It is not expressly stated whether any formal
decision on the case of Cyril was adopted by the Council: but as
his name does not appear in the lists of those who were deposed or
excommunicated, it is certain that he was not condemned. It is
most probable that the charges against him were disregarded after his
accuser Acacius had refused to appear, and that he returned, like the
others, to his diocese. But he was not to be left long in
peace. Acacius and some of his party had hastened to
Constantinople, where they gained over to their cause the chief men
attached to the palace, and through their influence secured the favour
of Constantius, and roused his anger against the majority of the
Council. But what especially stirred the Emperor’s wrath
were the charges which Acacius concocted against Cyril:
“For,” he said that “the holy robe which the Emperor
Constantine of blessed memory, in his desire to honour the Church of
Jerusalem, had presented to Macarius, the Bishop of that city, to be
worn when he administered the rite of Holy Baptism, all fashioned as it
was with golden threads, had been sold by Cyril, and bought by one of
the dancers at the theatre, who had put it on, and while dancing had
fallen, and injured himself, and died. With such an ally as this
Cyril,” he said, “they undertake to judge and pass sentence
upon the rest of the world Theodoret, H.
E. ii. 23..”