Note on the
Emperor’s Edict to the Synod.
Neither of the Emperors could personally attend the
Council of Ephesus and accordingly Theodosius II. appointed the Count
Candidian, Captain of the imperial bodyguard, the protector of the
council, to sit in the room of the Emperors. In making this
appointment he addressed an edict to the synod which will be found in
the
Concilia
and of which Hefele gives the following
synopsis.
(Hefele,
Hist. of the Councils
, Vol. III., p.
43.)
Candidian is to take no immediate part in the
discussions on contested points of faith, for it is not becoming that
one who does not belong to the number of the bishops should mix himself
up in the examination and decision of theological controversies.
On the contrary, Candidian was to remove from the city the monks and
laymen who had come or should afterwards come to Ephesus out of
curiosity, so that disorder and confusion should not be caused by those
who were in no way needed for the examination of the sacred
doctrines. He was, besides, to watch lest the discussions among
the members of the Synod themselves should degenerate into violent
disputes and hinder the more exact investigation of truth; and, on the
contrary, see that every statement should be heard with attention, and
that every one put forward in view, or his objections, without let or
hindrance, so that at last an unanimous decision might be arrived at in
peace by the holy Synod. But above all, Candidian was to take
care that no member of the Synod should attempt, before the close of
the transactions, to go home, or to the court, or elsewhere.
Moreover, he was not to allow that any other matter of controversy
should be taken into consideration before the settlement of the
principal point of doctrine before the Council.