Letter 176: Your holiness should know that when I read the letter addressed to the emperor, I was deeply distressed.

To Alexander of Hierapolis, Your holiness should know that when I read the letter addressed to the emperor, I was deeply distressed. I know perfectly well that the writer of the letter, holding the same opinions as we do, has unwisely and impiously condemned a man who has never held or taught anything contrary to sound doctrine. But the form of the anathema, though it is more likely to grieve a reader than his assent to the condemnation itself, has nonetheless given me some grounds for comfort -- in that it is laid down not in broad general terms but with some qualification. For he has not said "We anathematize his doctrine," but rather "whatever he has either said or held that is not consistent with the teaching of the apostles." [This distinction gave Theodoret hope that Nestorius's actual Christological teaching -- which Theodoret believed to be orthodox -- was not being condemned, only potential errors.]

Letter 176