Issues
Bishops met
in present-day Turkey in the summer of 431 to address Nestorianism. Nestorius
was the Patriarch of Constantinople who was teaching that Mary is the
Christotokos but not Theotokos. Ironically (or maybe not), the council met at
the Church of Mary in Ephesus. Nestorius believed his views orthodox and
supported the convening of the council. Another issue was Pelagianism, the
belief that original sin did not stain humanity. Pelagianism states that humans
are capable of living a sinless life without divine intervention.
Results
The council
ruled that Mary is indeed Theotokos, bearer of God. Christ is fully human and
fully divine. Pelagianism was also condemned. Also, the Nicene Creed was confirmed
(again) as the statement of faith for the Church.
There were
many followers of Nestorianism that schismed as a result of the council. One
was the Persian Church, which under persecution by Zoroastrians, aligned with
the more local group so as to appear less influenced by foreign powers. In 1994,
the Common Christological Declaration affirmed the shared views between the
Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of East.
Heresies
Nestorianism
sounds like the focus is on Mary, but as always, Mary points to Jesus. To deny
that Mary is Theotokos is to deny Christ’s divinity. Nestorius’ argument
separated the incarnate Christ from the divine Logos, making him fully human at
one point and fully divine at another. I think this is an easy mistake to make,
and unless specifically addressing dualism, I don’t see how the belief affects
other parts of theology. There are still churches that follow the Nestorian
teaching, as indicated by the Common Christological Declaration that just took
place 20 years ago.
There is
still Pelagianism present in many churches, although today, many go further to
deny original sin in any form. Variants of it can be found in churches that
reject infant baptism. But Pelagian ideas also state simply living a moral life
is what gets you into heaven, not Christ’s resurrection. This idea of
Pelagianism is still found when people equate being a good person with earning
salvation.
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