An Early Collection of Acts from the Council of Ephesus (431) in Antioch

The keeping, storage and circulation of documents and acts created by the eastern (anti-Cyrillian) bishops at the council of Ephesus (431) is obscure. A letter by Theodoret written on the eve of the Second Council of Ephesus provides an exceptional window into a set of documents relating to the occasion and stored at Antioch at the time. The description reveals the overall scope and character of this set of documents, including some aspect of their probable materiality, and the tendencies and purposes guiding their compilation. It further allows to tentatively identify several of the documents mentioned with those surviving in later collections.

The Structure and Elements of the ‘Ideal’ Session-Record and the Role of ‘Editing’

Summarizing the findings of the previous chapters, this chapter sketches what might be considered an ideal type of a conciliar session protocol, as it starts with a conventional frame giving date and place and elucidation of the occasion, then progresses through the agenda and culminates in the recording of the oral verdicts of the bishops, concluding with the written formulization in a verdict signed by them. The protocol of the much-criticized Council of Ephesus (449) paradoxically comes very close to this ideal, when taken on its own terms. The seeming contradiction between this document’s smooth formality and the alleged tyrannical manipulations of the meeting it portrays alerts us to the role of a deeper editing, here and generally, by which the records were made to match the designs and self-image of both ecclesiastical and civil authorities, and which cannot be entirely captured by the attention to the textual processes required for their production alone.

Original Acts and Documents at Chalcedon (AD 451)

The analysis of document-reading conducted at the first session of Chalcedon brings to light the deliberate use of different textual objects that is decisive for understanding the session. The imperial instructions for the earlier council of Ephesus (449 AD) were read from a codex, shown to be a government register of imperial correspondence and independent of the acts of the council that contain the same texts again. The acts of the Ephesine Council, by contrast, were recited from a different document, which can be identified as the unpublished draft-original of its record. It is called a schedarion and comes in the physical shape of a (sc)roll. The use of this format, shown as characteristic of original conciliar acts, is assessed for its practical utility, the reading strategies consequent upon it, and the symbolic charge the council-rolls gain as objects.

I. The Threefold Summons at Late Antique Church Councils

The threefold summons of an absent defendant in the context of synodal proceedings – which had been admittedly formed by influence from the respective process in Roman law – is an important component of the ecclesiastical judicial procedure. In this paper I examine in detail all the extensive narratives of threefold summonses preserved in conciliar acts of the fifth and sixth centuries, that is, the cases of Nestorius of Constantinople and John of Antioch at the council of Ephesus (431), the case of the archimandrite Eutyches at the Resident Synod of Constantinople (448), the case of Athanasius of Perrhe at the local synods of Hierapolis (early 440s) and Antioch (445) as well as at the Council of Chalcedon (451), the case of Dioscorus of Alexandria at the Council of Chalcedon, and the case of Anthimus of Constantinople at the Resident Synod of Constantinople (536). In the final part I proceed to an assessment of this process’ evolution over the period in question. The principal conclusion is that by the time of Justinian the ecclesiastical threefold summons procedure had become consolidated and systematised.

Paradox as an expression of the inexpressible in Sedulius’ Paschal Song

In the middle of the fifth century, a relatively mysterious Christian poet, Sedulius, wrote his epic composition named Paschal Song. In terms of contents, it is notably a description of Christ’s miracles according to the four Gospels. The poet is facing the reality of something that transcends the common human experience – according to what was defined by the Council of Ephesus and Chalcedon regarding the real divine and human nature of Christ. For such reason, even his poetical language is adapted, in order to describe something that contravenes common reality. A useful and suitable means for reaching this purpose is the frequently employed paradox. The reader/listener can get closer to the indescribable, unprecedented, and inexpressible mysterious nature of Christ. In this way, the author creates a very specific and elegant mystic – and his epic composition becomes a meditative text.

Liturgical texts relating to Council of Ephesus (12 Tût)

A good number of studies appear in the field of Church History dealing with the council of Ephesus considered as the third ecumenical council. In this paper, we will study the date of this council that occurs in the liturgical books. We will provide the reader with the relating liturgical texts.

The Virgin as Theotokos at Ephesus (ad 431) and Earlier

The earliest apparent piece of evidence for giving Our Lady the title Theotokos is a papyrus in the John Rylands Library originally dated to the third century; recent research, however, suggests a date many centuries later. It has also been asserted that the First Council of Ephesus (431) formally defined that Our Lady is Theotokos; in fact, no such decree was issued. Although early Fathers had used the title as a matter of course, St Cyril of Alexandria was the first champion of its dogmatic status. But he did nothing to promote a cult of Our Lady, involving prayer for her intercession. This was because he bestowed on Our Lady a greater dignity than that of mere patron saints, namely an indispensable role as the collaborator of Our Lord in the work of salvation.

The Virgin Mary Theotokos in Orthodox Piety

From the time of the Council of Ephesus (431), the veneration of the Mother of God (Theotokos) experienced substantial growth, placing the Virgin in the foreground of the piety of all the Oriental Churches. The Virgin is present in the prayer life of the Orthodox Churches as expressed in Orthodox liturgy and spirituality in all countries of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox traditions. There are numerous Marian feasts. Marian feasts, icons, and hymns are often combined, e.g. the ‘wonder-working’ icons are used for veneration on their own feast days. The Virgin Mary is the most perfect member of the redeemed community, but in that same perfection we are all called to share. The function of her apparitions and icons is therefore to introduce us at the same time to the gift of the Spirit, to the taste of prayer, and to the mystery of the permanent presence of Christ in us.