Homilies on the Ecumenical Synods - The Third Ecumenical Synod (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

  Homilies on the Ecumenical Synods

The Third Ecumenical Synod (431 A.D.)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou 

Since the first two Ecumenical Synods were convened, beloved brethrens, and drafted the Symbol of Faith and normally the issues should have ended, but various philosophical theologians raised various theological issues and therefore this Synod took place in Ephesus in 431 AD by decision of Emperor Theodosius the Younger, with Saint Cyril of Alexandria as President of the Synod.

This Synod dealt with the heresy of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who argued that the Panagia should not be called Theotokos, but Christotokos, considering that the term Theotokos, like the phrase "Mother of God", have pagan origins. Therefore he would say that the Virgin Mary gave birth to the human Christ, while God "came forth from", "passed through" or "went through" her, but He was not bron from her as God. Nestorius said that it is wrong to say the Panagia is Theotokos, because she is not a goddess who gave birth to God.

Saint Roufos, Bishop of Thessaloniki

St. Roufos of Thessaloniki (Feast Day - September 9)

Saint Roufos (Rufus) served as the Bishop of Thessaloniki from around 407 to 434, succeeding Anysios. Papal letters are addressed to him, the content of which is of great importance for the ecclesiastical history of Thessaloniki. With the letter of Pope Innocent (402-417) on June 17, 412, the Vicariate of Thessaloniki is formally established and the duties of the papal vicar, that is, of the respective Bishop of Thessaloniki, are defined.

Two relevant letters of Pope Boniface (418-422), successor of Innocent, are addressed to Roufos, a) in 419 on the occasion of the election of Bishop Perigenos of Corinth, and b) in 422 following information for an impending convening of a synod to reconsider the episcopate of Perigenos.

Saint Agathokles, Bishop of Koroni

Saint Agathokles, Bishop of Koroni, was one of the Holy Fathers who participated in the Third Ecumenical Synod, which took place in Ephesus in the year 431. He is commemorated on September 9th with all the other Holy Fathers of the Third Ecumenical Synod.

The Orthodox Doctrine of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God

By St. John of Damascus

(Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Bk. 3, Ch. 12)

Moreover we proclaim the holy Virgin to be in strict truth the Mother of God [Theotokos]. For inasmuch as He who was born of her was true God, she who bare the true God incarnate is the true mother of God. For we hold that God was born of her, not implying that the divinity of the Word received from her the beginning of its being, but meaning that God the Word Himself, Who was begotten of the Father timelessly before the ages, and was with the Father and the Spirit without beginning and through eternity, took up His abode in these last days for the sake of our salvation in the Virgin's womb, and was without change made flesh and born of her. For the holy Virgin did not bare mere man but true God: and not mere God but God incarnate, Who did not bring down His body from Heaven, nor simply passed through the Virgin as channel, but received from her flesh of like essence to our own and subsisting in Himself. For if the body had come down from heaven and had not partaken of our nature, what would have been the use of His becoming man? For the purpose of God the Word becoming man was that the very same nature, which had sinned and fallen and become corrupted, should triumph over the deceiving tyrant and so be freed from corruption, just as the divine apostle puts it, "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead" [1 Cor. 15:21]. If the first is true the second must also be true.

Saint Memnon, Archbishop of Ephesus

St. Memnon of Ephesus (Feast Day - December 16)

Verses

Divine Memnon is remembered by God,
And for this he is deemed worthy.

Our Holy Father Memnon (or Memnos) was Metropolitan of Ephesus during the Third Ecumenical Synod of 431, which he hosted in Ephesus. He participated as an associate of Saint Cyril of Alexandria and gathered Bishops around him that supported the Orthodox teaching against Nestorius of Constantinople and John of Antioch. Memnon opened the Synod before Nestorius' supporter John of Antioch and his Bishops and well as the Bishops of the West had arrived. Nestorius condemned this action and refused to appear with his Bishops until all were present. He also blamed Memnon for closing the churches of Ephesus to him. The Synod condemned Nestorius and his followers, while Nestorius and John held their own Synod which condemned Cyril and Memnon.

Synaxarion of our Holy Father Anatolios, Patriarch of Constantinople

St. Anatolios of Constantinople (Feast Day - July 3)

Verses

You entered the end of your life Anatolios,
Without entering the approaching sun.

This Saint was a Presbyter and apokrisiarios* of the Church of Alexandria. Later he was ordained Patriarch of Constantinople, during the reign of Theodosius the Younger the son of Arcadius, in the year 447. He was proposed to be Patriarch by the Monophysite Dioscorus the Patriarch of Alexandria. For he had hoped in vain to have him as one who agreed with him and was of one mind with him regarding his cacodoxy, but his hope failed. For the blessed Anatolios deposed the cacodox Dioscorus, and the name of the renowned and most-holy Flavian (Feb. 16), the Patriarch of Constantinople, whom Dioscorus killed during the Robber Synod of Ephesus, was numbered in the diptychs among the other renowned Patriarchs, because Saint Flavian was unexpectedly deposed at the Robber Synod of Ephesus. Moreover the honorable relic of Saint Flavian was translated and treasured in the Church of the Holy Apostles by the actions of Saint Anatolios. Not only this, but in an encyclical epistle he expounded the Orthodox faith, and sent it out to the Bishops of every city, urging them to anathematize the initiators and leaders of heresy, namely Nestorius, Eutyches, Dioscorus and all those who dogmatized that the incarnation of God the Word took place as an intermingling or eclipsing of the divine nature. Anatolios therefore, as a successor of Saint Flavian, and shepherd of the Church of Christ for eight years, departed to the Lord, leaving as his successor the most-holy Patriarch Gennadios.

Saint Akakios, Bishop of Meletine (+ 438)

St. Akakios of Melitene (Feast Day - April 18)

Saint Akakios was born into a pious family in the Armenian city of Melitene. His parents were childless for a long time. They prayed for a son, and vowed to dedicate him to God. Therefore, Akakios was given to Bishop Otreos of Melitene (Nov. 7) to serve the Church.

Saint Otreos was a firm supporter of Orthodoxy. When the heresy of Macedonius arose (Macedonianism, also called the Pneumatomachian heresy, that denied the full personality and divinity of the Holy Spirit. According to this heresy, the Holy Spirit was created by the Son and was thus subordinate to the Father and the Son), it was Saint Otreos who set forth the Orthodox teaching about the Holy Spirit as the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, One in Essence and Undivided, at the Second Ecumenical Synod in 381.

Saint Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem (+ 458)

St. Juvenal of Jerusalem (Feast Day - July 2)

Verses

The memory of Juvenal I celebrate,
Whose divine memory Palestine carries.

Saint Juvenal , Patriarch of Jerusalem, occupied the throne of the Holy City during the years 420-458. During this period great luminaries of the Church enlightened the world: Saints Euthymios the Great (Jan. 20), Symeon the Stylite (Sept. 1), Gerasimos of Jordan (Mar. 4), and many others. In 451, on the see of Jerusalem being recognized as a Patriarchate by the Synod of Chalcedon, he became the first Patriarch of Jerusalem, though Cyril of Alexandria and Pope Leo I opposed the separation of Jerusalem from Caesarea and Antioch.

Saint Zeno, Bishop of Kourion

Verses

Zeno was joined to the God in whom he hoped,
As Scripture says, hope does not put to shame.

Saint Zeno was the Bishop of Kourion in Cyprus. Together with Bishop Reginos of Constantia and Bishop Evagrios of Solon, Bishop Zeno was instrumental in asserting the independence and autocephaly of the Cypriot Church at the Third Ecumenical Synod of Ephesus in 431. He is also credited as signing the Acts of the Synod. Bishop Zeno of Kourion also is known to have overseen the building of the great basilica which was constructed over the ruins of a major pagan temple in Kourion, the ruins of which still exist.

Saint Maximianos, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 434)

St. Maximianos of Constantinople (Feast Day - April 21)

Verses

Maximianos who was not an all-devouring wolf,
Instead reared the Church and died.

Our Holy Father Maximianos was born in Rome to notable and wealthy parents, and was a childhood friend of Pope Celestine I of Rome. He was noted to be a pious man, but was not known for his intellect, though he was educated. He had a good reputation among the Christians, in part because at his own expense he constructed monuments to bury the departed. Maximianos led a monastic life before he entered the priesthood. He became a priest of the Church of Constantinople, ordained by Patriarch Sisinnius I. After the deposition of Nestorius, Maximianos became Archbishop of Constantinople at the insistence of Emperor Theodosius II, who apparently was looking for an ordinary candidate and perhaps one who was not overly under the influence of his sister, Pulcheria. His selection passed over Proclus, who was a favorite of the aristocrats.

Commemoration of the Holy Third Ecumenical Synod in 431

Commemoration of the Third Ecumenical Synod (Feast Day - September 9)

Verses

A simple man was the God-man Word,
Said the fallen Nestorius concerning Christ.

The Third Ecumenical Synod was convened in the year 431 in the city of Ephesus of Asia Minor during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II the Younger (408-450). The Synod was convened to investigate the false teachings of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople (428-431).

Saint Pulcheria, Empress of the Romans

St. Pulcheria the Empress (Feast Day - September 10 & February 17)

Verses

The Empress Pulcheria stands at Your right,

Chanting to You my Christ.

Saint Pulcheria was born was born on January 19, 399 and was the daughter of Emperor Arcadius (395-408) and his wife Eudokia, and her brother was Emperor Theodosius II the Younger (408-450). At the death of his father in 408, and at a very young age, seven years old, Theodosius II became emperor under the tutelage of the eunuch Antiochus.

Holy Emperor Theodosius II the Younger

St. Theodosius the Pious, Emperor of the Romans (Feast Day - July 29)

Verses

Your reign was not seen to be a barrier,

For you O Theodosius towards salvation.

Emperor Theodosius II began his reign over the Roman Empire in the year 408 at the age of seven, a successor to his father Arcadius. He was called "the Younger" to distinguish him from his grandfather, Emperor Theodosius I the Great (375-395). He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople. His sister Pulcheria taught him Christian piety, nourishing him with great reverence and devotion to the Orthodox Faith. When Theodosius the Younger took the royal scepter, with the help of his sister Pulcheria, he strongly supported the truths of the Orthodox Faith and secured its Creed. Thus, by royal decree on the 19th of November in 430, the Third Ecumenical Synod met on the 22nd of June in 431 in Ephesus, which condemned the heretical doctrines of Nestorius. In 438 Theodosius II and Pulcheria received back to Constantinople with great celebration the relics of St. John Chrysostom. Theodosius died in 450 as the result of a riding accident. The Church, for his fervent piety and great service to the cause of Orthodoxy, has inducted him into the chorus of saints.