Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine that emphasizes the disunion
between the human and divine natures of Jesus. It was advanced by Nestorius,
Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431, influenced by Nestorius'
studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch. Nestorius's
teachings brought him into conflict with other prominent church leaders, most
notably Cyril of Alexandria, who criticized especially his rejection of
the title Theotokos for the Virgin Mary. Nestorius and his teachings were
eventually condemned as heretical at the First Council of Ephesus in 431 and the
Council of Chalcedon in 451, leading to the Nestorian Schism, in which churches
supporting Nestorius broke with the rest of the Christian Church. Following that,
many of Nestorius's supporters relocated to the Sasanian Empire, where they
affiliated with the local Christian community, known as the Church of the
East. Over the next decades the Church of the East became increasingly
Nestorian in doctrine, leading to it becoming known alternately as the
Nestorian Church. Nestorianism is a form of dyophysitism,
and can be seen as the antithesis to monophysitism, which emerged in reaction
to Nestorianism. Where Nestorianism holds that Christ had two loosely united
natures, divine and human, monophysitism holds that he had but a single nature,
his human nature being absorbed into his divinity. A brief definition of
Nestorian Christology can be given as: "Jesus Christ, who is not identical with
the Son but personally united with the Son, who lives in him, is one hypostasis
and one nature: human." Both Nestorianism and monophysitism were
condemned as heretical at the Council of Chalcedon. Monophysitism survived and
developed into the Miaphysitism of the modern Oriental Orthodox churches.
Following the exodus to Persia, scholars expanded on the teachings of Nestorius
and his mentors, particularly after the relocation of the School of Edessa to
the Persian city of Nisibis in 489. Nestorianism never again became
prominent in the Roman Empire or later Europe, though the diffusion of the
Church of the East in and after the 7th century spread it widely across Asia.
But not all churches affiliated with the Church of the East appear to have
followed Nestorian Christology; indeed, the modern Assyrian Church of the East,
which reveres Nestorius, does not follow all historically Nestorian doctrine.
Despite this initial Eastern expansion, the Nestorians' missionary success was
eventually deterred. David J Bosch observes
By the end of the fourteenth century, however, the Nestorian and other
churches—which at one time had dotted the landscape of all of Central and even
parts of East Asia—were all but wiped out. Isolated pockets of Christianity
survived only in India. The religious victors on the vast Central Asian
mission field of the Nestorians were Islam and Buddhism...
Nestorian doctrine Nestorius developed his Christological
views as an attempt to rationally explain and understand the incarnation
of the divine Logos, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity as the man Jesus
Christ. He had studied at the School of Antioch where his mentor had been
Theodore of Mopsuestia; Theodore and other Antioch theologians had long
taught a literalist interpretation of the Bible and stressed the
distinctiveness of the human and divine natures of Jesus. Nestorius took his
Antiochene leanings with him when he was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople by
Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II in 428.
Nestorius' teachings became the root of controversy when he publicly challenged
the long-used title Theotokos for the Virgin Mary. He suggested that the title
denied Christ's full humanity, arguing instead that Jesus had two persons, the
divine Logos and the human Jesus. As such he proposed Christotokos as a more
suitable title for Mary. Nestorius' opponents found his teaching
too close to the heresy of adoptionism – the idea that Christ had been born a man
who had later been "adopted" as God's son. Nestorius was especially criticized
by Cyril, Pope of Alexandria, who argued that Nestorius' teachings undermined the
unity of Christ's divine and human natures at the Incarnation. Some of
Nestorius' opponents argued that he put too much emphasis on the human nature of
Christ, and others debated that the difference that Nestorius implied
between the human nature and the divine nature created a fracture in the
singularity of Christ, thus creating two Christ figures. Nestorius himself always
insisted that his views were orthodox, though they were deemed heretical at the
First Council of Ephesus in 431, leading to the Nestorian Schism, when churches
supportive of Nestorius and the rest of the Christian Church separated. A more
elaborate Nestorian theology developed from there, which came to see Christ as
having two natures united, or hypostases, the divine Logos and the
human Christ. However, this formulation was never adopted by all churches termed
"Nestorian". Indeed, the modern Assyrian Church of the East, which reveres
Nestorius, does not fully subscribe to Nestorian doctrine, though it does not
employ the title Theotokos. Nestorian Schism and early history
Nestorianism became a distinct sect following the Nestorian Schism,
beginning in the 430s. Nestorius had come under fire from Western
theologians, most notably Cyril of Alexandria. Cyril had both theological
and political reasons for attacking Nestorius; on top of feeling that
Nestorianism was an error against true belief, he also wanted to denigrate the
head of a competing patriarchate. Cyril and Nestorius asked Pope Celestine I to
weigh in on the matter. Celestine found that the title Theotokos was orthodox,
and authorized Cyril to ask Nestorius to recant. Cyril, however, used the
opportunity to further attack Nestorius, who pleaded with Emperor Theodosius II
to call a council so that all grievances could be aired.
In 431 Theodosius called the First Council of Ephesus. However, the council
ultimately sided with Cyril, holding that Christ is one subsistence and
nature, and that the Virgin Mary is the mother of God. The council accused
Nestorius of heresy, and deposed him as patriarch. Nestorianism was officially
anathematized, a ruling reiterated at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
However, a number of churches, particularly those associated with the
School of Edessa, supported Nestorius – though not necessarily his doctrine –
and broke with the churches of the West. Many of Nestorius' supporters relocated
to Sassanid Persia, home to a vibrant but persecuted Christian minority.
Nestorianism and the Persian Church Persia had long been home to a Christian
community that had been persecuted by the Zoroastrian majority, which had
accused it of Roman leanings. In 424, the Persian Church declared itself
independent of the Byzantine and all other churches, in order to ward off
allegations of foreign allegiance. Following the Nestorian Schism, the
Persian Church increasingly aligned itself with the Nestorians, a measure
encouraged by the Zoroastrian ruling class. The Persian Church became
increasingly Nestorian in doctrine over the next decades, furthering the divide
between Chalcedonian Christianity and the Nestorians. In 486 the Metropolitan
of Nisibis, Barsauma, publicly accepted Nestorius' mentor, Theodore of
Mopsuestia, as a spiritual authority. In 489 when the School of Edessa in
Mesopotamia was closed by Byzantine Emperor Zeno for its Nestorian
teachings, the school relocated to its original home of Nisibis, becoming again
the School of Nisibis, leading to a wave of Nestorian immigration into Persia.
The Persian patriarch Mar Babai I reiterated and expanded upon the
church's esteem for Theodore, solidifying the church's adoption of
Nestorianism. Now firmly established in Persia, with
centers in Nisibis, Ctesiphon, and Gundeshapur, and several metropolitan
sees, the Nestorian Persian Church began to branch out beyond the Persian
Sassanid Empire. However, through the 6th century the church was frequently
beset with internal strife and persecution from the Zoroastrians. The
infighting led to a schism, which lasted from 521 until around 539, when the
issues were resolved. However, immediately afterward Roman-Persian
conflict led to the persecution of the church by the Sassanid King Khosrau I;
this ended in 545. The church survived these trials under the guidance of
Patriarch Mar Abba I, who had converted to Christianity from Zoroastrianism.
The church emerged stronger after this period of ordeal, and increased
missionary efforts farther afield. Missionaries established dioceses in the
Arabian Peninsula and India. They made some advances in Egypt, despite the
strong Miaphysite presence there. Missionaries entered Central Asia and
had significant success converting local Turkic tribes. Nestorian missionaries
were firmly established in China during the early part of the Tang Dynasty; the
Chinese source known as the Nestorian Stele records a mission under a Persian
proselyte named Alopen as introducing Nestorian Christianity to China in 635.
Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, completed in 644, the Persian Church
became a dhimmi community under the Rashidun Caliphate. The church and its
communities abroad grew larger under the Caliphate; by the 10th century it had
fifteen metropolitan sees within the Caliphate's territories, and another
five elsewhere, including in China and India.
See also Aramaic primacy
References Further reading
Luise Abramowski, "Der Bischof von Seleukia-Ktesiphon als Katholikos und
Patriarch der Kirche des Ostens," in Dmitrij Bumazhnov u. Hans R. Seeliger,
Syrien im 1.-7. Jahrhundert nach Christus. Akten der 1. Tübinger Tagung
zum Christlichen Orient., Baum, Wilhelm; Winkler, Dietmar W. The
Church of the East: A Concise History, London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-29770-2.
Google Print, retrieved 16 July 2005. "Nestorius and Nestorianism". Catholic
Encyclopedia. Seleznyov, Nikolai N., "Nestorius of
Constantinople: Condemnation, Suppression, Veneration, With special
reference to the role of his name in East-Syriac Christianity" in: Journal of
Eastern Christian Studies 62:3–4: 165–190.
Henri Bernard, La decouverte des Nestoriens Mongols aux Ordos et
I'histoire ancienne du Christianisme en Extreme-Orient, Tianjin, Hautes Etudes,
1935. Lev N. Gumilev. Poiski vymyshlennogo
tsarstva. Moscow, Onyx Publishers, 2003. ISBN 5-9503-0041-6.
Hill, Henry, ed. Light from the East: A Symposium on the Oriental Orthodox and
Assyrian Churches. Toronto: Anglican Book Centre.
Rossabi, Morris. Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the first journey from
China to the West. Kodansha International Ltd. ISBN 4-7700-1650-6.
Stewart, John. Nestorian missionary enterprise, the story of a church on
fire. Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark. Wilmshurst, David. The ecclesiastical
organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913. Peeters Publishers. p. 4.
ISBN 978-90-429-0876-5. External links
"Unofficial Web Site of the "Church of the East"". Nestorian.org.
Lieu, Sam; Parry, Ken. "Manichaean and Christian Remains in Zayton". Macquarie
University. Retrieved January 24, 2010. Dickens, Mark. "The Church of the East".
Oxus Communications. Retrieved February 6, 2010.