Outlines of the Council of Ephesus, 431
                                                                                           By Alex Pak

Introduction


This article describes a brief outlines of the Council of Ephesus 431. I hope that this outline will cause the readers to go beyond the outline described here and read further of the whole council in order to appreciate Christological controversy and triumph of the orthodoxy in the 5th century. 

Political Background

•  Roman empire was a under siege.
•  It was threatened by several frontiers.
•  Huns tribe came from the east.
•  Vandals and Sueves from West
•  After the Council of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), Roman Empire was under siege.
•  After the death of Theodosius the great in 395, the kingdom split into two of his sons: Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West.
•  Visigoths sacked Rome in 410.
•  Vandal king Stilicho married emperor’s niece, and Emperor Honorius to marry Vandal’s daughters.
•  Augustine wrote his masterpiece, The City of God to defend Christianity.
•  The Roman Empire was unstable.
•  In the West, the Germans were raising new kingdom with Arian Christian faith.
•  Empire was involved with another theological turmoil.

Ecclesiastical Rivalries

•  Theodosius II, grandson of Theodosius the great, became the Roman emperor in 408.

•  By this time, Constantinople became a primacy of honor over the other eastern bishoprics, namely, Antioch and Alexandria.

•  See of Constantinople was vacated.

•  Nectarius, the bishop of Constantinople had died in 397.

•  Theophilus of Alexandria wished to put one of his supporters.

•  Emperor chose John of Antioch in 398. 
•  In 425, Atticus, the patriarch of Constantinople died.

•  In 428, Bishops chose Nestorius, eloquent and austere superior of monastery in Antioch.

•  At first, Nestorius promised to emperor that he would launch attacks on all heretics.

•  “With me, sire, overthrow the heretics; with you I will overthrow the Persians” (Leo Davis, First Seven Ecumenical Councils)

•  Nestorius overthrew Arians from the churches.

•  Morally Nestorius was following Novatians purist forms, and attracted the imperial audience.

•  However, he himself was about to be accused of heresy.

Theological Controversy

•  In 428, Antiochene clergy whom Nestorius had brought began to preach against “Theotokos”, the title of Mother of God as applied to Mary.

•  He said, “Let no one call Mary Theotokos, for Mary was only a human being and it is impossible that God should be born of a human being.” (Leo, 140)

•  Theotokos had been used since Origen, Athanasius, Eusebius of Caesarea, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Naziansius, and host other leaders of churches.

•  Theotokos was used since 3rd century and was a part of a church tradition of Constantinople.

•  Nestorius attacked the title “Theotokos” in every opportunity.

•  People of Constantinople began to defend the title and accuse Nestorius that he denied Jesus is God.

•  In the West Pope Celestine was rooting out heresy along with Augustine.

•  Nestorius sent his sermon to Celestine and was not accepted.

•  Now issue became too large to be ignored.

•  West understood that Nestorius was saying that Mary could no be called Theotokos but Christotokos, because Jesus was not fully divine but only a man adopted by the Divine Word.

•  West relied upon Latin translation of Nestorius Greek writings.

•  At Alexandria, the patriarch Cyril was ready to do battle with Nestorius.

•  Cyril had a tradition of Alexandria, the wealth of Egypt and armies of monks who filled its deserts.

•  In 429, Cyril wrote letters to the monks of Egypt about errors of Nestorius.

•  Nestorius accused of Cyril and sent refutation to Cyril.

•  Theologically, what was the battle all about?

1.  It began over the title “Theotokos”.
2.  It involved differing Christologies.
3.  Nestorius represented Antiochene tradition.
4.  Cyril, the Alexandrian Philosophical Attempt 

•  Antiochene, basically Aristotelian, beginning with Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels and attempting to explain how this man is also God. (From below) 

•  Alexandrian, basically Platonist, beginning with the Word of John’s Prolgogus and attempting to understand implications of the Logos taking flesh. (From above)

Antiochene Theology

•  It followed Eustanthius of Antioch’s (fl. 325) the Word-Man Christology (2 natures).

•  It rejected Apollinarians (c. 315-392) and insisted that the Lord’s humanity included an animating principle and normal human mind.
•  (2 natures)

•  Diodorus of Tarsus (d. 394) was condemned as a heretic. He taught Christ was Two Sons: the Son of God (the Logos) and the Son of Man (Jesus) He tried to rescue Apollinarius’ Jesus by defending the full divinity and humanity of Christ.

•  Theodore of Mopsuestia (d. 428) was a teacher of Nestorius. He also defended humanity of Christ.

Theology of Nestorius (c. 386-431)

•  Nestorius was a part of Antiochene tradition.
• He was a Patriarch of Constantinople.

•  He followed Syrian Christology, Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Paul of Samosata, who said a man Jesus who had been possessed by the divinity.

•  For Nestorius his understanding of diversity of Jesus Christ was the key.

•  He had difficulty in explaining the unity of Christ.

•  For Nestorius, Theotokos was saying about Apollinarius, who taught Jesus was the divine.

•  He preferred Christotokos, because the manhood of Jesus was completed by the presence of the Word.

•  Christotokos was accurate for Mary bore Christ, a man who was at the same time a divine.

•  Nestorius was an Adoptionist, splitting the God-man onto two distinct persons artificially linked together in a moral union by the exercise of mutual good will.

•  In Christ, there are tow natures (persons). Nature means concrete character of being. Two individual beings.

•  Nestorius wanted to avoid any confusion and mixing the natures.

Council of Ephesus 431

•  It was called by Theodosius II.

•  160 bishops gathered.
•  Venue was changed to Ephesus and this greatly inconvenienced all of Nestorius’ supporters from Syria.

•  Council was held without Nestorius’ presence.

•  The council decided that “Unorthodoxy of Nestorius” was pronounced.

•  His weakness of argument was he could not bring within the framework of a single, clearly conceived personality the two natures of Christ.

Results of the Council of Ephesus 

•  Orthodox doctrine of Ephesus 431:
•  A single person existing “in two nature”.

•  “Union of two natures has been accomplished” (JND Kelly, Early Christian Doctrine, 329)

•  And Nestorius’ doctrine of ‘two Sons” was no more. (Ibid, 330)

•  Cyril’s teaching of Jesus was wholly and completely divine, thus only one single person, and that person God. 

•  Everything Jesus did, whether it was a human act or a powerful act, was equally a work of the single divine Lord, now embodied within history. 

•  Thus Christ is the pattern of the world’s salvation. 

•  A major resistance on the way from Rome and Syria.

•  The council brought great bitterness and reactions for many years.

Reference:

Davis, Leo Donald. The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology. Collegeville, Minnesota:  Michael Glazier Book, 1983.
Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Creeds. 3rd edition. New York: Continuum, 1972.
Pelikan, Jaroslav. Credo: Historical and Theological Guide TO Creeds And Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003.
Young, Frances. The Making of the Creeds. London: SCM Press, 1991.