and the Formula of Reunion; Cyril's Second Letter was approved at Ephesus and Chalcedon and is received by Catholics, Orthodox, and the main Protestant confessions (the Anathemas less widely).
Date
430–433 · Second Letter ca. Feb. 430; Third Letter and Anathemas Nov. 430; Formula of Reunion 433
Written at
Alexandria and Antioch, Egypt and Syria (probable)
Language
Greek
Genre
letter
Reference system
document.section: 1.1–1.3 Cyril, Second Letter to Nestorius (doctrinal part; sections are this edition's, ~250 words each); 2.1–2.12 the Twelve Anathemas of Cyril (the anathema number); 3.1 the Formula of Reunion with Cyril's introduction. Ref 0 would be reserved for the letters' openings if they are staged later
SBL abbreviation
Conc. Ephes. Doc.Not yet checked
Text from
August Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln der alten Kirche, 3rd ed., ed. G. Ludwig Hahn (Breslau: Morgenstern, 1897), OCR of the archive.org scan (BibliothekDerSymboleUndGlaubensregel); Greek text after Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio (Printed edition in the public domain; digital OCR text from archive.org (public domain))
Critical editions
Eduard Schwartz, ed., Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1914–; cited only, not reproduced); Giuseppe Alberigo et al., eds., Conciliorum oecumenicorum decreta (Bologna: Istituto per le scienze religiose, 1973; cited only); Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio 4–7 (Florence/Venice 1759–) (cited, not reproduced)