Nestorianism: Difference between revisions

Nestorius, appointed Bishop of Constantinople in A.D. 428, correctly opposed giving Mary the title “Mother of God,” but in his opposition to this, wrongly held that Mary gave birth to a man who was accompanied by the Logos. Nestorianism, therefore, seeking to do justice to the true humanity of Christ, failed to do justice to the unity of His person and to the union of the Logos with a human nature in Christ. In effect, it made Christ two distinct persons.  Instead of blending the two natures into a single self-consciousness, Nestorianism places them alongside of each other with nothing more than a moral and sympathetic union between them.<ref>Alan Cairns, Dictionary of Theological Terms (Belfast; Greenville, SC: Ambassador Emerald International, 2002), 301.</ref>

Nestorius found formidable adversaries in the patriarch of Alexandria (Cyril) and the bishop of Rome (Celestine I), both of whom convened synods that declared Nestorius to be a heretic. After heated exchanges, the emperor (who favored Nestorius) in 431 summoned the church’s third ecumenical council, held at Ephesus. Before the tardy arrival of the accused’s Syrian supporters and of the papal representatives from Rome, Cyril opened the proceedings. Nestorius was subsequently declared to be deposed and excommunicated.

The Nestorians held a rival meeting that did not discuss the point at issue but which excommunicated Cyril. It was the latter’s gathering (which Nestorius had pointedly boycotted) that was finally held by the Romans to be valid. The emperor Theodosius, whose vacillations during the dispute did him little credit, banished Nestorius first to his monastery in Antioch and later to Upper Egypt, where he died. Rejected by the Roman Empire, Nestorianism not only persisted but expanded in the East, evincing a remarkable missionary activity that extended as far as China. Modern representatives of Nestorianism are to be found in the Persian or Assyrian Church, located in Iraq, Syria, and Iran.<ref>J.D. Douglas, “Nestorius,” ed. J.D. Douglas and Philip W. Comfort, Who’s Who in Christian History (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1992), 503.</ref>