The Nestorian controversy
Doctrinal · 431 · ecumenical
A quarrel about a title of Mary that was a quarrel about her Son. Nestorius preached that Christotokos was safer; Cyril answered that to refuse Theotokos is to divide Christ in two, and carried the council before the Antiochene bishops arrived.
How it ended. Nestorius condemned and deposed at Ephesus in 431. ⚠ Whether he held the proposition he was condemned for is contested, and this dataset keeps both readings.
How it ran
- 431 — Council of Ephesus (where it was settled). Deposes Nestorius and receives Cyril’s anathemas.
What was at issue
- Christotokos what was at issue
- Theotokos what was at issue
- Two persons in Christ what was at issue
Who stood in it
- Nestorius accused in it
- Theodore of Mopsuestia accused in it
- Cyril of Alexandria pressed the charge
What was written
- Twelve Anathemas of Cyril legislated in
After The Seven Ecumenical Councils (NPNF series 2 vol. 14) · Ephesus (431), the Twelve Anathemas of Cyril, anathema 3.