Theology 1.0: What is Nestorianism?

 

Nestorian Mongolian tribe, as portrayed in the game Crusader Kings 2

In recent years, there has been interest about Christianity in Asia during Antiquity and Medieval times. This is because evidence of strong Christian presence (during that time) has been discovered recently in the tribes of Mongolia, Western China, India and in Iran.

These Christians were often referred as Nestorian Christians. So who were the Nestorians?

A tale of two terms
The term "Nestorians" often refer to two group of Christians. They may refer to (A) the people who follow the teachings of Nestorius, or (B) the Church of the East (aka the Persian Church)

A) Followers of Nestorius

Nestorius was a Christian theologian and the Archbishop of Constantinople. Nestorius was removed from his office in 431 AD due to his heretical teaching. Nestorius taught that Jesus was both human and divine, but not at the same time. In other words, Jesus could adopt a human or divine stance, but not both at the same time. Thus Nestorius believed that Mary (mother of Jesus) could not be given the title of Theotokos (God-bearer)

This belief, called Nestorianism, ran contrary to traditional Christian teaching. Traditional belief was that Jesus was always fully human and full divine.

Nestorius was then sent into exile.

The Church of the East (aka the Persian church), however, felt that his removal from office was more political than theological. Thus they did not condemned him.

Ancient Nestorian Christian writings in West China

B) The Church of the East

While The Church of the East did not officially condemned the teachings of Nestorius, they did not officially accept them either. Nevertheless, the Church of the East included some of the rites of Nestorius, and thus earned the name "Nestorians".

After the Muslim conquest of Asian, the Church of the East expanded eastwards to India, Central Asia and China.

Today

The Church of the East still exists today in three forms: the Ancient Church of the East, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. The name Nestorian is no longer used to refer to the churches as they do affirm the role of Mary as the God-bearer.