Nestorianism in the East

The ideas put forth by Nestorius survived him and his condemnation as a heretic, mostly in the East. Those who disagreed with the Council of Ephesus adhered to the idea of Jesus having both a divine and a human nature with a connection between them, not that he was one or the other.

The Roman and Byzantine authorities saw Jesus as primarily divine, and when the Byzantine Emperor Zeno shut down a school in Mesopotamia for teaching Nestorian ideas, the school simply re-opened as the School of Nisibis in Persia. This brought many people to the area who believed in Nestorianism.

This Persian Nestorian Church began to expand, but not to the West where they would be opposed by the churches that followed Rome. The 6th century saw schisms started by clashes with Zoroastrianism, but the Nestorians came out even stronger.

Certain parts of the eastern church became known as the Nestorian Church. Nestorians were known in the Mongol court, and it was said that Nestorians provided the West with secrets of silk. 

Missions to the Arabian Peninsula and India created dioceses there. India already had Christianity presumably due to St. Thomas. The rumors of a large Christian population in far-off places gave rise to the myth of Prester John. A 6th-century manuscript mentions Persian Christins living in Sri Lanka, and a carved stone cross in a Sri Lankan column discovered in 1912 has been offered as proof of the presence of the Nestorian missions. In the Arabian Peninsula, Nestorians were declared dhimmi (protected persons) by the Rashidun Caliphate when it conquered that area.

The illustration above is of a Nestorian cross from a Beijing monastery dating to the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368 CE), showing how far and how well-established the Nestorian Church became in the Far East.

Since this blog has never explained Zoroastrianism, I think that should be the next topic. See you tomorrow.

Nestorius of Constantinople

It is time to talk about Nestorianism, the man who started it, and the fact that even though it was declared heretical it lasted in areas uncontrolled by Rome.

Nestorius (c.386 - c.451) came out of Germanicia in Syria (now Turkey) and was educated in Antioch. He became a monk, and his preaching drew so much attention that the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II made him patriarch of Constantinople in 428. His appointment didn't last long.

How did that change of fortune happen so fast? There were two differing theological ideas in Constantinople about the nature of Jesus as both a god and a man. One side supported the idea of a Hypostatic Union, that the divine and the human were united as one being in the person of Jesus.

Nestorius thought differently, preaching that there was a connection between the two natures. He could not accept that the suffering that the human Jesus went through was experienced by the divine part of him. He was accused of saying there were two persons in one body and therefore that he was denying the Incarnation, that "God became Man."

Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, was vehemently opposed to Nestorius. Cyril appealed to Pope Celestine II in Rome, who told Cyril to excommunicate Nestorius if he did not recant. The Council of Ephesus condemned and deposed Nestorius (along with affirming the Immaculate Conception).

Cyril had forced the Council to convene hastily, and declared the condemnation before the patriarch of Antioch and eastern bishops had arrived. They were furious at being left out of the discussion, convened their own council, declared Cyril of Alexandria deposed, and then appealed to the emperor. Theodosius supported Nestorius, but knew he was sitting on a powder keg. He exiled both Nestorius and Cyril. Nestorius went to his original monastery in Antioch. Cyril eventually bribed his way back to Constantinople.

Followers of Nestorius were removed from the positions. Theodosius exiled Nestorius from Antioch to Egypt, within the diocese of the recently restored Cyril of Alexandria. Desert bandits attacked the monastery, injuring Nestorius.

Nestorianism did not die, however; in the East, it spread. We will look at that growth tomorrow.