Nestorianism
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Nestorianism
Nestorianism
a movement in Christianity that arose in Byzantium in the fifth century; founded by Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431 (before that, a priest in Antioch, Syria).
For Nestorianism, which retained elements of classical rationalism, the mystical Christian concept of the “god-man” was the object of criticism. According to Nestorius, the Virgin Mary bore a man who subsequently rose to the level of the son of god (the messiah) after he had overcome human weakness; in Christ the human and the divine elements coexist only in a relative union, never fully merging. In contrast, orthodox doctrine emphasized the full unity of the human and the divine. Nestorius’ social support was mainly from those who still maintained classical traditions. His influence was especially great in Syria. His chief opponent was Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, who was supported by the monks and the rural population of Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor. At the Council of Ephesus in 431, Nestorianism was condemned as a heresy, and Nestorius was exiled. Most of the Nestorians fled to Iran (where they formed the Nestorian Church, which flourished until the mid-seventh century), to Middle Asia, and later to China.
Today there are Nestorians in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and India (along the Malabar Coast). In the early 20th century, when works by Nestorius previously known only through his opponents’ expositions were published, a tendency appeared in Western theology to prove that the doctrine of Nestorianism is not divergent from orthodoxy.
A. P. KAZHDAN