The Council of Ephesus

431 · Ephesus

Received by the Coptic Orthodox ChurchThird Ecumenical Council

Convened by: Emperor Theodosius II
Who came: about 200 bishops

What it answered

Nestorianism, which divided the one Christ and refused the Virgin the name Theotokos

What it settled

That the Virgin St. Mary is truly Theotokos, the Mother of God, because the one born of her is one Christ, God the Word incarnate.

Who was there

St. Cyril of Alexandrialedsaint
ca. 375 – 444
St. Cyril's name is forever connected with the second great Christological controversy, which led to the Council of Ephesus (431) and the condemnation of Nestorius
Nestoriuscondemnedcondemned
ca. 386 – ca. 451
the Council of Ephesus (431) and the condemnation of Nestorius
Bishop of Constantinople whose division of Christ into two persons, and rejection of the title Theotokos for the Virgin, was condemned at the Council of Ephesus (431).
Theodoret of Cyruscondemnedcondemned
Theodoret of Cyrus was condemned at the Council of Ephesus 431
Acacius of Beroeaabsentwriter
(Aleppo) b. ca. 340- d. 433
Old age prevented him from attending the Council of Ephesus
St. Peter the Seal of Martyrscitedsaint
Dean 17th of Alexandria: 293-311
The Acts of the Council of Ephesus (431) contain three quotations from this work

The document

St. Cyril, on why the Virgin is Theotokos

St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his own words, on why the Virgin is Theotokos.

I am astounded that some can hesitate to call the blessed Virgin "Theotokos." If our Savior Jesus Christ is God, it follows that His mother is the "mother" who bore Him forever. This is what the Apostles taught us and the doctrine of our Fathers. Not that the nature of the Word originated with Saint Mary, but because within her was formed the sacred Body to which the Word was hypostatically united we exclaim with John the Evangelist, "the Word was made flesh."

HIS 102, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, 2004