The following chart lists 17 extant writings that document the development of the Christological controversy in the first half of AD 430.  The documents are listed in approximate chronological order so that the reader can follow the development. A narrative of these events is available here to lead you through the historical realities. In the chart we list the date we assign to the document, the number assigned in the Clavis patrum graecorum (CPG), an English title or description of the work, and a list of available English translations. The title of each available document is also hotlinked to our own translation of it.

DateCPGTitleEng. Transl.
late Jan. to mid Feb. 43015304/8629Cyril’s (Letter 4) 2nd Letter to NestoriusFCC; CE #10 ACC 1:173-177; McG 262-265; Wic 2-11; CCC 295-298; FC 76:38-42 NPNF2 14:197-198
spring 4305217/8647Cyril’s 5 books vs. NestoriusFCC; Pusey 1-1842
spring 4305218/8648Cyril’s Oratio de recte fidei to Emperor Theodosius IIFC 129: 35-823
spring 4305219/8650Cyril’s Oratio to the emperor’s sisters Arcadia and Marina 
spring 4305220/8649Cyril’s Oratio to Empresses Pulcheria and Eudocia 
April 43045310/8636Cyril’s (Letter 11) Letter to Celestine5FCC; CE #12 McG 276-279 FC 76:60-64
April 4305311/8637Commonitorium given PosidoniusFCC; CE #13
June 43065669/8632Nestorius’s 2nd Letter to CyrilFCC; CE #11 McG 364-368 CCC 298-300 FC 76:43-48
summer 430CPL 514John Cassian, De incarnatione Domini contra Nestorium7NPNF2 11:547-621
mid-43085314/8625Cyril (Letter 14) to Acacius of BeroeaFCC; CE #5 FC 76:73-74
 6479/8626Acacius of Beroea to CyrilFCC; CE #6 FC 76:75-77
August 9, 4309Council in Rome 
Aug. 10, 4308639Celestine’s Letter to NestoriusFCC; CE #15
Aug. 10, 4308640Celestine to the clergy of ConstantinopleFCC; CE #16
Aug. 10, 4308638Celestine’s (Letter 144) to CyrilFCC; CE #14 CCC 300-301 FC 76: 67-70
Aug. 10, 4308641Celestine to John of Antioch et al.FCC; CE #17
Aug./Sept. 4305313/8642Cyril’s (Letter 13) to John of AntiochCE #19 FC 76: 71-72
Aug./Sept. 4305316/8643Cyril’s (Letter 16) to Juvenal of JerusalemCE #18 FC 76: 78-79

Back to Documents and Events Leading up to the Council of Ephesus (431)

Abbreviations Used

ACC = Acts of the Council of Chalcedon (Eng. trans. of Price and Gaddis) (= TTH 45)

CE = The Council of Ephesus of 431 (Eng. trans. by Price/Graumann) (= TTH 72)

CPG = Clavis patrum graecorum (M. Geerard)

CCC = Creeds, Councils and Controversies, 2nd ed. (ed. Stevenson and Frend )

FC = Fathers of the Church (Cath. Univ. of America Press)

            76 – J.I. McEnery, Cyril of Alexandria. Letters 1-50 (1987)

            129 – D. King, St. Cyril of Alexandria: Three Christological Treatises (2014)

FCC+ = Fourth Century Christianity +  (links to other pages on this site)

Jou =  G. Jousassard, “L’activité Littéraire de Saint Cyrille d’Alexandrie jusqu’a 428. Essai de Chronologie et de Synthèse,” in Mélanges E. Podechard, Lyon: 1945, pp. 159-174.

McG = McGuckin, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy (SVS Press, 2004).

NPNF = Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (ed. Schaff)

Pusey = P. E. Pusey, Cyril of Alexandria: Five Tomes against Nestorius and Other Works. Library of Fathers 47 (Oxford: James Parker, 1881)

Wic = Lionel Wickham, Cyril of Alexandria: Select Letters (Oxford, 1983)

Last updated 9/17/24 by JSW

  1. In the Acts of Chalcedon (ACO 2.1:4), it is dated to Mechir (26 Jan. to 24 Feb.) o=430.Stevenson/Frend gives a date of Feb. 430 (CCC, p. 295)
  2. P.E. Pusey trans., Cyril of Alexandria, Five Tomes Against Nestorius (Library of fathers, vol. 47. Oxford (1881), bk. 1, pp. 1-184 (reprint available on Amazon).
  3. D. King, St. Cyril of Alexandria: Three Christological Treatises (FC 129; Catholic University of America Press, 2014)
  4. Easter was on March 30 in 430; McGuckin, St. Cyril, p. 37; he says “summer of 430”, however, on p. 276, n.1.
  5. Carried by Posidonius together with a study of Nestorius’s teachings (= 5311).
  6. This date is given in the Latin version in ACO 1.3:26).
  7. This book was used as a sourcebook during the deliberations of the Roman council of August 9. See Price/Graumann, Council of Ephesus, pp. 37-39.
  8. See McGuckin, St. Cyril, p. 42.
  9. The documents written after the council are all dated IIII ID. AUG., i.e. (Sunday) Aug. 10, so I am assuming the council was held, or finished, on Saturday, Aug. 9. For some reason McGuckin has placed the council and the letters on Monday, Aug. 11.

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