The Virgin Nativity Cathedral
Section of Southern Lengthwise Nave. South View

The Third Ecumenical Council

Dionisy's frescoes. The Third Ecumenical Council

(Ephesus) was convened in 431 under the emperor Theodosius II in Ephesus (Asia Minor) to deal with the controversy over Nestorianism. 200 bishops, including Cyril of Alexandria, Juvenal of Jerusalem, Memnon of Ephesus took part in it. The council denounced as erroneous the heresy of Nestorius who negated the Orthodox teaching on the double nature of Christ and refused to call Virgin Mary the Theotokos (Mother of God). Thus the council of Ephesus decreed that Jesus Chris was one person who had two natures: human and divine, and that Virgin Mary should be truly called the Theotokos.
In the foreground of the composition the defrocked patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius is divested of his priestly robes.