2.4 Ephesus: The Mother of All Controversies

From the distance of more than a millennium and a half, Nestorius can seem a comic character. He was a verbally fussy man with an uncanny knack for alienating people. Within days of his installation as bishop of Constantinople, he had offended the imperial family, the monks, and the nobles, but also the common people. He also caused a major fire in the city. But when he tried to suppress devotion to Mary as “Mother of God,” he invited all his enemies to join forces against him—because such a campaign affected not only the status of Mary, but also the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Nestorius forced a crisis that played out in grotesque (and humorous) ways at the Council of Ephesus in 431.

LINKS

Cyril of Alexandria, Five Tomes against Nestorius https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_against_nestorius_00_intro.htm

Extracts from the Acts, Council of Ephesus https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=5347

Nestorius, The Bazaar of Heracleides https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/nestorius_bazaar_0_eintro.htm

Nestorius, Letters to Pope Celestine https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/nestorius_two_letters_01.htm

Socrates Scholasticus, Church History, Book VII https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2884

John A. McGuckin, Saint Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy https://www.amazon.com/Saint-Cyril-Alexandria-Christological-Controversy/dp/0881418633/

Mike Aquilina’s website https://fathersofthechurch.com

Mike Aquilina’s books https://catholicbooksdirect.com/writer/mike-aquilina/

Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org

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