Nestorius

NESTORIUS : UNDERSTANDING INCARNATION
PROF. M. M. NINAN
Veneration or worship?
It was the possibility of this that made Nestorius to object to the title of Mary as “Mother of God”
Here is a prayer rendered to Mary of that period:
ANCIENT PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN MARY
source: http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=1491
We turn to you for protection, holy Mother of God.
Listen to our prayers and help us in our needs.
Save us from every danger, glorious and blessed Virgin.
Roman church says: “These charges can legitimately be called prejudices because they
proceed from a prejudgment (made in advance based on preconceived ideas about what
Catholics believe) and efforts to enlighten and convince with facts usually fall on deaf ears”
I have a book on it published long time ago when there was a movement to make Mary as the
fourth person along with the Trinity. This move did not realize.. It was this tendency from
the Roman pagan heritage that Nestorius was fighting against. History had at least partially
justified the fear of Nestorius that there indeed was a concerted attempt to make Mary as a
fourth person of Godhead along with the trinity.
By the end of the fourth century, the following propositions had gained widespread
acceptance in the church:
1. Jesus is fully human
2. Jesus is fully divine
If both of these statements are simultaneously true, it was argued, then what was true of the
humanity of Jesus must also be true of his divinity — and vice versa. An example might be
the following:
1. Jesus Christ is God;
2. Mary gave birth to Jesus;
3. Therefore Mary is the Mother of God
This kind of argument became increasingly commonplace within the late fourth-century
church; indeed, it often served as a means of testing orthodox of a theologian. A failure to
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