04 — Ephesus (431)

The Third Ecumenical Council, convened by Theodosius II at Ephesus in 431, confessed the Virgin Mary as Theotokos — “God-bearer” — against Nestorius, thereby defending the unity of Christ’s person; it approved Cyril of Alexandria’s Christology and forbade any tampering with the Nicene Creed.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Ephesus turned the Church’s attention from the Trinity to the Incarnation: how the one Christ is at once fully God and fully man. Against Nestorius, who seemed to divide Christ into two subjects, the council upheld St. Cyril of Alexandria’s confession of a single incarnate Word, and enshrined the title Theotokos as the guarantee of that unity. This section treats the Nestorian controversy and Cyril’s response, then the council’s turbulent proceedings, its definition, the Formula of Reunion of 433, and canon 7 on the inviolability of the Creed.

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File Description
the-nestorian-controversy.md Nestorius, the quarrel over Theotokos, and Cyril’s Twelve Anathemas; the Christological stakes of the “two subjects” question.
theotokos-and-the-council.md The disorderly council, the definition, the Formula of Reunion of 433, canon 7 on the Creed, and the legacy for Christology and Mariology.

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