Confessing Evangelical

Great quote from "On the Unity of Christ" by St Cyril of Alexandria:

Indeed, the mystery of Christ runs the risk of being disbelieved precisely because it is so incredibly wonderful.

For God was in humanity. He who was above all creation was in our human condition; the invisible one was made visible in the flesh; he who is from the heavens and from on high was in the likeness of earthly things; the immaterial one could be touched; he who is free in his own nature came in the form of a slave; he who blesses all creation became accursed; he who is all righteousness was numbered among the transgressors; life itself came in the appearance of death.

All this followed because the body, which tasted death, belonged to no other but to him who is the Son by nature.

Fascinating introduction to this book, too: the Council of Ephesus is always an encouragement for those of us tempted to despair over the politicking that goes on within the contemporary church. Modern synods and conventions would be greatly enlivened by Ephesus' blend of procedural dodges, mutual excommunications and indiscriminate arrests of the leading participants (see Chris Williams' post on this from last year).