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Nestorius (d. c. 451) was one of
the principle representatives of the Antiochene (from Antioch) school
of theology. He became the patriarch of Constantinople in 428. His emphatic
stress on the humanity of Christ led his critics to charge him with having
denied Christ's divinity. He was charged with heresy forhis famous refusal
to grant Mary the title "Theotokos" (Mother of God). Since few
of Nestorius' writings are extant, what follows is a selection from a
history of the church compiled by an individual named Socrates which reflects
accurately what is known about the situation at the time. This is taken
from McGrath's Christian Theology Reader.
Now [Nestorius] had as a colleague the
presbyter Anastasius, who he had brought from Antioch. He had high regard
for him, and consulted him over many matters. Anastasius was preaching
one day in church, and said, "Let no one call Mary the Mother of
God (Theotokos): for Mary was only a human being, and it is
impossible that God should be born of a human being." This caused
a great scandal, and caused distress to both the clergy and the laity,
as they had been taught up to this point to acknolwege Christ as God,
and not to separate his humanity from his divinity on account of the
economy [of salvation]. . . . While great offence was taken in the church
at what was proclaimed in this way, Nestorius, who was eager to establish
Anastasius' proposition – for he did not wish to have someone who
he so highly esteemed found guilty of blasphemy – continually kept
on giving instruction in church on this subject. He adopted a controversial
attitude, and totally rejected the term Theotokos. The controversy
on the matter was taken one way by some and another way by others, with
the result that the ensuing discussion divided the church, and began
to look like people fighting in the dark, with everyone coming out with
the most confused and contradictory assertions. Nestorius acquired the
popular reputation of asserting that the Lord was nothing more than
a human being, and attempting to impose the teaching of Paul of Samosata
and Photinus on the church. This led to such a great outcry that it
was thought necessary to convene a general council to rule on the matter
in dispute. Having myself studied the writings of Nestorius, I have
found him to be an unlearned man and shall express quite frankly my
own views about him. . . . I cannot concede that he was a follower of
either Paul of Samosata of of Photinus, or that he ever said that the
Lord was nothing more than a human being. However, he seemd scared of
the term Theotokos, as though it were some terrible phantom.
The fact is, the groundless alarm he showed on this subject just showed
up his extreme ignorance: for being a man of natural ability as a speaker,
he was considered well educated, but in reality he was disgracefully
illiterate. . . .
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