Nestorian

Nestorian refers to Nestorius, a 5th-century church figure whose teachings gave rise to a distinctive Christological tradition. As Archbishop of Constantinople (428–431), Nestorius emphasized a strong distinction between the divine Word (Logos) and the human Jesus, a dyophysite approach that highlighted the two natures of Christ without collapsing them into a single person in a way some opponents found unclear. He also argued against calling Mary Theotokos (God-bearer), preferring Christotokos (bearer of Christ). At the Council of Ephesus in 431, his views were condemned as heretical, and Nestorius was deposed and exiled. The label “Nestorian” was used by opponents and later by some scholars to describe his followers.

The doctrinal movement that formed around his ideas came to be known as the Church of the East, often called the Nestorian Church in historical writings. This East Syriac tradition developed within the Sasanian Empire and expanded along the Silk Road into Persia, Central Asia, India (the Malabar coast), and China. It used the Syriac liturgical rite and produced a substantial corpus of religious literature. The faith reached China in the Tang period, as evidenced by inscriptions such as the Nestorian Stele of 781, which records long-standing Christian missions in the region.

Today, the primary continuation of this tradition is the Assyrian Church of the East, along with related groups such as the Chaldean Catholic Church, which are centered in the Middle East and diaspora communities. The term Nestorian is largely historical and sometimes contested, with many communities preferring self-designations that reflect their ethnicity and liturgical heritage rather than the label.