members of the church of the east have been called nestorians, since their church does not use "mother of god" as a description of mary, mother of jesus, choosing instead to call her "mother of christ", and has therefore been accused of the christological doctrine known as nestorianism, which emphasizes the distinction between christ's humanity and divinity to such an extent that its critics say it makes of him two distinct individuals. the justice of imputing this heresy to nestorius, patriarch of constantinople from 428 to 431, whom the assyrian church of the east venerates as a saint, is disputed. david wilmshurst states that for centuries "the word 'nestorian' was used both as a term of abuse by those who disapproved of the traditional east syrian theology, as a term of pride by many of its defenders [...] and as a neutral and convenient descriptive term by others. nowadays it is generally felt that the term carries a stigma". sebastian p. brock says: "the association between the church of the east and nestorius is of a very tenuous nature, and to continue to call that church 'nestorian' is, from a historical point of view, totally misleading and incorrect – quite apart from being highly offensive and a breach of ecumenical good manners."