Chapter 2

And though we were to suppose Cyril to have been the author of those chapters, that he would have published them covertly, without the knowledge of any of the Easterns, is plain from what hath been said in the former chapter, and cannot be doubted. And this may also be learned from certain other considerations which cannot be gainsaid. For if, so to speak, he had put them forth publicly, three things must necessarily have followed.

Firstly. That they must have been signed by the God-fearing Bishops who were then with him, and by those learned Clerics who are continually found about the Patriarch (Old Rome calleth these Cardinals), and who co-operate with the Patriarch in everything; but our calumniators have never been able to show anything of the kind. For of the many Bishops and Clerics, not even one knew of, or signed the said chapters, or ever indeed heard Cyril speak upon the subject.

Secondly. That they would have been copied into the codeces of the Great Church, and so copied would have again been signed by those that signed the originals. For every Patriarchal Letter issued concerning faith, or any Ecclesiastical matter of importance purposeth to be Synodical, as being written with Synodical examination, and Synodically approved and signed; and such a Letter is copied into the codeces. But such was not the case with the said chapters of Cyril; for not only is the copy wanting in the codeces, but also the existence of the chapters is unknown even to-day, with few exceptions, to the Bishops and Priests, much less to the Orthodox common people. And this only by the continual prattle of our adversaries, which they boastingly make everywhere, putting forth to every one the vaunted chapters, as though perhaps the Eastern Church thought as themselves; and so by this means procure what was mentioned at the beginning,—for I will not cease from often repeating this,—that they may forsooth deceive the unwary.

Thirdly. That they would have been written in the codex by one of the Clerics, and not by anyone else. But the said chapters of Cyril were not, as for that, copied into any of the codeces of the Great Church by any Cleric, or by anyone else; as it appeareth the Synodical Letters concerning faith and discipline are noted, and especially those of the Lord Jeremias addressed to the Lutherans, which are found in the great codex; and of which the writer and copier was the renowned Cleric Theodosius Zygomalas, the Great Rhetor, from Nauplia, near Peloponnesus.

And, consequently, the truth of what we say shineth like the sun forsooth. For if the Lord Jeremias, when writing alone to the Lutherans, that is, not Synodically, but individually, that what was written might be the more worthy of belief and ungainsaid, caused the same to be copied into the codex, and, which is exceptional, signed by the Great Rhetor, how was it that Cyril, in putting forth a Confession of faith, and making definitions, as on behalf of the Eastern Church, neither caused the same to be entered in the codex, nor to be signed by the Bishops and Clerics? So that the said chapters, since they not only want the three mentioned conditions, but are even without one of the three, if they were really published by Cyril, were published covertly and deceitfully.