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 'savior' 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?
