# St. Cyril & Nestorius

##### St Cyril & Nestorius

- Visiting Bishop (student of the School in Antioch) gives a sermon (in the presence of Nestorius) cautioning the use of the word Theotokos.
- The people of Antioch write to St Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria. 
    - In those days, Alexandria has primacy in the East...
    - There are conflicts & rivalry with Constantinople
    - Alexandria deposed patriarch of Constantinople 7 times (Athanasius: 3 times?, Timothy deposed Macedonius, Theophilus deposed St John Chrysostom, Cyril deposes Nestorius, Dioscorus will depose Flavian
- Cyril's First Letter to Nestorius 
    - [https://www.reformedhistory.com/Content/Letters/CyrilToNestorius1](https://www.reformedhistory.com/Content/Letters/CyrilToNestorius1)
    - Cyril is very charitable, giving the benefit of the doubt
    - He continues to go that way - even after making conclusions about Nestorius' heresy, he will continue to call him "Most Holy" and "Blessed" and "Minister of Christ" etc. because he is not deposed
- Nestorius' First Letter to Cyril 
    - [https://www.fourthcentury.com/nestorius-of-constantinople-first-letter-to-cyril-cyril-letter-3-cpg-5666-8628/](https://www.fourthcentury.com/nestorius-of-constantinople-first-letter-to-cyril-cyril-letter-3-cpg-5666-8628/)
    - Short and not-so-sweet
    - Greeting, complaint against the priest delivering the letter, then...
    - "As far as we are concerned, although your reverence has done many things not in keeping with brotherly love (to put it gently), we write this salutation with patience and love."
    - And salutation
- Cyril's Second Letter to Nestorius 
    - [https://www.reformedhistory.com/Content/Letters/CyrilToNestorius2](https://www.reformedhistory.com/Content/Letters/CyrilToNestorius2)
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