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Of all the heresies that threatened the early Church, none attacked the person of Christ and the role of the Blessed Virgin more insidiously than Nestorianism. It is rarely named today. But its effects are everywhere.
This ancient error, condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D., denied that Mary could be called the Mother of God–Theotokos in Greek. Nestorius, then Patriarch of Constantinople, taught that Mary was only the “Mother of Christ” (Christotokos), not of God Himself. His argument seemed reasonable to many: God, after all, is eternal. Mary is a creature. How can the finite give birth to the infinite?
But the Church responded with unflinching clarity: you cannot divide Christ. You cannot fracture His person. If you deny Mary is the Mother of God, you do not merely demote Mary. You dismantle the Incarnation.
The Heresy Explained
Continued below.
This ancient error, condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D., denied that Mary could be called the Mother of God–Theotokos in Greek. Nestorius, then Patriarch of Constantinople, taught that Mary was only the “Mother of Christ” (Christotokos), not of God Himself. His argument seemed reasonable to many: God, after all, is eternal. Mary is a creature. How can the finite give birth to the infinite?
But the Church responded with unflinching clarity: you cannot divide Christ. You cannot fracture His person. If you deny Mary is the Mother of God, you do not merely demote Mary. You dismantle the Incarnation.
The Heresy Explained
Continued below.
The Truth About Nestorianism–And Why It Still Matters
Discover the truth about Nestorianism and why it still matters today. Aaron Schuck explains how denying Mary as Theotokos fractures Christ’s identity and endangers the core of the Incarnation. A clear, theological look at a heresy that still echoes in modern misunderstandings of Jesus and Mary.
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