CENT. V.
COUNCIL OF EPHESUS, G.C.-When the heretic Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople-asserting that in Christ were two Persons, and that the Virgin Mary was not the Mother of God—had widely disturbed the Christian Faith; the third general Council, composed of more than 200 Bishops, was assembled at Ephesus, in Asia Minor, in 431, by the command of Theodosius the younger. In the various publications that preceded the meeting of the Council, which are numerous, and in which the Roman Bishop Cælestine, and Cyril of Alexandria, bore the principal part, one point universally prevails. That it was the duty of all “ to maintain the Faith that had been delivered;" which Faith, Nice and Constantinople had confirmed by their decisions, and which, by introducing novelties, Nestorius was aiming to subvert.“ He,” says Cyril,“ when by pious exhortations he should have instructed others, was solicitous only to advance absurd opinions, contrary to that Faith which our Ancestors received from the Apostles, which they retained with firmness, and which, as a precious jewel, they delegated to us.” Ep. Cyril. Conc. Gen. T. iii. p. 341.—“And why,” says his friend the Bishop of Antioch to Nestorius, “why, if your sentiments coincide with those of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, as we hear you say, do you decline to profess a word,“ that properly expresses that sentiment ?” Ibid. P. 389.
In the Council the same principle directed all the proceedings, in which Faith was concerned; for the Creed of Nice being read, as containing the acknowledged belief of the Christian Churches, by this rule was judgment pronounced
