Catholicism: A Defense of the Faith

The Mother of God

In the middle of the third century AD Emperor Decius of Rome issued a decree commanding persecution of Christians in Egypt. Eusebius records that while some heroically suffered martyrdom, many — especially the rich — renounced Our Lord and consented to paganism to be spared.

It was within this period of tumult that the suffering faithful penned following prayer on a papyrus reed as part of their Christmas liturgy:

"Beneath your compassion,
We take refuge, O Mother of God [Theotokos]:
do not despise our petitions in time of trouble:
but rescue us from dangers,
only pure, only blessed one."

This is the Sub Tuum Praesidium. Dated year 250, it is the oldest known prayer to Our Lady. A more common version goes:
We fly to your patronage, oh holy Mary Mother of God. Despise not our prayers in our necessities, but ever deliver us from all dangers, oh glorious and blessed Virgin Mary.

178 years later, Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople was giving a sermon during Mass on Christmas day. Christianity was by this time legal in both the East and the West, but with the spread of the Apostolic Faith also came many heresies. Nestorius was a strong orthodox Catholic known for his eloquence and intolerance of heterodoxy.

It therefore came as a shock when he himself began to challenge Christian doctrine. During his sermon that day, he declared that Mary could not be the Mother of God because to say so would imply she was a goddess. The proper title according to him was Christotokos (Mother of the Christ) and not Theotokos (Mother of God).

Word of this spread throughout Christendom and Nestorius was rebuked by laity and clergy alike. One of his greatest critics was St Cyril of Alexandria who wrote to Nestorius himself and further sent a five-book compendium to Pope Celestine titled Against Nestorius requesting his judgement. Pope Celestine concurred with Cyril and ordered Nestorius to recant his position or else face excommunication.

Stubborn Nestorius refused and not only continued preaching his errors, but began demanding an ecumenical council. On June 22, 431, in the name of Pope Celestine, the Third Ecumenical Council began at Ephesus. Nestorius was excommunicated and his teachings condemned, and the Church canonized the Marian Title 'Mother of God'.

It would be over another millenium before the Church would be confronted with a different version of Nestorianism: Protestantism.

Protestants and Nestorianism
Despite Martin Luther's many confusions and retractions, he never rejected the title Theotokos and neither does his Lutheran Church. Actually, Luther praised the Council of Ephesus' decision to excommunicate Nestorius (emphasis mine):

"He [Nestorius] admits that Christ is God and man in one Person; but since His deity does not come from His mother, Mary, she ought not to be called the mother of God. This was rightly condemned in the council, and ought to be condemned." (On the Councils and the Church, 1539; Works of Martin Luther)

Zwingli of the "Reformed" movement and Calvin, founder of the Calvinist church, had no issue with it either.

Ironically, it is easy to respond to modern Protestants who reject the title 'Theotokos' solely using their founders' own quotations.

Given the many dissenting voices today, it is important to understand what exactly the problem with 5th century Nestorianism was.

Where Nestorius messed up
Nestorius' original line of thinking was that since God existed from the beginning and is uncreated, it follows that a human being cannot be His mother since a mother cannot be younger than her son.