Council of Ephesus

The Council of Ephesus was convened in 431 by Theodosius II, emperor of the eastern half of the Roman empire, and he did so at the request of Nestorius. Nestorius’ teaching about the nature of Christ was generating a great deal of controversy in the church, and he requested a council in the hopes of being able to prove his orthodoxy and silence his detractors. While Theodosius did not attend, he sent the head of his imperial palace guard, Count Candidian, to represent him. The council met in Ephesus with between 200 and 250 bishops in attendance. These bishops were from the Church of Constantine. There were thousands of Bishops who had nothing to do with this dispute.

This council came at time of conflict over authority within the Church of Constantine. The rest of the Church established by Christ knew that they were not to be like the governments of the other nations who exercise authority one over the other.

The First Council of Constantinople had met from May to July 381 in the Church of Hagia Irene^[1] and was affirmed as ecumenical in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon. It was believed to have established the bishop of Constantinople as second in authority following Rome, whose bishop carried the title of Pope which meant "Father" and who claimed his authority from the line of Peter.

The Council of Nicaea in 325 had not ended the Arian controversy which it had been called to clarify. Arius and his sympathizers, e.g. Eusebius of Nicomedia were admitted back into the church after ostensibly accepting the Nicene Creed. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, the most vocal opponent of Arianism, was ultimately exiled through the machinations of Eusebius of Nicomedia. After the death of Constantine I in 337 and the accession of his Arian-leaning son Constantius II, open discussion of replacing the Nicene Creed itself began. Up until about 360, theological debates mainly dealt with the divinity of the Son, the second person of the Trinity. However, because the Council of Nicaea had not clarified the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, it became a topic of debate. The Macedonians denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This was also known as Pneumatomachianism.

None of this had anything to do with the teachings and Doctrines of Jesus the Christ and founder of His Holy Church. These were doctrines of men creating divisions supported by rulers and actually dividing the people into denominations and factions of different contrived theologies.

Nicene Christianity also had its defenders: apart from Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers' Trinitarian discourse was influential in the council at Constantinople. Apollinaris of Laodicea, another pro-Nicene theologian, proved controversial. Possibly in an over-reaction to Arianism and its teaching that Christ was not God, he taught that Christ consisted of a human body and a divine mind, rejecting Christ having a human mind.[5]

He was charged with confounding the persons of the Godhead, and with giving in to the heretical ways of Sabellius. Basil of Caesarea accused him of abandoning the literal sense of the scripture, and taking up wholly with the allegorical sense. His views were condemned in a Synod at Alexandria, under Athanasius of Alexandria, in 362, and later subdivided into several different heresies, the main ones of which were the Polemians and the Antidicomarianites.

These paths, practices and conclusions were all established within the influence of the Church of Constantine at the council of Milan and through men like Ambrose and his successors.

Alexandria and Antioch were also powerful bishoprics and their schools of Christology historically came from different positions. Leo Davis explains: “Just as all philosophers are said to be basically either Aristotelian or Platonist, so, roughly speaking, all theologians are in Christology either Antiochene, beginning with the Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels and attempting to explain how this man is also God, or Alexandrian, beginning with the Word of John’s Prologue and attempting to understand the implications of the Logos taking flesh.” This council would further expose the rift between the two schools of Christology.

Of course, this has little to nothing to do with the Doctrines of Jesus. These debates of discord concerning creeds would sow the seeds of the inquisitions centuries later which murdered millions of people in the name of false religion.

↑ Church of Hagia Irene, located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey and is now a museum and concert hall. It was dedicated originally to the peace of God, and is one of the three shrines which emperors devoted to God's attributes, together with Hagia Sophia (Wisdom) and Hagia Dynamis (Power).

[1] Church of Hagia Irene, located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey and is now a museum and concert hall. It was dedicated originally to the peace of God, and is one of the three shrines which emperors devoted to God's attributes, together with Hagia Sophia (Wisdom) and Hagia Dynamis (Power).

[1]

Council of Ephesus

Council of Ephesus

Navigation menu

Search