XI.
Whosoever
shall not confess that
the flesh of the Lord giveth life and that it pertains to the Word of
God the Father as his very own, but shall pretend that it belongs to
another person who is united to him [i.e., the Word] only according to
honour, and who has served as a dwelling for the divinity; and shall
not rather confess, as we say, that that flesh giveth life because it
is that of the Word who giveth life to all: let him be
anathema.
Notes.
Nestorius.
XI.
If any one maintains that the flesh which is united with
God the Word is by the power of its own nature life-giving, whereas the
Lord himself says, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing” (
St. John vi. 61
), let him be anathema. [He adds,
“God is a Spirit” (
St. John iv. 24
). If, then, any one maintains that
God the Logos has in a carnal manner, in his substance, become flesh,
and persists in this with reference to the Lord Christ; who himself
after his resurrection said to his disciples, “Handle me and see;
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having”
(
St. Luke xxiv. 39
); let him be anathema.]
Hefele.
The part enclosed in brackets is certainly a spurious
addition and is wanting in many manuscripts.
Cf
. Marius
Mercator [ed. Migne], p. 919.
St. Cyril.
(
Declaratio undecima
.)
We perform in the churches the holy, lifegiving, and
unbloody sacrifice; the body, as also the precious blood, which is
exhibited we believe not to be that of a common man and of any one like
unto us, but receiving it rather as his own body and as the blood of
the Word which gives all things life. For common flesh cannot
give life. And this our Saviour himself testified when he
said: “The flesh profiteth nothing, it is the Spirit that
giveth life.” For since the flesh became the very own of
the Word, therefore we understand that it is lifegiving, as the Saviour
himself said: “As the living Father hath sent me, and I
live by the Father; so he that eateth me shall live by me.”
Since therefore Nestorius and those who think with him rashly dissolve
the power of this mystery; therefore it was convenient that this
anathematism should be put forth.