Council of Ephesus The third ecumenical council, held in 431.
THE OCCASION AND PREPARATION FOR THE COUNCIL The idea of this
great council seems to have been due to Nestorius, the Bishop of
Constantinople. St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, had accused
him to Pope St. Celestine of heresy, and the pope had replied on
11 August, 430, by charging St. Cyril to assume his authority
and give notice in his name to Nestorius that, unless he
recanted within ten days of receiving this ultimatum, he was to
consider himself excommunicated and deposed. The summons was
served on Nestorius on a Sunday, 30 November, or 7 December, by
four bishops sent by Cyril. But Nestorius was evidently well
informed of what he was to expect. He regarded himself as having
been calumniated to the pope, and he did not choose to be given
over into the hands of Cyril. The latter was, in his opinion,
not merely a personal enemy, but a dangerous theologian, who was
reviving to some extent the errors of Apollinarius. Nestorius
had influence over