Extra History | Chronological Order | Pre-History - 1699 CE - Early Christian Schisms - Ephesus, the Robber Council, and Chalcedon - Extra History - Part 4

📜 Early Christian Schisms - Part 4 - Extra History A century after Constantine, Emperor Theodosius II found himself wrapped up in yet more theological disputes. His chosen patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop Nestorius, had angered many other church leaders with his teachings that Christ had separate human and divine natures. Cyril of Alexandria wrote to the Pope in Rome for support against Nestorius and received permission to excommunicate him. Nestorius responded by having the emperor call an ecumenical council, at which he intended to excommunicate Cyril. But Cyril acted first, declaring for the excommunication of Nestorius and forming a majority by pushing the council to begin early before the supporters of Nestorius could gather. When they did, they formed their own council and excommunicated Cyril right back, only to be excommunicated in turn by Cyril's Council of Ephesus. Theodosius II attempted to resolve this by calling a second council, but this time none of the Western delegates had time to arrive and in their absence, monophysite leaders from the East excommunicated Nestorius again and declared monophysitism the official doctrine of the church. Those who didn't get to participate called this the Robbers Council and refused to acknowledge it. Then Theodosius II died, and this fight devolved onto his successor, Marcian. Marcian called together the Council of Chalcedon to rule on the previous councils, where it was finally decided that Christ had two unified natures, human and divine, and everyone who'd supported the Robbers Council should be excommunicated. Instead of bringing Christians together under an orthodox theology, they split the faith as those who wouldn't accept their decisions continued to preach and believe their own doctrines and a multitude of Christian sects became their own separate orders. Ultimately, these new denominations followed regional lines, which meant that different areas of the empire formed distinct cultural identities shaped in part by their faith, and these areas were less connected to Constantinople and became the first to split off as the empire weakened over the centuries. * Watch Extra History ad-free & get 1-week early access on *NEBULA* https://go.nebula.tv/extrahistory * Suggest & Vote on our next episodes, get exclusive content & 24-hour early access on *PATREON* https://bit.ly/EHPatreon * Show off your fandom with *MERCH* from our store! http://extracredits.store/ *Interested in sponsoring an episode?* Email us: extracredits@standard.tv TWITTER: http://bit.ly/ECTweet I FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/ECFBPage INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/ECisonInstagram I TIKTOK: https://bit.ly/ECtiktokz GAMING: https://www.youtube.com/@extracredits I TWITCH: https://bit.ly/ECtwitch *Miss an episode in our Early Christian Schisms Series?* Part 1 - https://youtu.be/E1ZZeCDGHJE Part 2 - https://youtu.be/hZsZXHPDwsw Part 3 - https://youtu.be/6d2lOQpuqd4 Part 4 - https://youtu.be/f9lEcwLnwfg Series Wrap-up & Lies Episode - https://youtu.be/6dnECIPXIRY ♪ "Oxyrhynchus Hymn" by Sean and Dean Kiner - Available on Patreon! Thanks for the high-quality conversations & for following our community guidelines here: https://bit.ly/ECFansRNice *Interested in sponsoring an episode? Email us: extracredits@standard.tv* Artist: David Hueso I Writer: James Portnow I Voice: Daniel Floyd I Editor: Carrie Floyd I ♪ Music by Demetori: http://bit.ly/1EQA5N7 #ExtraHistory #Christian #History