Council of Ephesus

Background

By the early fifth century, through the Council of Nicaea (325) and the First Council of Constantinople (381), the church had established the broad framework of the doctrine of the Trinity. The theological schools, however, differed in emphasis on how divinity and humanity are united in the one Jesus Christ. The Antiochene school stressed the distinction between the two natures (divine and human), while the Alexandrian school stressed their unity in one person.

Nestorius, who became patriarch of Constantinople in 428, objected to calling Mary Theotokos ("God-bearer," commonly rendered "Mother of God"). He argued that the term Christotokos ("Christ-bearer") was more appropriate. Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, criticized this position as dividing Christ into two persons. Celestine I, bishop of Rome, also sided with Cyril at a synod in Rome in 430.

Proceedings

The Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II convened a council at Ephesus in 431. In June of that year, Cyril opened the council early and had Nestorius condemned and deposed. At that point John, patriarch of Antioch, and the bishops from Syria had not yet arrived. When John and his party arrived a few days later, they met separately and in turn declared Cyril and Memnon, bishop of Ephesus, deposed. The legates of the bishop of Rome, who arrived afterward, supported the decisions of Cyril's party. The emperor at one point detained the leaders of both sides but eventually accepted the deposition of Nestorius. Nestorius withdrew to a monastery and was later sent into exile.

The council also issued a decree forbidding the composition of any new creed other than the Nicene Creed. It is further reported to have condemned Caelestius and others of the Pelagian party. In 433 Cyril and John agreed to the Formula of Reunion, provisionally healing the division between the two camps.

Results and Influence

• The use of Theotokos for Mary was officially recognized as orthodox. The decision is generally explained as focusing less on Mary herself than on the Christological confession that the one born of Mary is true God.
• Some churches of the Syriac tradition that did not accept the decision continued as the Church of the East in Persia. This church was called "Nestorian" in the West, though it does not accept that name for itself. Jingjiao, the form of Christianity that reached Tang China, also belongs to this tradition.
• At the same time, others pressed the Alexandrian emphasis further. Another council at Ephesus in 449 (the so-called "Robber Council") endorsed this position, but the Council of Chalcedon in 451 confirmed the formula "two natures, one person."

Assessment

The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church accept the Council of Ephesus as the third ecumenical council. Within Protestantism, Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin generally accepted the Christological decisions of the first four councils. Korean Protestant denominations likewise regard its Christological teaching as orthodox. They tend, however, to avoid the expression "Mother of God" on the grounds that it may be associated with the veneration of Mary.

The conduct of the council has also drawn various criticisms, including that one party reached decisions before the other had arrived and that rivalry over ecclesiastical authority between Alexandria and Constantinople played a role. After the discovery in the late nineteenth century of The Book of Heraclides, a work attributed to Nestorius, some scholars reassessed his teaching, suggesting that his actual views differed from what was condemned. In 1994 Pope John Paul II and Mar Dinkha IV, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, signed a Common Christological Declaration.