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166
THE LESSER EASTERN CHURCHES

least, most of them are not. They accepted the terms of reconciliation between John and Cyril, they tempered the ideas of Diodore and Theodore, recognized the Council of Ephesus, and no longer defended Nestorius. But they were the natural opponents of the first Monophysites. John of Antioch died in 441 or 442. He was succeeded by his nephew Domnus[1] II (441–448), who shared all his ideas. In the vast Antiochene Patriarchate Ibas was now Bishop of Edessa (435–457),[2] and Theodoret Bishop of Cyrus (423-458).[3] Theodoret was the chief theologian o that side. He had been a friend and partisan of Nestorius, an active opponent of Cyril. But about the year 435 he joined the union between his Patriarch (John) and Cyril; since then he remained a Catholic. He was naturally a great enemy of Dioscor and the Monophysites. They deposed him in their Robber-Synod (449; see p. 77). At Chalcedon (451) he made a perfectly correct profession of faith, condemning Nestorius as well as the opposite heresy, was restored to his see, and died in peace in 457. Theodoret succeeded the older masters as the leader of the Antiochene school of theology; he is also famous as a great defender of the Roman primacy.[4] His Patriarch, Domnus, had great confidence in him. Proclus succeeded Maximian (p. 65) as Bishop[5] of Constantinople (434–447). He was on good terms with the Eastern bishops, and leaned towards their views. But already he began to usurp Patriarchal jurisdiction in Illyricum and Asia Minor,[6] so that Dioscor, naturally wishing to disturb the good relations between the capital and his enemies in the East, writes to the Easterns that by allowing this they betray the rights of Antioch and Alexandria.[7]

  1. Δόμνος.
  2. See pp. 76–77. Ibas must be counted as very nearly a Nestorian.
  3. Kyrros (Κυῤῥος), a little town in Syria, near the Euphrates, two days from Antioch.
  4. See his appeal to Pope Leo I, when he was deposed by the Robber-Synod (quoted in Orth. Eastern Church, p. 56). The Monophysites always hated him. His writings were condemned as the second of the Three Chapters, to please them (see p. 202).
  5. It is a question how far one can speak of a Patriarch of Constantinople before Chalcedon.
  6. This is part of the gradual advance of Constantinople towards the second place in Christendom (Orth. Eastern Church, pp. 28–47).
  7. Theodoret: Ep. 86 (P.G. lxxxiii. 1280).