Question: What Does Theotokos Mean?
When Nestorius (c.386 – c.451) was made Patriarch of Constantinople in 428, by the Roman emperor Theodosius II, he opposed the leading, Arian, heresy, but then he found himself embroiled in a new theological conflict over the term theotokos. Nestorius was condemned for heresy at the Council of Ephesus in 431.
What was the issue?
Answer: Nestorius believed that the Virgin Mary gave birth to the human embodiment of Jesus, and as such should be called by a term signifying "person who gives birth to the savior" and not "person who gives birth to a god." The term Nestorius preferred to use for Mary was "christotokos," based on the Greek for 'messiah/annointed one' christos. The prevailing orthodoxy preferred the term "theotokos," based on the Greek for 'god' theos (also seen in "theology").
A theotokos could be giving birth to a god who is a savior, but a christotokos is giving birth to a human savior. Thus the theotokos is in a sense more inclusive. The child of a theotokos could be human and divine, where the child of a christotokos would be human.
Index of Early Christianity FAQs
- When were the 10 persecutions of Christians?
- Why is it Xmas?
- What does theotokos mean?
- Which nation first adopted Christianity?
- Who were the disciples in The Last Supper, by daVinci?
- Who are the archangels?
- What are the 10 Commandments?
- When was the Exodus?
- What were the 10 Egyptian Plagues
- What are the 12 tribes of Israel?
