It is commonly assumed that the Formula of Reunion (433) marked the
formal reception of Cyril of Alexandria's council of 431. In fact, not
only did the terms of the Peace fall short of an explicit recognition of
that gathering, but a vocal and organised group of bishops continued to
resist its conciliar authority. These ‘irreconcilables' have tended to
be overlooked - seen as representing a political and doctrinal ‘dead
end', whose cause was decisively snuffed out in the wave of imperial
exiles of 434-436. In their extant writings, however, we discover a
significant and creative contribution to the articulation of ‘orthodoxy'
in the years after Ephesus - a striking ‘minority report' that
associated true fidelity to the Nicene faith with the rejection, rather
than the acceptance, of Cyril's council. The paper will examine the
contribution of one of these men - Eutherius of Tyana - to this
alternative ‘idea of Nicaea'. It will note especially: (1) Eutherius'
development of Nestorius' arguments against Cyril's interpretation of
the Nicene Creed; (2) Eutherius' use of Cyril's conciliar documentation
to undermine Cyril's own account of his council; (3) Eutherius'
alternative narrative of Nicene orthodoxy, in which the Nicene faith was
preserved and passed on not via the great conciliar consensus of
Ephesus I, but rather via a faithful remnant who stood firm, contra
mundum. In these ways, we are alerted to the remarkable flexibility of
discourse concerning ‘orthodoxy' in this crucial decade.
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