The document discusses several early church councils: 1) The Council of Ephesus in 431 affirmed Mary as the "Theotokos" or mother of God, excommunicated Nestorius, and affirmed the divine and human natures of Christ cannot be separated. 2) The Second Council of Ephesus in 449 reinstated Eutyches, outlawed an earlier statement of faith, deposed bishops, and refused to read Pope Leo's statement. 3) The Council of Chalcedon in 451 defined that Christ has two natures, divine and human, which are united in one person and cannot be confused or divided. It was a victory for Pope Leo I's Christology but

1. History of Christianity-1
COACH Institute of Intercultural Studies, Hyderabad

2. Second Council of Ephesus (449)

4. 4
COUNCIL OF EPHESUS
Date: 431 AD
Place: Ephesus, Asia Minor
Participants: 200 bishops
Reason for Council: Respond to Nestorianism & defended the
faith

5. 5
COUNCIL OF EPHESUS: OUTCOME
KEY DEFENSE
• Term “Theotokos” is biblical and ancient
• If we don’t believe Mary as “Theotokos”, then we don’t believe Jesus
Christ as God  which leads us to deny the whole Trinity
• If Mary gave birth to Christ (human being only) then our salvation
cannot be fulfilled for a simple man separated from God can’t be the
Savior
• If we separate the two natures of our Lord Jesus Christ, then it
contradicts the liturgy
• We will be eating the flesh and blood of a human being
(according to Nestorius’s definition)

6. 6
COUNCIL OF EPHESUS: OUTCOME
• Affirmed Mary as the “Theotokos”
• Excommunicated Nestorius and his writings
• Affirmed that Christ is the Incarnated Logos and we
cannot separate the human and divine nature of Christ
after Incarnation.

7. 1) Reinstated Eutyches (who had been
put out for his Monophysitism)
2) Outlawed the formula of union of 433
(an important statement between Cyril of
Alexandria and John of Antioch [d. 441]
in which John agreed to accept the
banishment of Nestorius and the title
theotokos for Mary; Cyril agreed to
accept a statement of faith that spoke of
a union of two natures in Christ).

8. 3) Deposed Flavian and other leading
Antiochene bishops.
4) Refused to read Leo’s Tome.

9. Second Council of Ephesus
In 431 Pope Celestine I commissioned Cyril, patriarch of
Alexandria, to conduct proceedings against Nestorius, his
longtime adversary, whose doctrine of two persons in Christ the
pope had previously condemned. When the Eastern bishops
(more sympathetic to Nestorius) arrived and learned that the
council summoned by Emperor Theodosius II had been started
without them, they set up a rival synod under John of Antioch
and excommunicated Memnon, bishop of Ephesus, along with
Cyril. When Pope Celestine pronounced his excommunication of
Nestorius and ratified his deposition as bishop of Constantinople,
the emperor abandoned his neutral position and sided with Cyril.
Perhaps as a rebuke to the rebels, the council also made the
Church of Cyprus independent of the see of Antioch. This council
is known as the third ecumenical council of the church.

11. f. The Council of Chalcedon (451)
1) Called by new emperor, Marcian (450-457)
2) 400 bishops present
3) It was difficult, but they arrived at
what’s called the Creed, Formula, or
Definition of Chalcedon.

12. Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching
all men to confess the one and only Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is perfect both in deity
and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually
God and actually man, with a rational soul [i.e.,
human soul] and a body. He is of the same reality as
God as far as his deity is concerned and of the same
reality as we ourselves as far as his humanness is
concerned; thus like us in all respects, sin only
excepted. Before time began he was begotten of the
Father, in respect of his deity, and now in these “last
days,” for us and behalf of our salvation, this selfsame
one was born of Mary the virgin, who is God-bearer in
respect of his humanness.

13. We also teach that we apprehend this one and only Christ-
Son, Lord, only-begotten — in two natures; and we do this
without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one
nature into the other, without dividing them into two
separate categories, without contrasting them according to
area or function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not
nullified by the union. Instead, the “properties” of each
nature are conserved and both natures concur in one
“person” and in one reality [hypostasis]. They are not divided
or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only
and only begotten Word [Logos] of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus have the prophets of old testified; thus the Lord Jesus
Christ himself taught us; thus the Symbol of Fathers [the
Nicene Creed] has handed down to us.

14. a) Considered the standard, orthodox definition of
the biblical teaching by Catholic, Protestant, and
Orthodox.
b) Christ’s divine and human natures retain their own
properties and remain distinct, yet they are eternally
and inseparably united together in one person.
c) “Remaining what he was, he became what he was
not.”
d) “[T]he Incarnation was an act of addition rather
than
subtraction.”

15. C. Church Life and Doctrine

16. By the end of the fifth century the following unscriptural doctrine sand
practices had become deeply rooted in the Church: prayers for the
dead; a belief in purgatory (place in which souls are purified after
death before they can enter heaven)…the view that the Lord’s Supper
is a sacrifice, and that its administrators are priests; a sharp division of
the members of the church in to clergy (officers of the church) and
laity (ordinary church members); the veneration (adoration) of martyrs
and saints, and above all the adoration of Mary; the burning of tapers
or candles in their honor,; veneration of the relics of the martyrs and
saints; the ascription of magical powers to these relics; pictures,
images, and altars in the churches; gorgeous vestments for the clergy;
more and more elaborate and splendid ritual (form of worship); less
and less preaching; pilgrimages to holy places; monasticism;
worldliness; persecution of heathen and heretics

17. Infant Baptism

18. 1. Infant baptism: One of Augustine’s
arguments for original sin was that if
original sin were not true, then why
would the church baptize babies? This
demonstrates that by the fifth century,
infant baptism had become the
normal practice for the Church.

20. 2. Marian theology:
Increasing devotion to Mary
as theotokos. Within another
few centuries, Mary had
become as important to
Christ in the religion of
many Christians.

21. 3. The papacy and Leo I, patriarch of Rome from 440-461

22. a. Most outstanding
theologian to occupy the
Episcopal throne in
Rome.
b. Sent an important
Christological statement
to Flavian, bishop of
Constantinople from
447-449 which we call
Leo’s Tome.

23. c. In many ways, the founder of
the papacy; for he believed that
Christ had appointed the
Apostle Peter as the senior
bishop and final court of appeal
for all Christians and that the
whole church should accept all
doctrinal statements by Peter’s
successors (the popes of
Rome).
d. Council of Chalcedon was a
victory and a defeat for Leo I
and the beginnings of the
Roman Papacy.

24. a) Victory because he was able
to give clearer expression to
Cyril of Alexandria’s Christology
in a way that riles out the
extreme views of others.
b) Defeat because the council
decided in what’s called “canon
28” that the patriarch of
Constantinople had equal
status with the Patriarch of
Rome (since it was the newer
capital of the Empire).

25. Canon 28 grants equal
privileges (isa presbeia) to
Constantinople as of
Rome because
Constantinople is the New
Rome as renewed by
canon 36 of the Quinisext
Council. Pope Leo
declared the canon 28
null and void and only
approved the canons of
the council which were
pertaining to faith.