The Tenth Anathema: The Word Himself Is Our High Priest

Whoever says that it is not the divine Word himself, when he was made flesh and became man as we are, but another than he, a man born of a woman, yet different from him, a man in his own right, who has become our great High Priest and Apostle; or whoever says that he offered himself in sacrifice for himself, and not rather for us, whereas, being without sin, he had no need of offering or sacrifice: let him be anathema. [a]

Nestorius’s tenth counter-anathema: [c] If anyone maintains that the Word, who is from the beginning, has become the high priest and apostle of our confession and has offered himself for us, and does not rather say that it is the work of Emmanuel to be an apostle; and if anyone divides the sacrifice in such a way between the one who united and the one who was united, that is, between the Word and the humanity, as to refer it to a sonship they share, that is, not giving to God what is God’s and to man what is man’s: let him be anathema. [d]

Saint Cyril: From his Explanation of the Tenth Anathema. [e] But I do not know how those who think otherwise argue that it was not the very Word of God made man who was the apostle and high priest of our confession, but a man different from him; that this man, born of the holy Virgin, was called our apostle and high priest and came to this by degrees; and that he offered himself as a sacrifice to God and the Father not only for us but also for himself. That statement is wholly contrary to the right and undefiled faith. For he did no sin, but was above all fault and altogether free from sin, and needed no sacrifice for himself. Since those who think differently were once again unreasonably thinking of two sons, this anathema became necessary, so that their impiety might be shown up. [f]