The Living Tradition An Orthodox Archive of the Church Fathers and Early Church

The seven ecumenical councils — lesson 4

Council 3: Ephesus, 431

The Theotokos confessed, Nestorius condemned, and the first lasting division.

  • Dogmatic definitionDefined by an ecumenical council or otherwise confessed by the Church as binding doctrine. Not every sentence a council wrote is a definition: its acts, letters and disciplinary canons are different things.
  • Historical consensusBroadly agreed among historians working from the surviving evidence. Consensus can shift when the evidence or the method changes.

Primary evidence verified Content last reviewed 2026-08-29

What still needs checking (1)
  • Confirm the Orthodox catechetical presentation of this council against the OCA's The Orthodox Faith.

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What this lesson covers

  • Say what Ephesus confessed.
  • Describe honestly how it was conducted and what it cost.

About 5 minutes to read.

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Ephesus confessed the Virgin Mary as theotokos and condemned Nestorius. The title is a claim about Christ: the one born of Mary is the eternal Son of God.

The conduct of the council was contested at the time. Cyril opened proceedings before the Syrian bishops arrived; when John of Antioch reached the city he convened a rival session that deposed Cyril. Imperial officials eventually arrested both Cyril and Nestorius.

Two years later Cyril and John agreed the Formula of Reunion, confessing two natures united in one person and Mary as Theotokos. That agreement matters: the council's result was the beginning of a settlement, not the victory of one vocabulary.

It is also the first council whose reception divided the Church permanently. The Assyrian Church of the East does not receive it and venerates Nestorius. Describing the Church after 431 as simply undivided is not accurate.

Key Scripture

  • Luke 1:43 — The mother of my Lord.
  • Galatians 4:4 — God sent forth his Son, born of a woman.

On Scripture references. References are given so you can read the passage in the translation your parish uses. This site does not reproduce a modern copyrighted Bible text.

Council and canon connections

  • The full guide, with the council's own documents, is at Ephesus, 431.

Why this matters in lived Orthodoxy

The title Theotokos is used constantly in Orthodox worship — far more often than any other title of the Virgin. That constancy is the council's real legacy.

Review

What does the title Theotokos assert?
That the one born of Mary is the eternal Son of God, not a man in whom God later dwelt.
What did the Formula of Reunion do?
In 433 Cyril and John of Antioch agreed language confessing two natures united in one person and Mary as Theotokos.

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Going deeper

Sources for this page

  1. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) The Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius with the XII Anathematisms; Extracts from the Acts; The Letter of Cyril to John of Antioch annotated edition of conciliar texts Source record

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