ABSTRACT
Nestorius, the exiled bishop of Constantinople, was an unlucky man. 2 It was bad enough to have been banished to the far end of Egypt, but it was still worse to be caught by barbarians, as was Nestorius’ fate. The Blemmyes, however, who had captured Nestorius, were fast to learn that an exiled heretic was not exactly a good catch. They released him, apparently without any compensation. Nestorius returned to Egypt only to face another challenge: he had to make clear to Emperor Theodosius II why he had been absent and why he did not want to return to his former place of exile, the Kharga Oasis. So he wrote several letters to the emperor in order to explain what he had suffered and that he had not willingly abandoned his place of exile.
