Nestorius (386-451) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to August 431 (succeeding Ecumenical Patriarch Sisinnios I and preceding Ecumenical Patriarch Maximianos), when Theodosius II condemned him with the Council of Ephesus. He is recognized as both the one-time head of Orthodox Christianity and the father of Nestorian Christianity.
Biography[]
Nestorius was born in 386 AD in Germanicia, Roman Syria, Byzantine Empire (present-day Kahramanmarash, Kahramanmarash Province, Turkey) to a family of Greeks. On 10 April 428 he was elected as the Archbishop of Constantinople, and he succeeded the short-reigned Ecumenical Patriarch Sisinnios I. Nestorius developed heretical views such as rejecting St. Mary's epithet of "Theotokos", meaning "Mother of God". This revocation of her title led to the belief that Nestorius did not agree that Jesus was the son of Yahweh, and Cyril of Alexandria accused him of heresy. The 431 Council of Ephesus condemned him, and Theodosius II condemned him. Ecumenical Patriarch Maximianos succeeded him, and in 435 he was exiled to Aegyptus (Egypt). In 451, his last supporters condemned him in the Council of Chalcedon, and he died without any support. However, after his death Nestorian Christianity would develop into the main religion of Christian Arabs, Kurds, and other Middle Easterners.