Program / Course 9: Christology and Pneumatology / Lesson 2.4
What you will learn
- Narrate how the dispute between Nestorius and Cyril began in 428 and 429.
- State the positions of both men on the title Theotokos and on the union of natures.
- Explain why historians now debate whether Nestorius taught what was condemned.
- Describe the Formula of Union of 433 as a step toward agreement.
The big idea
In 428 Nestorius, trained in the Antiochene tradition, became bishop of Constantinople. Within a year he was in a sharp dispute with Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, over a single question: may Mary be called Theotokos, “God-bearer,” or Mother of God? Nestorius feared the title blurred the difference between God and the man Jesus. Cyril held that denying it divided Christ in two. The Council of Ephesus in 431 sided with Cyril. Whether Nestorius really taught the doctrine named after him is still debated.
Key terms
- Theotokos
- A Greek title for Mary meaning God-bearer. Often rendered Mother of God. It affirms that the child she bore was God the Son.
- Christotokos
- Christ-bearer, a title Nestorius preferred, which he held was safer than Theotokos.
- Nestorianism
- A label for the teaching that in Christ there are two persons, the Word and the man, joined by a close bond. Whether Nestorius himself held it is disputed.
- Anathema
- A formal condemnation. Cyril attached twelve anathemas to one of his letters, setting out what he required Nestorius to reject.
- Patriarch
- A senior bishop. Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Rome and Jerusalem came to be called patriarchates.
- Hypostatic union
- The union of the divine and human natures in the one person, or hypostasis, of the Son. Lesson 3.3 examines this term.
- Formula of Union
- A statement of 433 that Cyril and John of Antioch both accepted, ending the immediate division between their sides.
Background
In the early fifth century, devotion to Mary as Theotokos was already widespread, and some earlier teachers used the title. Alexandria and Constantinople competed for influence in the church of the empire, and rivalry between bishops colored the dispute. Historians treat the theological and political sides together and avoid treating either as the whole story.
The evidence is also uneven. Many of Nestorius’s own writings were destroyed after his condemnation. A work of his later years, the Book of Heracleides, survives in Syriac and was published in 1910 after being found in the late nineteenth century. It shows him arguing that he was misunderstood, and it changed how many scholars see him.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The sermons in Constantinople
Nestorius arrived in Constantinople in 428. Soon after, a priest in his circle preached against calling Mary Theotokos, and Nestorius supported him. He argued that Mary bore the man Jesus, and that God, who has no beginning, cannot be born of a woman. He proposed Christotokos as safer, or both titles together if each was explained.
Nestorius believed he was guarding against Arianism and Apollinarianism. For him, to say that God was born, suffered and died seemed to put change and suffering in the divine nature. He wanted to say that the Word was in the man in such a way that each act could be assigned to the right nature.
Step 2: Cyril responds
Cyril, bishop of Alexandria from 412, heard of the sermons and wrote to Nestorius in 429. He argued that the Word did not merely dwell in a man but made flesh his own. Therefore the child born of Mary was the Word, and she may rightly be called Theotokos. To deny this was to say that two sons existed, one divine and one human.
Cyril’s favorite expressions included the union “according to hypostasis,” meaning a real union in one subject, not merely a union of will or honor. He asked Pope Celestine of Rome to judge. Celestine agreed with Cyril and, at a synod in 430, called on Nestorius to retract. Cyril then sent a letter with twelve anathemas, which many in the East, including Antiochenes, considered extreme.
Step 3: Ephesus, 431
The emperor Theodosius II called a council at Ephesus for 431. Cyril began the meeting before the Antiochene bishops, led by John of Antioch, arrived. Nestorius was condemned and deposed. When John’s group arrived, they held a rival meeting that condemned Cyril. The emperor eventually accepted the first decision and sent Nestorius into retirement, and he was later exiled to Egypt.
The next lesson on the Council details its decisions. What matters here is that the council was a confused event, with mutual excommunications and imperial pressure. This is one reason the memory of Ephesus is mixed, even among those who accept its teaching.
Step 4: The Formula of Union, 433
After two years of negotiation, Cyril and John of Antioch reached agreement. The Formula of Union confessed Christ as perfect God and perfect man, with a rational soul and body, of one being with the Father in divinity and of one being with human beings in humanity, and affirmed two natures united and Mary as Theotokos. Cyril accepted the language of two natures when speaking of what Christ is made of, and John accepted Theotokos and the condemnation of Nestorius.
Not everyone was satisfied. Some Alexandrian partisans thought Cyril had given too much, and some Antiochenes thought John had. But the Formula is an important step: it shows that two sides of the dispute could find common words, and Chalcedon later built on it.
Step 5: Was Nestorius a Nestorian?
Nestorius insisted that he never taught two sons. He spoke of two natures united in one prosopon, or person, of union. In the Book of Heracleides he said he welcomed the Tome of Leo when he learned of it and hoped it would vindicate him. Some modern scholars conclude he was orthodox in intention and misunderstood. Others find his language, and his reluctance to say that God was born, insufficient.
The debate continues. What is widely agreed is that the church of the time needed language to say that the child of Mary was God the Son, and Nestorius’s language did not give it. The Assyrian Church of the East, which does not accept the condemnation of Nestorius, and the Catholic Church signed a Common Christological Declaration in 1994 affirming their shared faith in Christ.
- Why did Nestorius object to the title Theotokos?
- Why did Cyril think denying it would divide Christ?
- What role did church politics play in the dispute, and how should a student weigh it?
- Why do historians treat the Book of Heracleides as important?
- What does the Formula of Union say about how two sides can find agreement?
- How would you describe fairly the position of someone who believes Nestorius was misunderstood?
Examples
A mother’s title
Compare calling a woman the mother of a king. The title does not claim she is the source of his royal office, only that she bore the person who is king. Cyril’s defenders argue that Theotokos works similarly: it says who the child is, not where his divinity came from. (A common teaching illustration.)
Nestorius at the end
In the Book of Heracleides, Nestorius writes as an old man in exile, asking to be heard. He says that he rejected only the idea that the divine nature was born or suffered. Readers differ on whether the book clears him or confirms the objections.
The Church of the East in Persia
Christians in the Persian empire, beyond Roman reach, came to honor Nestorius and Theodore as teachers. Because they lived under a different government, they were not under Roman pressure to accept Ephesus. Their later history is the subject of lesson 3.4.
Different perspectives
Catholic
The Catholic Church accepts Ephesus as the Third Ecumenical Council and teaches that Mary is truly the Mother of God because the child she bore is the Son of God. The 1994 declaration with the Assyrian Church of the East treats the dispute with more nuance.
Orthodox
The Orthodox Church honors Cyril as a saint and confesses Theotokos in its hymns and prayers, using the title constantly. It teaches that Nestorius was rightly condemned, though some Orthodox scholars grant that he may have been less extreme than his critics suggested.
Assyrian Church of the East
Members of this church honor Nestorius as a teacher or at least do not accept that he was a heretic. Their tradition has preferred titles such as Mother of Christ, and in the 1994 declaration they and the Catholic Church affirmed the same faith in Christ while acknowledging different ways of speaking about Mary.
Protestant
Most Protestant churches affirm the Council’s Christology, and many are cautious about Marian titles for other reasons. Luther and Calvin both accepted the doctrine that the title expresses.
Historians
Historians today often describe the controversy as a clash between two reasonable Christologies with poor vocabulary and strong personalities. Many blame Cyril’s methods, many blame Nestorius’s stubbornness, and some defend both. There is no settled consensus.
Why it matters
This dispute brought the question of the union into the open. Everything in the next two modules, from Ephesus to Chalcedon to the churches that did not accept it, grows out of the exchange between these two men.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Nestorius taught that Christ was two persons, and the matter is closed.
Correction: That is what the label Nestorianism means. Whether Nestorius himself taught it is disputed. Treat the label and the man separately.
Misunderstanding: Theotokos means Mary is the origin of God.
Correction: The church teaches the opposite. The title says that Mary bore the person who is God the Son in his humanity. It makes a statement about Christ, not about Mary’s divinity.
Misunderstanding: Cyril was simply right and Nestorius simply wrong.
Correction: Cyril’s core concern was accepted by the church, but his tactics and some phrases were questioned in his own time. Chalcedon later adopted language that included Antiochene concerns.
Knowledge check
What was the central disagreement between Nestorius and Cyril?
Nestorius objected to calling Mary Theotokos because he feared it suggested that the divine nature was born. Cyril held that the Word made flesh his own, so the child of Mary was the Word, and that denying Theotokos divided Christ into two sons. The conflict concerned how the union of God and man is to be described.
What did the Council of Ephesus do to Nestorius?
The council, led by Cyril, condemned Nestorius and deposed him in 431. A rival council led by John of Antioch condemned Cyril. The emperor eventually upheld the first decision, and Nestorius was removed and later exiled. The meeting was confused and politically charged.
What was the Formula of Union?
It was a statement of 433 that Cyril and John of Antioch accepted. It confessed Christ as perfect God and perfect man in two natures united, and affirmed Mary as Theotokos. It ended the immediate split between Alexandrian and Antiochene parties and prepared the way for Chalcedon.
Why do scholars debate whether Nestorius was a Nestorian?
In the Book of Heracleides he denies teaching two sons and affirms one person of union. Some scholars think this clears him. Others think his reluctance to say God was born, and his language of the man assumed, still divided Christ. Most of his works were lost, so the evidence is limited.
Think it through
- How does it change your view of a condemned person to learn that his writings survive only in part?
- Why might a title for Mary matter so much for the doctrine of Christ?
- What can Christians today learn from the 1994 declaration?
- How should a student weigh theology and politics when both are present?
Independent assignment
Letters across the divide
In your own notebook, write 500 to 700 words. First, write a short statement of Nestorius’s concern in his own terms. Then write Cyril’s reply. Finally, write a paragraph on the Formula of Union explaining what each side gave up and what it kept. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., The Seven Ecumenical Councils (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, vol. 14) Read the letters of Cyril and the acts of Ephesus, where included.
- J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines Read selectively on Nestorius and Cyril.
- Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Use it for the political setting of the dispute.
- Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church Read the section on the councils from an Orthodox view.
- Luke 1:43 Elizabeth calls Mary the mother of my Lord.
- Galatians 4:4 God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.
- Acts 20:28 The church that God purchased with his own blood.