Editing Council of Ephesus (section)

==Canons and declarations==
[[File:Saint Cyril of Alexandria at Chora.jpg|thumb|Cyril of Alexandria]]
Eight [[Canon (canon law)|canons]] were passed:
* Canon 1–5 condemned [[Nestorius]] and [[Caelestius]] and their followers as heretics
* Canon 6 decreed deposition from clerical office or [[excommunication]] for those who did not accept the Council's decrees
* Canon 7 condemned any departure from the creed established by the [[First Council of Nicaea]] (325), in particular an exposition by the priest Charisius.
* Canon 8 condemned interference by the Bishop of Antioch in affairs of the Church in [[Cyprus]] and decreed generally, that no bishop was to "assume control of any province which has not heretofore, from the very beginning, been under his own hand or that of his predecessors […] lest the Canons of the Fathers be transgressed".<ref name="Seven_Ecumenical_Councils" />

The Council denounced Nestorius' teaching as erroneous and decreed that Jesus was one person ([[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|hypostasis]]), and not two separate persons, yet possessing both a human and divine nature. [[The Virgin Mary]] was to be called [[Theotokos]], a Greek word that means "God-bearer" (the one who gave birth to God).

The Council declared it "unlawful for any man to bring forward, or to write, or to compose a different (ἑτέραν) Faith as a rival to that established by the holy Fathers assembled with the Holy Ghost in Nicæa".<ref name="Seven_Ecumenical_Councils" /> It quoted the [[Nicene Creed]] as adopted by the [[First Council of Nicaea]] in 325, not as added to and modified by the [[First Council of Constantinople]] in 381.<ref name="newadvent.org">{{cite web| url = http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3810.htm| title = Extracts from the Acts of the Council of Ephesus, The Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QhZcr6wVi9EC&pg=PA140 Johannes Roldanus, ''The Church in the Age of Constantine''] (Taylor & Francis 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-415-40903-2}}), p. 140</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JmFetR5Wqd8C&pg=PA166 John Anthony McGuckin (editor), ''The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Theology''] (Wiley 2010 {{ISBN|978-1-4443-9254-8}}), p. 166</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Xp1gpa7wGPYC&pg=PA383 Adrian Fortescue, ''The Orthodox Eastern Church'']{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (Kessinger 2004 reprint {{ISBN|978-1-4179-1060-1}}), p. 383</ref>

Although some scholars, such as [[Norman Cohn]] and [[Peter Toon]], have suggested that the Council of Ephesus rejected [[premillennialism]], this is a misconception, and there is no evidence of the Council making any such declaration.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Svigel |first1=Michael J. |title=The Phantom Heresy: Did the Council of Ephesus (431) Condemn Chiliasm? |journal=[[Trinity Journal (journal)|Trinity Journal]] |date=2003 |volume=24 |url=https://bible.org/article/phantom-heresy-did-council-ephesus-431-condemn-chiliasm |access-date=30 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gumerlock |first1=Francis X. |title=Millennialism and the Early Church Councils: Was Chiliasm Condemned at Constantinople? |journal=[[Fides et Historia]] |date=2004 |volume=36 |pages=83–95 |url=http://francisgumerlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Millennialism%20and%20the%20Early%20Church%20Councils.%20Gumerlock.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508022523/http://francisgumerlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Millennialism%20and%20the%20Early%20Church%20Councils.%20Gumerlock.pdf |archive-date=2015-05-08 |url-status=live |access-date=30 May 2020}}</ref>