Claiming the Mantle of Cyril

Everyone knows the series of events that comprised the Nestorian
Controversy, but who knows, leaving aside divine agency, how and why
events unfolded as they did? In this book an answer is proposed in terms
of normal human behavior. There are occasional noble acts, and banal
activities, but also, as here, one finds a tangled web of plots,
counter-plots, and downright lies that even sainted bishops might employ
to defend what they held dear. Texts left by the participants, when
closely examined, provide rich evidence of this. For instance there is
the show trial of Eutyches; papal ultimata; fake capitulations;
intentional late arrival; a universal council that never happened, etc.
What drove events forward most of all was the defensive strategy
Antiochene controversialists developed and refined. They could, they
realized, use select texts of Cyril's to co-opt Cyril's authority. They
could, that is, claim the mantle of Cyril.