Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure :
112-659: Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey ) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II . This third ecumenical council , an effort to attain consensus in
224-460: A Latin accent. Many had lived in Ephesus, and statues and monument of Roman citizens in Ephesus were also destroyed. But when they saw how badly the people of Chios had been treated by Zenobius, a general of Mithridates, they refused entry to his army. Zenobius was invited into the city to visit Philopoemen , the father of Monime , the favourite wife of Mithridates, and the overseer of Ephesus. As
336-561: A Sacra calling for the metropolitan bishops to assemble in the city of Ephesus, which was a special seat for the veneration of Mary, where the theotokos formula was popular. Each bishop was to bring only his more eminent suffragans. The date set by the Emperor for the opening of the council was Pentecost (7 June) 431. McGuckin notes that the vagueness of the Sacra resulted in wide variations of interpretation by different bishops. In particular,
448-561: A century until 197 BC. The Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great tried to regain the Greek cities of Asia Minor and recaptured Ephesus in 196 BC but he then came into conflict with Rome. After a series of battles, he was defeated by Scipio Asiaticus at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC. As a result of the subsequent Treaty of Apamea , Ephesus came under the rule of Eumenes II ,
560-415: A council without the official reading of the Emperor's Sacra. A number of bishops, who were undecided between Nestorius and Cyril, did not want to give Cyril, as one party in the dispute, the right to chair the meeting and decide the agenda; however, they began to take Cyril's side for various reasons. Various circumstances including a detour necessitated by flooding as well as sickness and death of some of
672-401: A few ancient cities, or extensive settlement outside the city walls. This would have been impossible at Ephesus because of the mountain ranges, coastline and quarries which surrounded the city. The wall of Lysimachus has been estimated to enclose an area of 415 hectares (1,030 acres). Not all of this area was inhabited due to public buildings and spaces in the city center and the steep slope of
784-457: A few. In the letters to the emperor and the pope which were then dispatched, the synod described itself as now consisting of 210 bishops. The long letter to Celestine gave a full account of the council, and mentioned that the pope's decrees against the Pelagians had been read and confirmed. At this session, the bishops approved Canon 7 which condemned any departure from the creed established by
896-656: A heated atmosphere of confrontation and recriminations and created severe tensions between Cyril and Theodosius II. Nestorius was decisively outplayed by Cyril and removed from his see , and his teachings were officially anathematized . This precipitated the Nestorian Schism , by which churches supportive of Nestorius, especially in the Persian Empire of the Sassanids , were severed from the rest of Christendom and became known as Nestorian Christianity , or
1008-529: A huge indemnity, along with five years of back taxes, which left Asian cities heavily in debt for a long time to come. King Ptolemy XII Auletes of Egypt retired to Ephesus in 57 BC, passing his time in the sanctuary of the temple of Artemis when the Roman Senate failed to restore him to his throne. Mark Antony was welcomed by Ephesus for periods when he was proconsul and in 33 BC with Cleopatra when he gathered his fleet of 800 ships before
1120-502: A messenger disguised as a beggar was able to carry a letter to Constantinople by hiding it in a hollow cane. Although Emperor Theodosius had long been a staunch supporter of Nestorius, his loyalty seems to have been shaken by the reports from Cyril's council and caused him to arrive at the extraordinary decision to ratify the depositions decreed by both councils. Thus, he declared that Cyril, Memnon, and John were all deposed. Memnon and Cyril were kept in close confinement. But in spite of all
1232-579: A middle ground between those who emphasized the fact that in Christ God had been born as a man, and who insisted on calling the Virgin Mary Theotokos ( Greek : Θεοτόκος, "God-bearer"), and those that rejected that title because God as an eternal being could not have been born. Nestorius suggested the title Christotokos ( Χριστοτόκος , "Christ-bearer"), but this proposal did not gain acceptance on either side. Nestorius tried to answer
SECTION 10
#17327655483051344-695: A monk at Antioch and had there become imbued with the principles of the Antiochene theological school. The school of Antioch is best divided into three periods: The earliest author known of this period is Theophilus of Antioch . Then there is a gap of a century and in the first half of the fourth century there are three known antiochene authors: the best known is Eusebius of Emesa ; other representatives are Acacius of Caesarea and Theodore bishop of Heraklea. This period includes at least three different generations: Diodorus of Tarsus , who directed an ἀσκητήριον (school) he may have founded. Among his disciples,
1456-402: A population between 138,000 and 172,500 . J.W. Hanson estimated the inhabited space to be smaller, at 224 hectares (550 acres). He argues that population densities of 150~250 people per hectare are more realistic, which gives a range of 33,600–56,000 inhabitants. Even with these much lower population estimates, Ephesus was one of the largest cities of Roman Asia Minor, ranking it as
1568-463: A question considered unsolved: "How can Jesus Christ, being part man, not be partially a sinner as well, since man is by definition a sinner since the Fall?" To solve that he taught that Mary, the mother of Jesus gave birth to the incarnate Christ, not the divine Logos who existed before Mary and indeed before time itself. The Logos occupied the part of the human soul (the part of man that was stained by
1680-679: A successful warrior, and as a king he was able to join the twelve cities of Ionia together into the Ionian League . During his reign the city began to prosper. He died in a battle against the Carians when he came to the aid of Priene , another city of the Ionian League. Androklos and his dog are depicted on the Hadrian temple frieze, dating from the 2nd century. Later, Greek historians such as Pausanias , Strabo and Herodotos and
1792-470: A synod in Rome convened by Celestine. The bishops asked Theodosius to allow them to go home since so many of them suffered from their presence at Ephesus. At the fourth session, Cyril and Memnon presented a formal protest against John of Antioch for convening a separate conciliabulum. The council issued a summons for him to appear before them, but he would not even receive the envoys who were sent to serve him
1904-400: A word that he disliked (Theotokos) but which could be interpreted as having an orthodox meaning especially in light of the fact that many saints and doctors of the church had sanctioned the word by using it themselves. John wrote to Nestorius, "Don't lose your head. Ten days! It will not take you twenty-four hours to give the needed answer.... Ask advice of men you can trust. Ask them to tell you
2016-631: The Pope Victor I , Bishop of Rome, defending the Quartodeciman position in the Easter controversy . A legend, which was first mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis in the 4th century, purported that Mary, the mother of Jesus, may have spent the last years of her life in Ephesus. The Ephesians derived the argument from John's presence in the city, and Jesus' instructions to John to take care of his mother, Mary, after his death. Epiphanius, however,
2128-632: The Arian , Apollinarian and Eunomian heresies and condemned Memnon for inciting violence. The bishops at this council deposed both Cyril and Memnon. Initially, the emperor concurred with the actions of John's council but eventually withdrew his concurrence. The second session was held in Memnon's episcopal residence. Philip, as papal legate, opened the proceedings by commenting that the present question regarding Nestorius had already been decided by Pope Celestine as evidenced by his letter, which had been read to
2240-902: The Church of the East , whose present-day representatives are the Assyrian Church of the East , the Ancient Church of the East , the Chaldean Syrian Church , and the Chaldean Catholic Church (which restored communion with Rome ). John McGuckin cites the "innate rivalry" between Alexandria and Constantinople as an important factor in the controversy between Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius. However, he emphasizes that, as much as political competition contributed to an "overall climate of dissent",
2352-713: The Council of Chalcedon . Persia had long been home to a Christian community that had been persecuted by the Zoroastrian majority, which had accused it of Roman leanings. In 424, the Persian Church declared itself independent of the Byzantine and all other churches, in order to ward off allegations of foreign allegiance. Following the Nestorian Schism, the Persian Church increasingly aligned itself with
SECTION 20
#17327655483052464-468: The First Council of Nicaea , in particular an exposition by the priest Charisius. According to a report from Cyril to Celestine, Juvenal of Jerusalem tried and failed to create for himself a patriarchate from the territory of the Antiochene patriarchate in which his see lay. He ultimately succeeded in this goal twenty years later at the Council of Chalcedon . At this session, the council approved
2576-534: The Goths in 263 AD. This marked the decline of the city's splendour. However, emperor Constantine the Great rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Until recently, the population of Ephesus in Roman times was estimated to number up to 225,000 people by Broughton. More recent scholarship regards these estimates as unrealistic. Such a large estimate would require population densities seen in only
2688-535: The Sasanian War , which initiated a drastic decline in the city's population and standard of living. The importance of the city as a commercial centre further declined as the harbour, today 5 kilometres inland, was slowly silted up by the river (today, Küçük Menderes) despite repeated dredging during the city's history. The loss of its harbour caused Ephesus to lose its access to the Aegean Sea , which
2800-731: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators. Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation . The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils ( Council of Ephesus ). The city
2912-460: The baptism of John the Baptist . Later a silversmith named Demetrios stirred up a mob against Paul, saying that he was endangering the livelihood of those making silver Artemis shrines. Demetrios in connection with the temple of Artemis mentions some object (perhaps an image or a stone) "fallen from Zeus". Between 53 and 57 AD Paul wrote the letter 1 Corinthians from Ephesus (possibly from
3024-460: The battle of Actium with Octavius . When Augustus became emperor in 27 BC, the most important change was when he made Ephesus the capital of proconsular Asia (which covered western Asia Minor) instead of Pergamum . Ephesus then entered an era of prosperity, becoming both the seat of the governor and a major centre of commerce. According to Strabo , it was second in importance and size only to Rome. The city and temple were destroyed by
3136-434: The "fervent and unquestioned loyalty" of the local populace and thus could count on the support of local factions to counterbalance the military might of Candidian's troops. In view of the verdict of Rome against Nestorius, Memnon refused to have communion with Nestorius, closing the churches of Ephesus to him. Cyril brought with him 50 bishops, arriving only a few days before Pentecost. There were very few bishops representing
3248-576: The 'Paul tower' near the harbour, where he was imprisoned for a short time). Later, Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians while he was in prison in Rome (around 62 AD). Roman Asia was associated with John , one of the chief apostles, and the Gospel of John might have been written in Ephesus, c 90–100. Ephesus was one of the seven cities addressed in the Book of Revelation , indicating that
3360-591: The Attalid king of Pergamon , (ruled 197–159 BC). When his grandson Attalus III died in 133 BC without male children of his own, he left his kingdom to the Roman Republic , on condition that the city of Pergamon be kept free and autonomous. Ephesus, as part of the kingdom of Pergamon, became a subject of the Roman Republic in 129 BC after the revolt of Eumenes III was suppressed. The city felt Roman influence at once; taxes rose considerably, and
3472-530: The Bülbül Dağı mountain, which was enclosed by the wall. Ludwig Burchner estimated this area with the walls at 1000 acres. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor uses an estimate of 345 hectares for the inhabited land or 835 acres (Murphey cites Ludwig Burchner). He cites Josiah Russell using 832 acres and Old Jerusalem in 1918 as the yardstick estimated the population at 51,068 at 148.5 persons per hectare. Using 510 persons per hectare, he arrives at
Council of Ephesus - Misplaced Pages Continue
3584-724: The Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East marked the resolution of a dispute between those two churches that had existed since the Council of Ephesus. They expressed their common understanding of doctrine concerning the divinity and humanity of Christ, and recognized the legitimacy and rightness of their respective descriptions of Mary as, on the Assyrian side, "the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour", and, on
3696-585: The Catholic side, as "the Mother of God" and also as "the Mother of Christ". Ephesus Ephesus ( / ˈ ɛ f ɪ s ə s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἔφεσος , translit. Éphesos ; Turkish : Efes ; may ultimately derive from Hittite : 𒀀𒉺𒊭 , romanized: Apaša ) was a city in Ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia , 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province , Turkey . It
3808-582: The Catholics. It came to be called the Robber Council of Ephesus or Robber Synod of Latrocinium by its opponents. Ephesus is believed to be the city of the Seven Sleepers , who were persecuted by the Roman emperor Decius because of their Christianity, and they slept in a cave for three centuries, outlasting their persecution. School of Antioch The Catechetical School of Antioch
3920-534: The Cimmerians had been driven away, the city was ruled by a series of tyrants. Following a revolt by the people, Ephesus was ruled by a council. The city prospered again under a new rule, producing a number of important historical figures such as the elegiac poet Callinus and the iambic poet Hipponax , the philosopher Heraclitus , the great painter Parrhasius and later the grammarian Zenodotos and physicians Soranus and Rufus. About 560 BC, Ephesus
4032-661: The Fall). But wouldn't the absence of a human soul make Jesus less human? Nestorius rejected this proposition, answering that, because the human soul was based on the archetype of the Logos, only to become polluted by the Fall, Jesus was "more" human for having the Logos and not "less". Consequently, Nestorius argued that the Virgin Mary should be called Christotokos , Greek for "Carrier of Christ", and not Theotokos , Greek for "Carrier of God". Nestorius believed that no union between
4144-513: The Gospels in the centre of the church, as a symbol of Christ's presence among the assembled bishops. Despite three separate summons, Nestorius refused to acknowledge Cyril's authority to stand in judgment of him and considered the opening of the council before the arrival of the Antiochene contingent as a "flagrant injustice". The 68 bishops who opposed opening the council entered the church in protest, arriving with Count Candidian who declared that
4256-593: The Greek cities of Asia Minor into the Achaemenid Empire . Those cities were then ruled by satraps . Ephesus has intrigued archaeologists because for the Archaic Period there is no definite location for the settlement. There are numerous sites to suggest the movement of a settlement between the Bronze Age and the Roman period, but the silting up of the natural harbours as well as the movement of
4368-712: The Holy Ghost in Nicæa". It quoted the Nicene Creed as adopted by the First Council of Nicaea in 325, not as added to and modified by the First Council of Constantinople in 381. Although some scholars, such as Norman Cohn and Peter Toon , have suggested that the Council of Ephesus rejected premillennialism , this is a misconception, and there is no evidence of the Council making any such declaration. The bishops at Cyril's council outnumbered those at John of Antioch's council by nearly four to one. In addition, they had
4480-711: The Kayster River meant that the location never remained the same. Ephesus continued to prosper, but when taxes were raised under Cambyses II and Darius , the Ephesians participated in the Ionian Revolt against Persian rule in the Battle of Ephesus (498 BC) , an event which instigated the Greco-Persian wars . In 479 BC, the Ionians, together with Athens , were able to oust the Persians from
4592-826: The Nestorians, a measure encouraged by the Zoroastrian ruling class. The Persian Church became increasingly Nestorian in doctrine over the next decades, furthering the divide between Christianity in Persia and in the Roman Empire. In 486 the Metropolitan of Nisibis , Barsauma , publicly accepted Nestorius' mentor, Theodore of Mopsuestia , as a spiritual authority. In 489 when the School of Edessa in Mesopotamia
Council of Ephesus - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-515: The Pope's commission, Cyril convened a synod of Egyptian bishops which condemned Nestorius as well. Cyril then sent four suffragan bishops to deliver both the Pope's commission as well as the synodal letter of the Egyptian bishops. Cyril sent a letter to Nestorius known as "The Third Epistle of Saint Cyril to Nestorius." This epistle drew heavily on the established Patristic Constitutions and contained
4816-703: The Roman-Alexandrian popes while the emperor and his wife supported Nestorius. Contention over Nestorius' teachings, which he developed during his studies at the School of Antioch , largely revolved around his rejection of the long-used title Theotokos ("Carrier of God") for the Virgin Mary . Shortly after his arrival in Constantinople, Nestorius became involved in the disputes of two theological factions, which differed in their Christology . McGuckin ascribes Nestorius' importance to his being
4928-588: The West, as the papal representatives would not arrive until July. The Palestinian delegation of 16 bishops and Metropolitan Flavian of Philippi arrived 5 days after the date that had been set for opening the council, and aligned themselves with Cyril. At this point, Cyril announced his intention to open the council; however, Candidian enjoined him from doing so on the grounds that the Roman and Antiochean delegations had not arrived yet. Cyril initially acceded to Candidian's injunction knowing that he could not legally convene
5040-480: The agreement of the papal legates and the support of the population of Ephesus who supported their bishop, Memnon. However, Count Candidian and his troops supported Nestorius as did Count Irenaeus. The emperor had always been a firm supporter of Nestorius, but had been somewhat shaken by the reports of the council. Cyril's group was unable to communicate with the emperor because of interference from supporters of Nestorius both at Constantinople and at Ephesus. Ultimately,
5152-407: The argument for Christ's integrity" and concede the "ill-advised nature of Nestorius' immoveability." Concerned at the potential for a negative result at a council, they urged Nestorius to yield and accept the use of the title Theotokos when referring to the Virgin Mary. For example, John of Antioch wrote to Nestorius urging him to submit to the Pope's judgment and cease stirring up controversy over
5264-484: The assembled bishops in the first session. He indicated that he had a second letter from Celestine which was read to the bishops now in attendance. The letter contained a general exhortation to the council, and concluded by saying that the legates had instructions to carry out what the pope had decided on the question and expressed Celestine's confidence that the council would agree. The bishops indicated their approval by acclaiming Celestine and Cyril. Projectus indicated that
5376-517: The assembly was illegal and must disperse. He urged Cyril to wait four more days for the Syrian delegation to arrive. However, since even the bishops opposed to opening the council were now present, Cyril maneuvered Candidian by means of a ruse to read out the text of the Emperor's decree of convocation, which the assembly then acclaimed as recognition of its own legality. When John of Antioch and his Syrian bishops finally reached Ephesus five days after
5488-635: The best known are John Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuestia . The main figure of the third generation was Nestorius . After the Council of Ephesus (431), the School of Antioch lost some of its prestige. However, after the Council of Chalcedon (451), the Antiochian school became the sole theological school within Eastern and Western Christianity, where the Oriental Orthodox adopted
5600-402: The capital of the kingdom of Arzawa (another independent state in Western and Southern Anatolia/Asia Minor ) was Apasa (or Abasa ), and some scholars suggest that this is the same place the Greeks later called Ephesus. In 1954, a burial ground from the Mycenaean era (1500–1400 BC), which contained ceramic pots, was discovered close to the ruins of the basilica of St. John . This was
5712-402: The centre of ancient Ephesus (as attested by excavations at the Seljuk castle during the 1990s). The mythical founder of the city was a prince of Athens named Androklos , who had to leave his country after the death of his father, King Kodros. According to the legend, he founded Ephesus on the place where the oracle of Delphi became reality ("A fish and a boar will show you the way"). He was
SECTION 50
#17327655483055824-430: The church at Ephesus was strong. According to Eusebius of Caesarea , Saint Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus. In the early 2nd century, the church at Ephesus was still important enough to be addressed by a letter written by Bishop Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians which begins with "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in
5936-449: The church through an assembly representing all of Christendom , confirmed the original Nicene Creed , and condemned the teachings of Nestorius , Patriarch of Constantinople , who held that the Virgin Mary may be called the Christotokos , "Christ-bearer" but not the Theotokos , "God-bearer". It met from 22 June to 31 July 431 at the Church of Mary in Ephesus in Anatolia . Nestorius' doctrine, Nestorianism , which emphasized
6048-401: The cities of Ionia was ceded again to Persia. These wars did not greatly affect daily life in Ephesus. The Ephesians were surprisingly modern in their social relations: they allowed strangers to integrate and education was valued. In later times, Pliny the Elder mentioned having seen at Ephesus a representation of the goddess Diana by Timarete , the daughter of a painter. In 356 BC
6160-470: The claim of the bishops of Cyprus that their see had been anciently and rightly exempt from the jurisdiction of Antioch. The council also passed five canons condemning Nestorius and Caelestius and their followers as heretics and a sixth one decreeing deposition from clerical office or excommunication for those who did not accept the Council's decrees. Eight canons were passed: The Council denounced Nestorius' teaching as erroneous and decreed that Jesus
6272-436: The controversy cannot be reduced merely to the level of "personality clashes" or "political antagonisms". According to McGuckin, Cyril viewed the "elevated intellectual argument about christology" as ultimately one and the same as the "validity and security of the simple Christian life". Even within Constantinople, some supported the Roman-Alexandrian and others supported the Nestorian factions. For example, Pulcheria supported
6384-410: The council's actions. The events created a major schism between the followers of the different versions of the council, which was only mended by difficult negotiations. The factions that supported John of Antioch acquiesced in the condemnation of Nestorius and, after additional clarifications, accepted the decisions of Cyril's council. However, the rift would open again during the debates leading up to
6496-412: The council, they met with Candidian who informed them that Cyril had begun a council without them and had ratified Celestine's conviction of Nestorius as a heretic. Angered at having undertaken such a long and arduous journey only to have been pre-empted by actions taken by Cyril's council, John and the Syrian bishops held their own Council with Candidian presiding. This council condemned Cyril for espousing
6608-422: The council. Theodosius appointed Count Candidian as the head of the imperial palace guard to represent him, to supervise the proceedings of the Council, and to keep good order in the city of Ephesus. Despite Nestorius' agenda of prosecuting Cyril, Theodosius intended for the council to focus strictly on the christological controversy. He thus gave Candidianus strict directions to remain neutral and not to interfere in
6720-405: The death of Lysimachus the town again was named Ephesus. Thus Ephesus became part of the Seleucid Empire . After the murder of king Antiochus II Theos and his Egyptian wife in 246 BC, pharaoh Ptolemy III invaded the Seleucid Empire and the Egyptian fleet swept the coast of Asia Minor. Ephesus was betrayed by its governor Sophron into the hands of the Ptolemies who ruled the city for half
6832-421: The delegates seriously delayed John of Antioch and his bishops. It was rumored that John might be delaying his arrival in order to avoid participating in a council which was likely to condemn Nestorius as a heretic. Two weeks after the date set for the council, John and the bulk of his Syrian group (42 members) had not yet appeared. At this point, Cyril formally opened the council on Monday, 22 June by enthroning
SECTION 60
#17327655483056944-535: The distinction between Christ's human and divine natures and argued that Mary should be called Christotokos (Christ-bearer) but not Theotokos (God-bearer), had brought him into conflict with other church leaders, most notably Cyril , Patriarch of Alexandria . Nestorius himself had requested the Emperor to convene the council, hoping that it would prove his orthodoxy ; the council in fact condemned his teachings as heresy . The council declared Mary as Theotokos ( Mother of God ). Nestorius' dispute with Cyril had led
7056-602: The distinction between the human and the divine in the person of Jesus Christ . They rejected notions of instantaneous creation held by other figures such as Augustine , and instead literally held to the notion of the progressive creation of the Genesis creation narrative : those things created on the sixth day did not exist in the fifth, that made on the fifth day did not exist in the fourth, and so on. Advocates included Acacius of Caesarea , Severian of Gabala , Theodore of Mopsuestia , Theodoret , and others. Nestorius , before becoming Patriarch of Constantinople, had also been
7168-555: The efforts of the Antiochene party, the representatives of the envoys whom the council was eventually allowed to send, with the legate Philip, to the Court, persuaded the emperor to accept Cyril's council as the true one. Seeing the writing on the wall and anticipating his fate, Nestorius requested permission to retire to his former monastery. The synod was dissolved in the beginning of October, and Cyril arrived amid much joy at Alexandria on 30 October. Pope Celestine had died on 27 July but his successor, Sixtus III , gave papal confirmation to
7280-492: The facts, not just what they think will please you.... You have the whole of the East against you, as well as Egypt." Despite this advice from his colleagues, Nestorius persisted in maintaining the rightness of his position. On 19 November, Nestorius, anticipating the ultimatum which was about to be delivered, convinced Emperor Theodosius II to summon a general council through which Nestorius hoped to convict Cyril of heresy and thereby vindicate his own teachings. Theodosius issued
7392-413: The first time in 1390. The Central Asian warlord Tamerlane defeated the Ottomans in Anatolia in 1402, and the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I died in captivity. The region was restored to the Anatolian beyliks . After a period of unrest, the region was again incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1425. Ephesus was completely abandoned by the 15th century. Nearby Ayasuluğ ( Ayasoluk being a corrupted form of
7504-453: The first to arrive shortly after Easter. As archbishop of the imperial city of Constantinople, he traveled with a detachment of troops who were under the command of Count Candidian. McGuckin notes that the troops were not there to serve as Nestorius' bodyguard but to support Candidian in his role as the emperor's representative. However, McGuckin theorizes that Candidian's progressive abandonment of neutrality in favor of Nestorius may have created
7616-439: The greatness and fullness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory" ( Letter to the Ephesians ). The church at Ephesus had given their support for Ignatius, who was taken to Rome for execution. Polycrates of Ephesus ( Greek : Πολυκράτης ) was a bishop at the Church of Ephesus in the 2nd century. He is best known for his letter addressed to
7728-518: The human and divine was possible. If such a union of human and divine occurred, Nestorius believed that Christ could not truly be consubstantial with God and consubstantial with us because he would grow, mature, suffer and die (which Nestorius argued God cannot do) and also would possess the power of God that would separate him from being equal to humans. According to McGuckin, several mid-twentieth-century accounts have tended to "romanticise" Nestorius; in opposition to this view, he asserts that Nestorius
7840-445: The king's second wife, Arsinoe II of Egypt . After Lysimachus had destroyed the nearby cities of Lebedos and Colophon in 292 BC, he relocated their inhabitants to the new city. Ephesus revolted after the treacherous death of Agathocles , giving the Hellenistic king of Syria and Mesopotamia Seleucus I Nicator an opportunity for removing and killing Lysimachus, his last rival, at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC. After
7952-428: The largest city after Sardis and Alexandria Troas . Hanson and Ortman (2017) estimate an inhabited area to be 263 hectares and their demographic model yields an estimate of 71,587 inhabitants, with a population density of 276 inhabitants per hectare. By contrast, Rome within the walls encompassed 1,500 hectares and as over 400 built-up hectares were left outside the Aurelian Wall, whose construction
8064-511: The latter to seek validation from Pope Celestine I , who offered his support for Cyril to request that Nestorius recant his position or face excommunication . Nestorius pleaded with the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II to call a council in which all grievances could be aired, hoping that he would be vindicated and Cyril condemned. Approximately 250 bishops were present. The proceedings were conducted in
8176-551: The most famous article of Alexandrian Orthodoxy: "The Twelve Anathemas of Saint Cyril." In these anathemas , Cyril excommunicated anyone who followed the teachings of Nestorius. For example, "Anyone who dares to deny the Holy Virgin the title Theotokos is Anathema!" Nestorius however, still would not repent. McGuckin points out that other representatives of the Antiochene tradition such as John of Antioch , Theodoret and Andrew of Samosata were able to recognize "the point of
8288-552: The most important city of the Byzantine Empire in Asia after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries. Emperor Flavius Arcadius raised the level of the street between the theatre and the harbour. The basilica of St. John was built during the reign of emperor Justinian I in the 6th century. Excavations in 2022 indicate that large parts of the city were destroyed in 614/615 by a military conflict, most likely during
8400-469: The neighbouring Dorylaeum was the first to accuse Nestorius of heresy, but his most forceful opponent was Patriarch Cyril of Alexandria . Cyril argued that Nestorianism split Jesus in half and denied that he was both human and divine. Cyril appealed to Pope Celestine I , charging Nestorius with heresy . The Pope agreed and gave Cyril his authority to serve a notice to Nestorius to recant his views within ten days or else be excommunicated . Before acting on
8512-595: The original Greek name ) was turkified to Selçuk in 1914. Ephesus was an important centre for Early Christianity from the AD 50s. From AD 52–54, the apostle Paul lived in Ephesus, working with the congregation and apparently organizing missionary activity into the hinterlands. Initially, according to the Acts of the Apostles , Paul attended the Jewish synagogue in Ephesus, but after three months he became frustrated with
8624-562: The papal letter enjoined the council to put into effect the sentence pronounced by Celestine. Firmus, the Exarch of Caesarea in Cappadocia, responded that the pope's sentence had already been carried out in the first session. The session closed with the reading of the pope's letter to the emperor. Having read the Acts of the first session, the papal legates indicated that all that was required
8736-516: The people expected nothing good of him, they threw him into prison and murdered him. Mithridates took revenge and inflicted terrible punishments. However, the Greek cities were given freedom and several substantial rights. Ephesus became, for a short time, self-governing. When Mithridates was defeated in the First Mithridatic War by the Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla , Ephesus came back under Roman rule in 86 BC. Sulla imposed
8848-449: The perception that Candidian's troops were, in fact, there to support Nestorius. Candidian ordered all monks and lay strangers to leave the city; he further instructed the bishops not to leave on any pretext until the council was concluded. Several sources comment that the purpose of this injunction was to prevent bishops from leaving the council to appeal to the emperor directly. According to McGuckin, Memnon, as bishop of Ephesus, commanded
8960-720: The period of the Mycenaean expansion, when the Ahhiyawa began settling in Asia Minor , a process that continued into the 13th century BC. The names Apasa and Ephesus appear to be cognate, and recently found inscriptions seem to pinpoint the places in the Hittite record. Ephesus was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC on a hill (now known as the Ayasuluk Hill), three kilometers (1.9 miles) from
9072-623: The poet Kallinos reassigned the city's mythological foundation to Ephos, queen of the Amazons . The Greek goddess Artemis and the great Anatolian goddess Kybele were identified together as Artemis of Ephesus . The many-breasted "Lady of Ephesus", identified with Artemis, was venerated in the Temple of Artemis , one of the Seven Wonders of the World and the largest building of the ancient world according to Pausanias (4.31.8). Pausanias mentions that
9184-531: The proper school of exegesis at Antioch belongs to the period of the late fourth and the fifth centuries. While the Christian intellectuals of Alexandria emphasized the allegorical interpretation of Scriptures and tended toward a Christology that emphasized the union of the human and the divine, those in Antioch held to a more literal and occasionally typological exegesis and a Christology that emphasized
9296-475: The representative of the Antiochene tradition and characterizes him as a "consistent, if none too clear, exponent of the longstanding Antiochene dogmatic tradition." Nestorius was greatly surprised that what he had always taught in Antioch without any controversy whatsoever should prove to be so objectionable to the Christians of Constantinople. Nestorius emphasized the dual natures of Christ , trying to find
9408-496: The river Cayster (Grk. name Κάϋστρος) silted up the old harbour, the resulting marshes caused malaria and many deaths among the inhabitants. Lysimachus forced the people to move from the ancient settlement around the temple of Artemis to the present site two kilometres (1.2 miles) away, when as a last resort the king flooded the old city by blocking the sewers. The new settlement was officially called Arsinoea ( Ancient Greek : Ἀρσινόεια or Ἀρσινοΐα ) or Arsinoe (Ἀρσινόη), after
9520-490: The ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Humans had begun inhabiting the area surrounding Ephesus by the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC), as shown by evidence from excavations at the nearby höyük (artificial mounds known as tells ) of Arvalya and Cukurici . Excavations in recent years have unearthed settlements from the early Bronze Age at Ayasuluk Hill . According to Hittite sources,
9632-720: The shores of Asia Minor. In 478 BC, the Ionian cities with Athens entered into the Delian League against the Persians. Ephesus did not contribute ships but gave financial support. During the Peloponnesian War , Ephesus was first allied to Athens but in a later phase, called the Decelean War, or the Ionian War, sided with Sparta, which also had received the support of the Persians. As a result, rule over
9744-553: The stubbornness of some of the Jews, and moved his base to the school of Tyrannus . The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary reminds readers that the unbelief of "some" ( Greek : τινες ) implies that "others, probably a large number, believed" and therefore there must have been a community of Jewish Christians in Ephesus. Paul introduced about twelve men to the ' baptism with the Holy Spirit ' who had previously only experienced
9856-525: The summons. Next day the fifth session was held in the same church. John had set up a placard in the city accusing the synod of the Apollinarian heresy . He was again cited, and this was counted as the third canonical summons. He paid no attention. In consequence the council suspended and excommunicated him, together with thirty-four bishops of his party, but refrained from deposing them. Some of John's party had already deserted him, and he had gained only
9968-474: The surrounding Christian regions were organised, some officially sanctioned by the state and some by private parties. The town knew a short period of prosperity again during the 14th century under these new Seljuk rulers. They added important architectural works such as the İsa Bey Mosque , caravansaries, and hamams (bathhouses). Ephesians were incorporated as vassals into the Ottoman Empire for
10080-504: The temple of Artemis was burnt down, according to legend, by a lunatic called Herostratus . The inhabitants of Ephesus at once set about restoring the temple and even planned a larger and grander one than the original. When Alexander the Great defeated the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, the Greek cities of Asia Minor were liberated. The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death, and Alexander
10192-467: The temple was built by Ephesus, son of the river god Caystrus , before the arrival of the Ionians. Of this structure, scarcely a trace remains. Ancient sources seem to indicate that an older name of the place was Alope ( Ancient Greek : Ἀλόπη , romanized : Alópē ). About 650 BC, Ephesus was attacked by the Cimmerians who razed the city, including the temple of Artemis. After
10304-589: The terms of the surrender, the Turks pillaged the church of Saint John and, when a revolt seemed probable, deported most of the local population to Thyrea, Greece . During these events, many of the remaining inhabitants were massacred. Shortly afterwards, Ephesus was ceded to the Aydinid principality that stationed a powerful navy in the harbour of Ayasuluğ (the present-day Selçuk , next to Ephesus). Ayasoluk became an important harbour, from which piratical raids on
10416-469: The theological proceedings. It is generally assumed that Candidian initially maintained his neutrality as instructed by the emperor and only gradually became more biased towards Nestorius. McGuckin, however, suggests that Candidian may have favored Nestorius from the start. Celestine sent Arcadius and Projectus, to represent himself and his Roman council; in addition, he sent the Roman priest, Philip, as his personal representative. Cyril Patriarch of Alexandria
10528-657: The town in December 1147. In 1206, the city came under the control of the Laskaris . It was an important religious and intellectual center during the 13th century. Nikephoros Blemmydes , a prominent intellectual of the time, taught in the city. However, the Byzantines lost control of the region by 1308. On 24 October 1304, the town surrendered to Sasa Bey, a Turkish warlord of the Menteşoğulları principality. Contrary to
10640-481: The treasures of the city were systematically plundered. Hence in 88 BC Ephesus welcomed Archelaus , a general of Mithridates , king of Pontus , when he conquered Asia (the Roman name for western Anatolia ). From Ephesus, Mithridates ordered every Roman citizen in the province to be killed which led to the Asiatic Vespers , the slaughter of 80,000 Roman citizens in Asia, or any person who spoke with
10752-419: The vastness of John of Antioch's ecclesiastical territory required a lengthy period to notify and gather his delegates. Because the overland trip from Antioch to Ephesus was long and arduous, John composed his delegation of his metropolitan bishops who were restricted to bring no more than two suffragans each. By doing so, he minimized the number who would have to travel to Ephesus. Neither of the emperors attended
10864-578: The vicinity of the Temple of Artemis, enlarging the city. Later in the same century, the Lydians under Croesus invaded Persia. The Ionians refused a peace offer from Cyrus the Great , siding with the Lydians instead. After the Persians defeated Croesus, the Ionians offered to make peace, but Cyrus insisted that they surrender and become part of the empire. They were defeated by the Persian army commander Harpagos in 547 BC. The Persians then incorporated
10976-596: The visions of Augustinian sister the Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824). It is a popular place of Catholic pilgrimage which has been visited by three recent popes. The Church of Mary near the harbour of Ephesus was the setting for the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, which resulted in the condemnation of Nestorius . A Second Council of Ephesus was held in 449, but its controversial acts were never approved by
11088-541: Was a small village. The Byzantines resumed control in 1097 and changed the name of the town to Hagios Theologos. Crusaders passing through were surprised that there was only a small village, called Ayasalouk, where they had expected a bustling city with a large seaport. Even the temple of Artemis was completely forgotten by the local population. The Crusaders of the Second Crusade fought the Seljuks just outside
11200-434: Was begun in 274 AD and finished in 279 AD, the total inhabited area plus public spaces inside the walls consisted of ca. 1,900 hectares. Imperial Rome had a population estimated to be between 750,000 and one million (Hanson and Ortman's (2017) model yields an estimate of 923,406 inhabitants), which imply in a population density of 395 to 526 inhabitants per hectare, including public spaces. Ephesus remained
11312-495: Was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League . The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of
11424-523: Was closed by Byzantine Emperor Zeno for its Nestorian teachings, the school relocated to its original home of Nisibis, becoming again the School of Nisibis , leading to a wave of Nestorian immigration into Persia. The Persian patriarch Mar Babai I (497–502) reiterated and expanded upon the church's esteem for Theodore, solidifying the church's adoption of Nestorianism. In 1994, the Common Christological Declaration between
11536-540: Was conquered by the Lydians under king Croesus , who, though a harsh ruler, treated the inhabitants with respect and even became the main contributor to the reconstruction of the temple of Artemis. His signature has been found on the base of one of the columns of the temple (now on display in the British Museum ). Croesus made the populations of the different settlements around Ephesus regroup ( synoikismos ) in
11648-502: Was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River . In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake. Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası . In 2015,
11760-440: Was greeted warmly when he entered Ephesus in triumph. When Alexander saw that the temple of Artemis was not yet finished, he proposed to finance it and have his name inscribed on the front. But the inhabitants of Ephesus demurred, claiming that it was not fitting for one god to build a temple to another. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Ephesus in 290 BC came under the rule of one of Alexander's generals, Lysimachus . As
11872-534: Was important for trade. People started leaving the lowland of the city for the surrounding hills. The ruins of the temples were used as building blocks for new homes. Marble sculptures were ground to powder to make lime for plaster. Sackings by the Arabs first in the year 654–655 by caliph Muawiyah I , and later in 700 and 716 hastened the decline further. When the Seljuk Turks conquered Ephesus in 1090, it
11984-600: Was keen to point out that, while the Bible says John was leaving for Asia, it does not say specifically that Mary went with him. He later stated that she was buried in Jerusalem. Since the 19th century, The House of the Virgin Mary , about 7 km (4 mi) from Selçuk, has been considered to have been the last home of Mary, mother of Jesus before her assumption into heaven in the Roman Catholic tradition, based on
12096-469: Was no less dogmatic and uncompromising than Cyril, and that he was clearly just as prepared to use his political and canonical powers as Cyril or any of the other hierarchs of the period. Nestorius's opponents charged him with detaching Christ's divinity and humanity into two persons existing in one body, thereby denying the reality of the Incarnation . Eusebius, a layman who later became the bishop of
12208-471: Was one of the two major Christian centers of the study of biblical exegesis and theology during Late Antiquity ; the other was the School of Alexandria . This group was known by this name because the advocates of this tradition were based in the city of Antioch in Syria , one of the major cities of the ancient Roman Empire . Although there were early interpreters from Antioch, like Theophilus of Antioch ,
12320-462: Was one person ( hypostasis ), and not two separate persons, yet possessing both a human and divine nature. The Virgin Mary was to be called Theotokos , a Greek word that means "God-bearer" (the one who gave birth to God). The Council declared it "unlawful for any man to bring forward, or to write, or to compose a different (ἑτέραν) Faith as a rival to that established by the holy Fathers assembled with
12432-473: Was president of the council. Celestine had directed the papal legates not to take part in the discussions, but to give judgment on them. Bishops arrived in Ephesus over a period of several weeks. While waiting for the other bishops to arrive, they engaged in informal discussions characterized as tending to "exasperate rather than heal their differences". The metropolitan of Ephesus, Memnon , was already present with his 52 bishops. Nestorius and his 16 bishops were
12544-423: Was that the council's condemnation of Nestorius be formally read in their presence. When this had been done, the three legates each confirmed the council's actions, signing the Acts of all three sessions. The council sent a letter to Theodosius indicating that the condemnation of Nestorius had been agreed upon not only by the bishops of the East meeting in Ephesus but also of the bishops of the West who had convened at
#304695