View the chart for this period here.

Cyril of Alexandria must have received the letter of Celestine of Rome (CPG 8638) at the very end of August or early September. As we have seen, he in turn immediately relayed the contents to John of Antioch (CPG 5313/8642) and Juvenal of Jerusalem (CPG 5316/8643). Two other letters of Celestine went directly to Nestorius (CPG 8639) and to his clergy at Constantinople (8640). Celestine spelled out clearly that his letter (together with the first two of Cyril) constituted the requisite three attempts to have Nestorius recant and return to the fold. Unless he repent within ten days of receipt of this letter, he was to be considered excommunicated from the church.

Meanwhile, Nestorius’s friend, John of Antioch, having received by early September the letter of Celestine (CPG 8641) informing him of the case against Nestorius and of the impending excommunication, immediately wrote to Nestorius urging him to reconsider his position for the sake of unity (CPG 6316). Nestorius responded to John in an irenic letter (CPG 5671/8657) that claimed he had already begun efforts to diffuse the situation by clarifying his own position, namely that his Christotokos term had chiefly been meant as a corrective a middle way between two competing parties in Constantinople, one that championed the use of theotokos, while the other insisted on anthropotokos! Although difficult to date, another letter of Nestorius, this one to a follower of Pelagius, the priest Caelestinus (CPG 5668/8633) was most probably written in this period, a year after the priest was banished from Constantinople by the emperor. An undated petition to the emperors by the Constantinopolitan deacon and archimandrite Basil and his associates (CPG 5774) also seems to fit well into this period. It complains about brutal treatment by Nestorius when their delegation sought clarification on his Christology.

Cyril waited in vain for a reply from Constantinople. Finally in early November1, Cyril composed three letters – to Nestorius (CPG 5317/8644), to the clergy of Constantinople (CPG 5318/8645), and to the monks of Constantinople (CPG 5319/8646). While Cyril was certainly the author, he made it clear in his address that he was writing also with the authority of a council held in Alexandria.

The first of these letters, known as Cyril’s “Third Letter to Nestorius” (CPG 5317/8644) had an appendix of twelve anathemas. The first of these anathematized anyone who did not confess that Mary was properly called “mother of God” (theotokos); the other eleven condemned doctrinal statements that flowed from such a Christology. This letter and would become one of the most quoted and influential documents of the controversy, cited frequently at future councils, and its anathemas drew a sharp division between the positions, and the two men. His letter to the church of Constantinople (CPG 5318/8645) attempts to convince Nestorius’s own parishioners that numerous attempts had been made to dissuade Nestorius from his doctrinal position. Since these had failed, however, he will be excommunicated from the church unless with the agreement of Celestine of Rome. The Christians of Constantinople now need to keep themselves “blameless and without blemish, neither communing with the one mentioned, nor paying attention to him as a teacher” (§2). The letter to the monks in the eastern capital (CPG 5319/8646) was similar. All three, however, indicated that even though Celestine’s appointed time had expired, it was still not too late for Nestorius to repent.  Late November or early December was also the time each year when Cyril wrote his Festal Letter, announcing the date of Easter for the coming year. His Festal Letter 19 (CPG 5240.19; for 431) does not mention Nestorius and, while Christology is discussed in non-technical terms and the term theotokos is used once, the letter adds nothing to our understanding of the developing controversy.

All through the fall of 430, Emperor Theodosius II was becoming more aware of the seriousness of the religious situation. His initial support for Nestorius began to weaken as he became aware of the growing and widespread opposition to his views—and Nestorius’s seemingly uncompromising attitude. So when it was proposed (probably by Nestorius himself) that a large council be called to take up the matter, the emperor agreed and issued the formal imperial sacra (a command more than an order) on November 19 (CPG 8651). The announcement contained not a word about Nestorius or Christology. Instead it more generally spoke of “the present straits of the church” that needed addressing before they should cause “a turn for the worse” (§2). The meeting would be held in Ephesus and would start “God willing, on the most holy day of Pentecost.” In the meantime, “no fresh step is to be taken individually by anyone” (§3). The copy of the sacra which was preserved in the council’s minutes was that addressed to Cyril, and from it we can gather that similar letters went to the other regional church leaders who were to disseminate the invitation and ensure that there would be “no shortage of bishops” in attendance (§3).

Along with the sacra sent to Alexandria, the emperor sent a more personal letter directly to Cyril (CPG 8652) emphasizing this last point. Theodosius was clearly angered by Cyril’s actions, and in particular the tracts he had sent the previous spring to the imperial Augustas (see CPG 5319 and 5220) in an effort “to sunder the members of both the churches and the imperial family” (§3). A different tone is seen in a third imperial letter composed about the same time and sent to the aged Acacius of Beroea (Aleppo) and the famous monk Simeon Stylites (CPG 8653). Neither of these would attend the council, but they were urged to pray for it and its results. About this time Nestorius also wrote a third letter to Celestine of Rome (CPG 5670/8658). In it he mentions the upcoming council but seems not to have received Cyril’s letter with the anathemas. He confidently asserts his orthodoxy while claiming that Cyril was in hiding to avoid the upcoming council.

On Nov. 30, less than two weeks after the official sacra was penned and dispatched, Cyril’s letter with the attached twelve anathemas (CPG 5317) reached Nestorius. Although the emperor had stressed that the issue should not be taken up again before the council, Nestorius could not constrain himself.  A week later he preached two sermons on the issues at hand. The first was given on Saturday, December 6 and is number 18 (CPG 5707/8655) in the modern collection of Nestorius’s sermons. In it, he publicly decries the attacks against him and his teaching and agrees that he will call Mary theotokos as well as anthropotokos and Christotokos, if his opponents will also do so.  The following day, Sunday, December 7, in his sermon 19 (CPG 5708/8656) he reiterated that he had always taught correctly: “The holy Virgin is both theotokos and anthropotokos, bearer indeed of God on account of the fact that the temple which was created in her by the Holy Spirit was united to the divinity, and the bearer of man on account of the first-fruits of our nature taken by the divine nature.”  Nestorius then circulated these two sermons to his supporters as proof of both his sound Christology and his conciliatory attitude. After reading the sermons, John of Antioch believed that a corner had been turned, and says as much in a letter he sent a few weeks after these events to Firmus of Caesarea (CPG 6313/8659). His optimism, as we shall see, was unwarranted.

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Last updated 9/3/2026 by JSW

  1. The introductory note to Nestorius’s sermon 18 gives its date of delivery as Dec. 6, 430 and states that this was 6 dates after he received the letters of Celestine and Cyril. While he certainly had received Celestine’s letter weeks earlier, it is plausible that he received this letter of Cyril on Nov. 30 (see ACO 1.5, p. 39). The note in ACO 1.2, p. 51 mistakenly gives Nov. 30 as the date the letter was written (data) rather than received. ↩︎

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