THE DEFINITION OF FAITH OF THE THIRD COUNCIL OF

CONSTANTINOPLE.

ACT. XVIII.

The holy, great, and Ecumenical Synod which has been assembled by the grace of God, and the religious decree of the most religious and faithful and mighty Sovereign Constantine, in this protected of God and royal city of Constantinople, New Rome, in the Hall of the imperial Palace, called Trullus, has decreed as follows.

The only-begotten Son, and Word of God the Father, who was made man in all things like unto us without sin, Christ our true God, has declared expressly in the words of the Gospel, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." And again, " My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Our most gentle Sovereign, the champion of orthodoxy, and opponent of evil doctrine, being reverentially led by this divinely uttered doctrine of peace, and having convened this our holy and Ecumenical assembly, has united the judg ment of the whole Church. Wherefore this our holy and Ecumenical Synod having driven away the impious error which had prevailed for a certain time until now, and following closely the straight path of the holy and approved Fathers, has piously given its full assent to the five holy and Ecumenical Synods (that is to say, to that of the 318 holy Fathers who assembled in Nice against the raging Arius; and the next in Constantinople of the 150 inspired men against Macedonius the adversary of the Spirit, and the impious Apollinarius; and also the first in Ephesus of 200 venerable men convened against Nestorius the Judaizer; and that in Chalcedon

of 630 inspired Fathers against Eutyches and Dioscorus hated of God; and in addition to these, to the last, that is the 5th holy Synod assembled in this place, against Theodorus of Mopsuestia, Origen, Didymus, and Euagrius, and the writings of Theodoret against the twelve Chapters of the celebrated Cyril, and the Epistle which was said to be written by Ibas to Maris the Persian), renewing in all things the ancient decrees of religion, and chasing away the impious doctrines of irreligion. And this holy and Ecumenical Synod has by the inspiration of God set its seal to the Creed which was put forth by the 318 Fathers, and again religiously confirmed by the 150, which also the other holy Synods cordially received and ratified for the taking away of every soul-destroying heresy.

The Nicene Creed of the 318 holy Fathers.

We believe, &c.

The Creed of the 150 holy Fathers assembled at Constantinople.

We believe, &c.

The holy and Ecumenical Synod further says, this pious and orthodox Creed of the Divine grace would be sufficient for the full knowledge and confirmation of the orthodox faith. But as the author of evil, who, in the beginning, availed himself of the aid of the serpent, and by it brought the poison of death upon the human race, has not desisted, but in like manner now, having found suitable instruments for working out his will (we mean Theodorus, who was Bishop of Pharan, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter, who were presidents of this royal city, and moreover, Honorius who was Pope of the elder Rome, Cyrus Bishop of Alexandria, Macarius who was lately President of Antioch, and Stephen his disciple), has actively employed them in raising up for the whole

Church the stumbling-blocks of one will and one operation in the two natures of Christ our true God, one of the Holy Trinity; thus disseminating, in novel terms, amongst the orthodox people, an heresy similar to the mad and wicked doctrine of the impious Apollinarius, Severus, and Themistius, and endeavoring craftily to destroy the perfection of the incarnation of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, our God, by blasphemously representing his flesh endowed with a rational soul as devoid of will or operation. Christ, therefore, our God, has raised up our faithful Sovereign, a new David, having found him a man after his own heart, who, as it is written, has not suffered his eyes to sleep nor his eyelids to slumber, until he has found a perfect declaration of orthodoxy by this our collected of God, and holy Synod; for, according to the sentence spoken of God, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Which present holy and Œcumenical Synod faithfully receiving and embracing with open hands the report which was made by the most holy and blessed Pope of old Rome, Agatho, unto our most religious and faithful Sovereign Constantine, and which rejected by name those who preached and taught (as aforesaid) one will and one operation in the incarnate dispensation of Christ our true God; and in like manner receiving another synodical report of the 125 God-loving Bishops to his Godly-wise serenity, as both agreeing with the holy Synod of Chalcedon, and the book of Leo, the most holy and blessed Pope of the said old Rome, which was sent to the holy Flavian, and which the said Synod called a pillar of orthodoxy; and also following the Synodical letters which were written by the blessed Cyril against the impieties of Nestorius, and to the Bishops of the East; and the five holy Synods, and the holy

and approved Fathers, and defining agreeably thereto; confesses our Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, one of the holy consubstantial and life-giving Trinity, perfect in Godhead, and also perfect in Manhood, the same truly God, and truly man of a reasonable soul and flesh; consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us without sin; who was begotten of the Father before the worlds according to the Godhead, but in these last days for us and for our salvation [born] according to the Manhood of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, properly and truly the bringer-forth of God; to be acknowledged one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten, in two natures, without confusion, change, separation, or division, the distinction of the natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the propriety of each nature being preserved and concurring in one Person, and one Subsistence, not being parted or divided into two Persons, but one and the same, the only-begotten Son of God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophets of old, and Jesus Christ himself, has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has delivered to us. And in like manner we declare that there are in Him two natural wills and two natural operations, without separation, change, division, or confusion, according to the doctrine of the holy fathers; and that the two natural wills are not opposed to each other (God forbid), as the impious heretics have asserted, but his human will follows and does not oppose, or contend against, but rather is in subjection to his Divine and Almighty will. For it was necessary that the will of the flesh should be moved, but that it should be subjected to the Divine will, according to the most wise Athanasius; for as his flesh is called and is the flesh of God the

Word, so also the natural will of his flesh is called and is belonging to God, as he himself says, "I came down from heaven, not that I might do mine own will, but the will of the Father who sent me," calling the will of his flesh his own will, inasmuch as his flesh was his own. For in the same manner as his most holy and spotless flesh with a rational soul was not destroyed by being deified, but continued in the same state and sense, so also his human will being deified was not destroyed, but is the rather preserved, as Gregory the divine says, for his will considered as in the Saviour is not contrary to God, being wholly deified. We also confess two natural operations without separation, change, division, or confusion, in the same our Lord Jesus Christ our true God, that is, the divine operation and the human operation, according to the divine preacher Leo, who says most plainly, for each form by its communion with the other works that which it had of its own, the Word working that which belongs to the Word, and the body performing those things which belong to the body: for we must not allow one natural operation of God and a creature, that we may not exalt that which is created into the Divine Substance, nor lower the excellence of the Divine nature into a rank suited to creatures. For we acknowledge the miracles and sufferings of one and the same Person according to the difference of the natures from which they proceed, and in which they have their existence, as the admirable Cyril says. Preserving then always the inconfusedness and inseparability, we declare the whole matter in a few words. We believe that one of the Holy Trinity, and after his incarnation our Lord Jesus Christ, is our true God; and we say that his two natures shone forth in his one Subsistence, in which throughout the whole of his incarnate conversation, he showed forth, not phantasti