In his homily from June (28?) 431, Cyril of Alexandria was recorded as having said the following:
Resplendent is the assembly I see,
with all the holy men eagerly assembled, summoned by holy Mary, Theotokos,
and ever -Virgin. Even though I was in great distress, the presence of the
holy fathers has changed that into joy. There is now fulfilled in us that sweet
saying of the psalmodist David, ‘Behold! What is good or what is delightful,
compared to brethren dwelling in unity?’ Rejoice with us, therefore, holy and
mystic Trinity that has summoned all of us here to this church of Mary Theotokos.
Rejoice with us, Mary Theotokos, the venerable treasure of the whole
world, the inextinguishable lamp, the crown of virginity, the sceptre of orthodoxy, the indestructible
temple, the container of the Uncontainable, the Mother and Virgin, through whom
in the holy gospels is called blessed ‘he who comes in the name of the Lord’.
Rejoice, you who contained the Uncontainable in your holy and virginal womb, through
whom the holy Trinity is glorified and worshipped throughout the world,
through whom heaven is glad, through whom angels
and archangels exult, through whom demons are put to flight, through
whom the devil the tempter fell from heaven, through whom
the fallen creature is received back into heaven, through whom
the whole creation caught in the madness of idolatry, has come to the knowledge
of the truth, through whom holy baptism comes to those who
believe, through whom the wholm churches have been founded
throughout the world, through whom nations are led to repentance.
Why should I say more? Through whom the only-begotten Son of God
has shone as a light ‘to those seated in darkness and in the shadow of death’, through
whom the prophets spoke, through whom the dead are
raised, through whom kings exercise their rule. Through the holy
Trinity (and who among men is able to describe the much-hymned Mary?) .
. . the virginal womb. Oh the miracle! I am amazed by the miracle. Who ever
heard of a builder who built his own temple and yet was prevented from dwelling
in it? Who is reviled for calling his own servant his mother? . . . In your
[Nestorius] wish to ravage the world with our deceitful words, insult the
temple of God, and separate [from her] the one conceived of the Virgin
Mary (a wicked doctrine that stirs up madness in the world), you imitated
Belial, who has not been let loose nor manifested and should not be sought out
before his time. . . . Let this be enough from us about this man: God is the judge,
and ‘will requite such person according to his works.’ May it be for us to fear
and worship the Unity, to be obedient to the most God-beloved emperor, ‘to be
submissive to the authorities and powers’, and to bear and adore the
undivided Trinity, as we hymn the ever-Virgin Mary (meaning the holy
Church) and her Son and spotless bridegroom, for to him is the glory forever
and ever. Amen. (Richard Price, The Council of Ephesus 431: Documents and
Proceedings [Translated Texts for Historians 72; Liverpool: Liverpool
University Press, 2020, 2022], 339-40, 342, 343, emphasis added)
If Trinitarians who are not Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox
read this, if they wish to be consistent, they will have to argue that
the following is, to slightly what one Reformed Baptist wrote about Catholic
Mariology and piety:
It is an act of kindness and love
to identify this kind of religious activity truthfully and honestly in the
light of God’s Word: it is idolatry, plain and simple. The person who truly
desires to call the historical Mary of Nazareth “blessed” will oppose the false
Mariology of [Cyril] and instead do as Mary did: direct others away from herself,
and soley to her divine Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. (James R. White, “Foreword” to
Eric D. Svendsen, Who Is My Mother? The Role and Status of the Mother of
Jesus in the New Testament and Roman Catholicism [Amityville, N.Y.: Calvary
Press, 2001], 17; the only change is that ‘Rome’ is replaced by ‘Cyril’)
In other words, if Reformed Protestants wish to be consistent,
they will have to claim Cyril, while he may be correct on the person of Jesus
and the relationship between his two natures, etc., was, at heart, an unregenerate
idolater who feigned orthodoxy. This is not to be wrong on a small issue, such as the exact parsing of a Greek verb; this is, from their perspective (and mine,
too) idolatry.
