This article is about the Archbishop of Constantinople. For other notable people called Nestor, see Nestor (given name).
Mar
Nestorius
Portrait of Nestorius (as imagined by a Dutch engraver in the 17th century)
Archbishop of Constantinople, Greek Church Father
Born
AD. 386 Germanicia, Province of Syria, Roman Empire (now Kahramanmaraş, Turkey)
Died
AD. 451 (aged 64 or 65) Great Oasis of Hibis (al-Khargah), Egypt
Venerated in
Assyrian Church of the East Ancient Church of the East Syro-Malabar Church[1][2]
Feast
October 25, fifth Friday of Denha along with Mar Theodore of Mopsuestia and Mar Diodore of Tarsus
Controversy
Christology, Theotokos
Nestorius (/ˌnɛsˈtɔːriəs/; Ancient Greek: Νεστόριος; c. 386 – c. 451) was an early Christian prelate who served as Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to August 431. A Christian theologian from the Catechetical School of Antioch, several of his teachings in the fields of Christology and Mariology were seen as controversial and caused major disputes.
In 431, he was condemned and deposed from his see by the Council of Ephesus, presided over by his archrival Cyril of Alexandria,[3] but the counter-council led by John of Antioch vindicated him and deposed Cyril in return. Nestorius refrained from attending both of these councils and instead sought retirement from the Byzantine Emperor.[4]
His teachings included rejection of the title Theotokos (God – Bearer), used for Mary, mother of Jesus, which indicated his preference for the concept of a loose prosopic union of two natures (divine and human) of Christ, over the concept of their full hypostatic union. That brought him into conflict with Cyril of Alexandria and other prominent churchmen of the time, who accused him of heresy.[5]
Nestorius sought to defend himself at the Council of Ephesus in 431, but instead found himself formally condemned for heresy by a majority of the bishops and was subsequently removed from his see. On his own request, he retired to his former monastery, in or near Antioch. In 435, Theodosius II sent him into exile in Upper Egypt, where he lived on until about 451, strenuously defending his views. His last major defender within the Roman Empire, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, finally agreed to anathematize him in 451 during the Council of Chalcedon.
From then on, he had no defenders within the empire, but the Church of the East in the Persian empire never accepted his condemnation. That led later western Christians to give the name Nestorian Church to the Church of the East where his teachings were deemed orthodox and in line with its own teachings. Nestorius is revered as among three "Greek Teachers" of the so-called Nestorian Church (in addition to Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia). The Church of the East's Eucharistic Service, which is known to be among the oldest in the world, incorporates prayers attributed to Nestorius himself.
The discovery, translation and publication of his Bazaar of Heracleides at the beginning of the 20th century have led to a reassessment of his theology in western scholarship. It is now generally agreed that his ideas were not far from those that eventually emerged as orthodox, but the orthodoxy of his formulation of the doctrine of Christ is still controversial.
^"ഗ്രീക്ക് സഭാപിതാക്കന്മാരുടെ ഓർമ്മ" (PDF). syromalabarliturgy.org (in Malayalam).
^Though Syro-Malabarian Catholics do not usually venerate Nestorius as other Saints, there is an Anaphora attributed to him.
^Seleznyov 2010, pp. 165–190.
^Bevan, George A. "Nestorius". Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage.
Constantinople, Nestorius became involved in the disputes of two theological factions, which differed in their Christology. Nestorius tried to find a...
teachings of Nestorius in origin, scope and terminology. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Nestorianism as: "The doctrine of Nestorius, Patriarch of...
against the priest. Rather than repudiating the priest, Nestorius intervened on his behalf. Nestorius argued that Mary was neither a "Mother of Man" nor "Mother...
offered his support for Cyril to request that Nestorius recant his position or face excommunication. Nestorius pleaded with the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius...
anaphora of Nestorius: Greek or Syriac?". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 1996;78(3):73-86. "3. The Anaphora Of Mar Nestorius". Mar Nestorius and Mar...
Ephesus condemned Nestorius in 431. Supporters of Nestorius took refuge in Sasanian Persia, where the Church refused to condemn Nestorius and became accused...
Nestorius Timanywa (7 May 1937 – 28 August 2018) was a Tanzanian Roman Catholic bishop. Timanywa was born in Kakungiri Village, Bwanjai, Bukoba Tanzania...
Alexandria) and Nestorius (Patriarch of Constantinople). The First Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451 condemned Nestorius and his doctrine...
title Theotokos for Mary, and anathematized Nestorius' view as heresy. (See Nestorianism) In letters to Nestorius which were afterwards included among the...
theological dispute in the 5th century occurred over the teachings of Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople who taught that God the Word was not...
Theodosius met the monk Nestorius, who was a renowned preacher. He appointed Nestorius archbishop of Constantinople in 428. Nestorius quickly became involved...
Isa ibn Nasturus ibn Surus was a Coptic Egyptian scribe who served as vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate in 993–996 under al-Aziz Billah. He was executed...
Alexandria and Nestorius in which Nestorius claimed that the term theotokos could not be used to describe Mary, the mother of Christ. Nestorius argued for...
The precise Christological teachings of Nestorius are shrouded in obscurity. Wary of Monophysitism, Nestorius rejected Cyril's theory of a hypostatic...
sermon to drown out Nestorius with sympathetic applause. Soon afterwards, a letter was posted in Constantinople that correlated Nestorius’ teachings with...
with those in the Roman Empire until the Council of Ephesus condemned Nestorius in 431. Continuing as a dhimmi community under the Rashidun Caliphate...
Jesus was put forward by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius (c. 386–451). Nestorius, a student of the Antiochene school of theology, taught that...
council to settle the christological controversy surrounding Nestorianism. Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, opposed use of the term Theotokos (Greek:...
by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431, which emphasized the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. Nestorius and...
is used from Advent until the Sunday of the Hossanas. The Qudasha of Nestorius is one of the Eucharistic liturgies used by the erstwhile Church of the...
issue of terminology. His Christology is far less dualistic than the one Nestorius seems to have presented. Babai in the 'Book of Union' teaches two qnome...
Interpretations of Nestorius". Church History. 32 (3): 251–267. doi:10.2307/3162772. JSTOR 3162772. Chesnut, Roberta C. (1978). "The Two Prosopa in Nestorius' Bazaar...
one church's saint may be another church's heretic, as in the cases of Nestorius, Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria, or Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople...
tactics to support Nestorius, decided not to wait and convened the council without John and his supporters, condemning Nestorius. When John reached Ephesus...
predated the influence of Nestorius, the origin of which might lie in certain sections of the School of Antioch or via Nestorius' teachers Theodore of Mopsuestia...
(1962). "Nestorius Was Orthodox". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 16: 117–140. doi:10.2307/1291160. JSTOR 1291160. Bethune-Baker, James F. (1908). Nestorius and His...
the Council of Ephesus’ condemnation of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, which deposed Nestorius and declared him a heretic. Those who refused to...
deprived of their churches by John Chrysostom and that some were harassed by Nestorius. It is not known how long the Nisan 14 practice continued. But both those...
description as inaccurate, having officially condemned the teachings of both Nestorius and Eutyches. They define themselves as miaphysite instead, holding that...
Ishtori Haparchi (1280–1355), also Estori Haparchi and Ashtori ha-Parhi (Hebrew: אשתורי הפרחי) is the pen name of the 14th-century Jewish physician, geographer...
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