Nestorius (d. 451)

Importance

•          Preferred Christotokos and denounced Theotokos

•          Rejected term “hypostatic union”

•          Jesus and the Father had a unity of wills not unity of essence

•          Thought in terms of a “conjunction” of natures and not a “union”

•          Most significant opponent was Cyril of Alexandria

•          Nestorious denounced by the Council of Ephesus (431)

•          Modern research has found a book by Nestorius known as the Book of Heracleides in which Nestorius explicitly denies the heresy for which he was condemned