Nestorianism, Christian sect that originated inAsia Minor and Syria stressing the independence of the divine and human natures ofChrist and, in effect, suggesting that they aretwo persons loosely united. The schismatic sect formed following the condemnation ofNestorius and his teachings by theecumenical councils ofEphesus (431ce) andChalcedon (451ce).

Originally, Nestorianismenvisaged the divineWord as having associated with itself at theIncarnation a complete, independently existing man. From the orthodox point of view, Nestorianism therefore denied the reality of the Incarnation and represented Christ as a God-inspired man rather than as God-made-man. Since the 5th century all the principal branches of the Christian church have united in condemning Nestorianism and have affirmed that Christ is a single person, at once wholly human and wholly divine.

Christianity inPersia facedintermittent persecution until the Persian Church in 424 formally proclaimed its full independence of Christian churches elsewhere, thereby freeing itself of suspicions about foreign links. Under the influence ofBarsumas, the metropolitan ofNisibis, the Persian Church acknowledgedTheodore of Mopsuestia, the chief Nestorian theological authority, as guardian of right faith, in February 486. This position was reaffirmed under the patriarch Babai (497–502), and since that time the church has been Nestorian.

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Nestorius: Nestorianism

Nestorius had been anathematized at theSecond Council of Ephesus in 431 for denouncing the use of the titleTheotokos (“God-Bearer”) forMary, insisting that this compromised the reality of Christ’shuman nature. When supporters of Nestorius gathered at the theologicalschool of Edessa, it was closed by imperial order in 489, and a vigorous Nestorian remnant migrated to Persia.

The Persian Church’sintellectual center then became the newschool in Nisibis, which carried on the venerable traditions ofEdessa. By the end of the 5th century there were seven metropolitan provinces in Persia and several bishoprics inArabia andIndia. The church survived a period ofschism (c. 521–c. 537/539) and persecution (540–545) through the leadership of the patriarchMar Aba I (reigned 540–552), a convert fromZoroastrianism, and also through the renewal ofmonasticism byAbraham of Kashkar (501–586), the founder of the monastery on Mount Izala, near Nisibis.

After the Arab conquest of Persia (637), thecaliphate recognized the Church of the East as amillet, or separate religiouscommunity, and granted it legal protection. Nestorian scholars played a prominent role in the formation of Arabculture, and patriarchs occasionally gained influence with rulers. For more than three centuries the church prospered under the caliphate, but it became worldly and lost leadership in the cultural sphere. By the end of the 10th century there were 15 metropolitan provinces in the caliphate and 5 abroad, including India and China. Nestorians also spread toEgypt, wheremonophysite Christianity acknowledged only one nature in Christ. In China a Nestorian community flourished from the 7th to the 10th century. InCentral Asia certainTatar tribes were almost entirelyconverted, Christian expansion reaching almost toLake Baikal in eastern Siberia. Western travelers to the Mongol realm found Nestorian Christians well established there, even at the court of the Great Khan, though they commented on the ignorance and superstition of the clergy. When during the 14th century the Church of the East was virtually exterminated by the raids of the Turkic leaderTimur, Nestoriancommunities lingered on in a few towns in Iraq but were concentrated mainly inKurdistan, between the Tigris River and Lakes Van and Urmia, partly in Turkey and partly in Iran.

In 1551 a number of Nestorians reunited with Rome and were calledChaldeans, the original Nestorians having been termed Assyrians. The Nestorian Church in India, part of the group known as theChristians of St. Thomas, allied itself with Rome (1599) and then split, half of its membership transferringallegiance to the Syrian Jacobite (monophysite) patriarch of Antioch (1653). In 1898 in Urmia, Iran, a group of Nestorians, headed by a bishop, were received in the communion of theRussian Orthodox Church.

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The modern Nestorian church is not Nestorian in the strict sense, though it venerates Nestorius and refuses to accept the titleTheotokos for the Blessed Virgin. Contemporary Nestorians are represented by the Church of the East, or Persian Church, usually referred to in the West as the Assyrian, or Nestorian, Church. Most of its members live in Iraq, Syria, and Iran.