§ 139. THE NESTOEIANS. 733
inac(.essil le valley on tlie borders of Turkey and Persia They are very ignorant and poor, and have been much reduced by war, pestilence, and cholera.
A portion of the Nestorians, especially those in cities, united from time to time, under the name of Chaldseans, with the Roman church, and have a patriarch of their own at Bagdad.
And on the other side, Protestant missionaries from America have made vigorous and successful efforts, since 1833, to evangelize and civilize the Nestorians by preaching, schools, translations of the Bible, and good books.'
The Thomas-Christians in East India are a branch of the Nestorians, named from tlie apostle Thomas, who is supposed to have preached the gospel on the coast of Malabar. They honor the memory of Theodore and N^estorius in their Syriac liturgy, and adhere to the Nestorian patriarchs. In the sixteenth century they were, with reluctance, connected with the Koman church for sixty years (1599-16G3) through the agency of Jesuit missionaries. But when the Portuguese power in India was shaken by the Dutch, they returned to their independent position, and since the expulsion of the Portuguese they have enjoyed the free exercise of their religion on the coast of Malabar. The number of the Thomas-Christians is said still to amount to seventy thousand souls, who form a province by themselves under the British empire, governed by priests and elders.
' Dr. Justin Perkins, Asahel Grant, Rhea, Stoddard, Wright, and other missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The centre of their labors is Oormiah, a city of 25,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,000 are Nestorians. Comp. on this subject Newcomb, 1. c. 556 ff., especially the letter of Dr. Perkins of 1854, p. 564 ff., on the present condition of this mission; also Joseph P. Thompson: Memoir of the Rev. David Tappan Stoddard, missionary to the Nestorians, Boston, lySS ; and a pamphlet issued by the American B. C. F. M. : Historical Sketch of tha Mission to the Nestorians by Justin Perkins, and of the Assyrian Mission by Rev. Thomas Laurie, New York, 1862. The American Board of Foreign Missions look upon the Nestorian and Armenian missions as a means and encouraging pledge of the conversion of the miUions of Mohammedans, among whom Providence has placed and preserved those ancient sects, as it would sewni, for such an eid.
734 THIBD PERIOD. A.D. 3J 1-590.
§ 140. The Etitychian Controversy. The Council of Robber %^
A. D. 449.
Comp. the Works at § 137. SOURCES.
AoT8 of the council of C'ealgedon, of the local council of Constantinople, and of the Robber Synod of Ephesus. The correspondence between Leo and Flavian, etc. For these acts, letters, and other documents, see Mansi, ,Conc. tom. v. vi. and vii. ((JELASirs?) : Breviculus historifB Eutychianistarum s. gesta de nomine Acacii (extending to 486, in Mansi^ vii. 1060 sqq.). Liberatus : Breviarium causfe Nest, et Eutych. Leontius Byzant. : Contra Nest, et Eutycli. The last part of the Stnodicon adv. tragoediara Iren^i (in Mansi, v. 731 sqq.). Etagrius: H. E. i. 9 sqq. Theodoret: 'Epnviarf]! (the Beggnr) or UoXvfiofycpoi (the Multiformed), — a refutation of the Egyptian Eutychian system of doctrines (which begged together so much from various old heresies, as to form a new one), in three dialogues, written in 447 (Opera, ed. Schulze, vol. iv.).
LITERATURE.
Petavitjs: De incarnatione Verbi, lib. i. c. 14—18, and the succeeding books, particularly iii., iv., and v. (Theohig. dogmatum, tom. iv. p. 65 sqq. ed. Par. 1650). Tillemont: Memoires, torn. xv. pp. 479-71'.). 0. A. Salig: De Eutycliianismo ante Eutychen. Wolfenb. 1723. Walch: Ketzerhist. vol. vi. 3-640. Sciirockh: vol. xviii. 433-492. Neander: Kiichengesch. iv. pp. 942-992. Batjr: Geseh. der Lehre von d. Dreieiiiigkeit, etc. i. 800-825. Dorner: Gesch. d. Lehre v. d. Pers. Chr. ii. 99-149. Hefele (R. C): Conciliengesch. ii. pp. 295- 545. "W. CuNNixGirAM: Historical Theology, i. pj). 311-''15. Comp also the Monographs of Arendt (1835) and Pertiiel (1843) on Leo I.
The result of the third universal couuci] was rather ne^ative than positive. The council condemned the Nestorian error, without fixing the true doctrine. The subsequent union of the Alexandrians and the Antiochians was only a superficial peace, to which each party had sacrificed somewhat of its convictions. Compromises are generally of short duration ; principles and systems must develope themselves to their utmost consequences ; heresies nmst ripen, and must he opened to the core. As the Antiochian tlieology begot Nestorianism, wliicL Stretched the distinction of the human and divine natures in