Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶςKatholikon

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St Photius the Great, tr. Freese, 1920; selections

41. Codex 41: John of Aegae, Ecclesiastical History

Read the Ecclesiastical History by a certain John.1 It begins with the reign of Theodosius the Younger, the heresy of Nestorius and his deposition, and goes down to the time of Zeno and the deposition of Peter the heretic,2 who had usurped the see of Antioch. The style is clear but florid. The author describes in detail the third council held at Ephesus,3 and also another council held in the same place, the “Robber” council, which he deifies together with its president Dioscorus and his companions. He also gives a slanderous account of the council of Chalcedon. This justifies the conclusion that the author is John, presbyter of Aegae, a heretic who wrote a special attack on the council of Chalcedon. The history, according to his statement, is in ten books. I have only read five, containing (as already stated) a record of events from the heresy of Nestorius to the deposition of Peter the heretic.

Notes

  1. Presbyter of Aegae in Cilicia, flourished in the latter half of the fifth century. In Cod. LV. Photius calls him a Nestorian, but it is suggested that this is a mistake for Eutychian.
  2. Surnamed the Fuller, patriarch of Antioch (471-488).
  3. 431.
    5 449.

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