Cyril of Alexandria
- Lived
- c. 376–444
- Era
- The fathers
- Where
- Alexandria
- Tradition
- The apostolic communities
The christology behind Ephesus, and the methods behind it
Patriarch of Alexandria, the driving force at the Council of Ephesus in 431, and the theologian whose language the Oriental Orthodox churches still hold to.
Why it matters
His insistence that the one who was born of Mary and the one who is eternally God are a single subject — so that Theotokos is proper — is the foundation of all later christology, east and west, and both sides of the eventual split at Chalcedon claimed him. His conduct is another matter: he opened the council before the Syrian bishops arrived, condemned Nestorius in their absence, distributed enormous sums at court to secure the result, and presided over an Alexandria in which the philosopher Hypatia was murdered by a mob. The theology and the methods are both his.
In the record
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431 AD Division
Council of Ephesus
Opened it before the Syrian bishops arrived and drove the condemnation
All the figures, from the apostolic age to the present, or the timeline they stand in.