A simple definition that means a whole lot in the life of a Christian. It is so important that the 3rd general council in the Church , Council of Ephesus, was called by the emperor, to once and for all settle this divisive reality in the church.
St. Cyril of Alexandria, the great patriarch of Alexandria, was at the helm.
His role was to help the archbishop of Constantinople, Nestorius, understand why he was wrong.
Sometimes the most charitable thing we can do is help people understand why they are wrong in their beliefs. St. Cyril was a master in this reality. He understood that belief is not an opinion but rather that it has to do with what God reveals in its entirety.
He certainly did not lack the courage to think a thought through. Heresy is a serious matter; to be in error of thinking and believing leads to an error in living correctly the standard of God.
Right belief was in need to be upheld so that right living could flow forth.
St. Cyril tried to convince Nestorius that Mary was the mother of God, she was the God-bearer. In her womb she carried Jesus, fully man and fully God. This is essential. If Jesus is to be the masterpiece and centerpiece of all of God's creation, that source of redemption, salvation, and glorification of humanity then Mary, must be the God-bearer, the one who gives birth to Jesus, one person, fully God and fully human.
It is for this matter that we can hold firm to the reality that the womb of the blessed mother, was one in which there was no darkness, for it contained the source of light it self. Through her womb was born the way, the truth, the life; her womb contained the light that came into the world to scatter darkness.
Theotokos, God-bearer, belongs by God's plan as a title of the Blessed Virgin Mother, Mary.
Today, may we also seek to be God-bearers, in a world that longs for light to scatter the darkness heretical opinion that have cast a shadow on true belief.
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