Council of Ephesus (431): Mary as Theotokos
431 – 433
Place: ephesus
37.941, 27.342 · On the map
Attested. In this dispute Cyril's side won; Nestorius' side survived as the Church of the East. Full controversy record: branches-and-controversies.
Shared record: Nestorian controversy (Ephesus 431)
Cyril of Alexandria had Nestorius deposed for refusing to call Mary Theotokos ('God-bearer'), preferring 'Christ-bearer'. The council raised Marian devotion across the empire and permanently split off the Persian church, which rejected the outcome. The Qur'an's Mary, honored but fully human and the mother of a human prophet, enters a world shaped by this argument.
People named here
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Nestorius
- Theodosius II
Links
Conflict and authority
Out
Nestorius, deposed patriarch of Constantinople
Ephesus deposed Nestorius.
condemned
attestedOut
The Persian church rejected Ephesus and later adopted Theodore's Christology (synod of 486).
schism
attested
Context
Out
Church of the Kathisma ('Seat' of Mary) between Jerusalem and Bethlehem
After Ephesus, Marian shrines and feasts such as the Kathisma's spread.
context
attestedOut
Qur'an, Sura 5 (al-Ma'ida): the Table and 'me and my mother as two gods'
Theotokos piety as a broader background to the Qur'an's denial in 5:116.
context
scholarly hypothesisOut
The Qur'an's human, honored Mary versus Theotokos theology.
context
scholarly hypothesisIn
Protevangelium stories fed the Marian devotion that Ephesus formalized.
context
attested
Sources
- Wikipedia: Council of Ephesus
Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Wikipedia: Theotokos
Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-11-11.