To Dioscorus, Archbishop of Alexandria

To those who suffer under false accusation, the greatest comfort comes from the words of Scripture. When such a sufferer is wounded by the lying words of an unbridled tongue and feels the sharp stings of distress, he remembers the story of the admirable Joseph. He sees that model of chastity, a pattern of every kind of virtue, suffering under a slanderous charge, imprisoned and chained for forcing his way into another man’s bed, and spending a long time in a dungeon. And his pain is eased by the remedy the story supplies. So again, when he finds the gentle David hunted as a tyrant by Saul, and then catching his enemy and letting him go unharmed, he is given relief in his distress. But when he sees the Lord Christ himself, Maker of the ages, Creator of all things, true God and Son of the true God, called a glutton and a drunkard by the wicked Jews, he is given not only comfort but great joy, because he has been counted worthy to share the sufferings of the Lord. [a]

I was compelled to write this when I read the letters of your holiness to the most pious and sacred archbishop Domnus. They contained the statement that certain men have come to the illustrious city your holiness governs, and have accused me of dividing the one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons, and of doing this while preaching at Antioch, where countless hearers fill the congregation. I wept for the men who had the nerve to invent this empty slander against me. But I was grieved too, and forgive me, my lord, for pain forces me to say it, that your pious excellency did not keep one ear open and unprejudiced for me, instead of believing the lies of my accusers. Yet they were only three or four, or about a dozen, while I have countless hearers to testify that my teaching is orthodox. For six years I went on teaching in the time of Theodotus, bishop of Antioch, of blessed and sacred memory, who was famous both for his distinguished life and for his knowledge of the divine doctrines. For thirteen years I taught in the time of bishop John, of sacred and blessed memory. He was so delighted with my sermons that he would raise both his hands and start up from his seat again and again. Your holiness, in your own letters, has testified how exact his knowledge of the divine doctrines was, brought up as he was from boyhood on the divine Scriptures. Besides these, this is the seventh year of the most pious lord archbishop Domnus. To this very day, after so long a time, not one of the pious bishops and not one of the devout clergy has ever found any fault with what I have said. And how gladly Christian people listen to our sermons your godly excellency can easily learn, both from those who have traveled from there to here and from those who have come to your city from us. [c]

I say all this not to boast, but because I am forced to defend myself. It is not the fame of my sermons I am pointing to; it is only their orthodoxy. Even the great teacher of the world, who likes to call himself the least of the saints and the first of sinners, was compelled to set out a list of his own labors in order to stop the mouths of liars. And to show that this account of his sufferings was given out of necessity and not by choice, he added, “I have become a fool in boasting; you compelled me.” I confess that I am wretched, yes, three times wretched. I am guilty of many errors. Through faith alone I hope to find some mercy on the day of the Lord’s appearing. I wish and pray to follow in the footsteps of the holy fathers, and I earnestly desire to keep undefiled the teaching of the Gospels, which the holy fathers assembled in council at Nicaea in Bithynia handed down to us in summary. I believe that there is one God the Father, and one Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father. So also I believe that there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, the radiance of his glory and the exact image of the Father’s person, who for the sake of humanity’s salvation became flesh and became man, and was born of Mary the Virgin in the flesh. For so we are taught by the wise Paul: “Theirs are the fathers, and from them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” And again: “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness.” For this reason we also call the holy Virgin Theotokos, and we consider those who object to this title to be strangers to true religion. [d]

In the same way we call those men corrupt, and shut them out of the assembly of Christians, who divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two persons, or two sons, or two Lords. For we have heard the truly divine Paul saying, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” and again, “One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things,” and again, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever,” and in another place, “He who descended is the same one who also ascended far above all the heavens.” And countless other passages like these, proclaiming the one Lord, can be found in the Apostle’s writings. [i] So too the divine Evangelist cries out, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.” [j] And his namesake cried out, “After me comes one who ranks ahead of me, for he was before me.” Having pointed to one person, he expressed both the divine and the human. The words “man” and “comes” are human, but the phrase “he was before me” expresses the divine. Even so, he did not recognize a distinction between the one who came after and the one who was before. He confessed that the same being was eternal as God, but born as man, after himself, of the Virgin. [k] In the same way the three times blessed Thomas, when he had put his hand on the flesh of the Lord, called him Lord and God, saying, “My Lord and my God.” For through the visible nature he discerned the invisible. [l] So we know no difference between that very flesh and the Godhead, but we confess God the Word made man to be one Son.

We have learned these lessons both from holy Scripture and from the holy fathers who have explained it: Alexander and Athanasius, loud-voiced heralds of the truth, who were the glory of your apostolic see; Basil and Gregory; and the rest of the lights of the world. Our own writings testify that we use their works in our effort to shut the mouths of those who dare to oppose the blessed Theophilus and Cyril. For we are most anxious to heal, with the medicines supplied by very holy men, those who deny the distinction between the Lord’s flesh and the Godhead, and who claim at one moment that the divine nature was changed into flesh, and at another that the flesh was transformed into the nature of the Godhead. [m] For those fathers clearly teach us the distinction between the two natures and proclaim that the divine nature cannot change. They call the Lord’s flesh divine, because it became the flesh of God the Word; but they reject as ungodly the teaching that it was transformed into the nature of the Godhead. I think your excellency knows well that Cyril, of blessed memory, often wrote to me. When he sent his books against Julian to Antioch, and in the same way his book on the scapegoat, he asked the blessed John, bishop of Antioch, to show them to the great teachers of the East. In answer to this request the blessed John sent us the books. I read them with admiration, and I wrote to Cyril, of blessed memory, and he wrote back to me praising my precision and my kindness. I have kept this letter. [n] My own hand bears witness that I twice signed the writings of John, of blessed memory, concerning Nestorius. Yet this is the kind of thing whispered about me by men who try to hide their own unsoundness by slandering me. [o]

So I implore your holiness to turn your back on the liars, and to give your attention to the peace of the church. Either heal with wholesome medicines those who are trying to destroy the doctrines of the truth, or, if they refuse to accept your treatment, drive them out of the flock, so that the sheep may be spared the infection. I beg you to give me your usual greeting. My works on the holy Scriptures and against the Arians and Eunomians prove that I have written you my true convictions. [p] I will add one brief word more. If anyone refuses to confess the holy Virgin to be Theotokos, or calls our Lord Jesus Christ a mere man, or divides into two sons him who is the one only Son and the firstborn of all creation, I pray that he may fall from his hope in Christ. And let all the people say: Amen, amen. [q] Now that I have said this, be pleased, my lord, to give me your sacred prayers, and to cheer me with a letter in reply, telling me that your holiness has turned your back on my accusers. I and my household greet all your brotherhood in godliness in Christ.