rson of Nestorius. St. Cyril and John of
Antioch afterwards admitted him to their communion without requiring
that condition, and Theodoret labored to gain over Alexander of
Hierapolis; but in vain, so that this prelate was banished by the
emperor; Theodoret himself, though he enjoyed the communion of St.
Cyril, and of John of Antioch, was often accused, because he
persisted to defend the person of Nestorius. The persecution was
often renewed against Theodoret, so long as he adhered to Nestorius,
especially after St. Cyril, St. Proclus, and all the western
prelates condemned the writings of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, as the
master of the heresiarch Nestorius in his capital error. The
Orientals defended Theodorus, and Theodoret endeavored to justify
him by several writings against St. Cyril, of which only fragments
quoted in the fifth council are extant. St. Cyril, by his silence
and moderation, calmed this dispute, and always maintained peace
with the Orientals from the time it was settled between them. His
death happened in June, 444, and Dioscorus, the impious Eutychian,
was his successor. Theodorus, bishop of Mopsuestia, in Cilicia, who
died in 428, in his erroneous writings laid the foundation both of
the Pelagian and Nestorian heresies. Theodoret, in his writings
against St. Cyril, adopts certain expressions which favored
Nestorianism, and were condemned in the fifth general council;
nevertheless, his sentiments were always orthodox, as is proved by
Tillemont, (Art. 20, t. 15, p. 253,) Natalis Alexander, Graveson,
&c. By exerting his zeal against Eutyches and Dioscorus, he incurred
the indignation of their sect, and the false council of Ephesus
pronounced a pretended sentence of deposition against him.
Theodosius the younger first forbade him to stir out of his diocese,
and when he desired to go to Rome to justify himself, in 450,
banished him to his monastery near Apamea. The emperor Marcian put
an end to the persecution raised by the Eutychians under his
predecessor; yet Theodoret chose to continue in his monastery till
he was called by pope Leo to assist at the council of Chalcedon. He
had received, with great applause, the excellent letter of that pope
to Flavian, and St. Leo declared null all the proceedings of
Dioscorus against him at Ephesus, and restored him to his see,