From the Friars: Mary – Theotokos

“Mary is the Mother of Jesus, but she’s not the Mother of God” my Protestant friend pontificated to me some years ago. I curtly replied, “You sound like Nestorius.” “Nest story who?” He asked.

Nestorius was the Patriarch of Constantinople, who in 429 preached that Jesus Christ was a union of two separate persons: one God and the other man. He said that Mary was the “Christotokos”: the “bearer” or “mother” of Christ, but not the Mother of God. Perhaps unwittingly, Nestorius jeopardized the doctrine of salvation as we know it. This controversy does cause us to ask, “Where does it say in the Bible that Mary is the Mother of God”?

First, a short history lesson. In August of 430, not long after this controversy started, Pope St. Celestine held a council in Rome which rejected Nestorius’ teaching and charged St. Cyril of Alexandria, whose feast day we celebrate this week, with dealing with this error. By December, Nestorius was asked to recant his heresy, but he did not do so. Because of this, an Ecumenical Council was convened in Ephesus in the summer of 431 with Cyril overseeing it.

We can we call Mary the Mother of God, because it clearly says so in the Bible, that is, in the Greek version, of Matthew 1:23—on the first page of the New Testament. It says that Mary will “bear (tikto)” a son, who will be called “Emmanuel” which means “God (theos) with us.” Hence, Mary will bear God. That is, she will be the “Theotokos” (“God-bearer”) a compound word from the Greek. Thus, Mary is the Mother of the Divine Son who became man.

When the assembled bishops declared Mary as “Theotokos”, the people carried the Council Fathers on their shoulders in great jubilation—the same way we would if our football team won the Superbowl! Nestorius was banished to Egypt, his books were burned, and he died in exile in 435.

St. Cyril’s Feast Day is June 27th, the commemoration of the anniversary of the Council of Ephesus, when Mary was declared, Theotokos: the one who gives birth to God.

–Fr. Andrew, FPO