St. Theodotus

theologian

Also known as: Theodotus of Ancyra

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History

St. Theodotus (died c. 446; feast day November 2) was a theologian, bishop of Ancyra, and a leading advocate of orthodoxy in the discussion of the nature and Person of Christ at the Second Council of Ephesus in 431. Theodotus was a determined opponent of Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, whose views had led to the summoning of the council and whom Theodotus had earlier supported. Now standing beside St. Cyril of Alexandria, Nestorius’s chief opponent, Theodotus affirmed the twofold nature (fully God and fully man) united in Christ’s Person. Nestorius was condemned, and Theodotus served as a member of the delegation sent by the council to explain its decrees to the Nestorian-leaning emperor Theodosius II. The Nestorian party denounced Theodotus in 432 at its own Synod of Tarsus.

Theodotus’s writings include an explanation of the Nicene Creed in which he asserted that Nestorius’s views had already been condemned by the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Two sermons on Christmas and one on the “Feast of the Lights” (in honor of the Virgin Mary) are significant witnesses to the existence of these ritual celebrations in the early 5th century. A lost work in six books refuting Nestorius was referred to at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

Another St. Theodotus of Ancyra was a religious innkeeper who provided respite for Christians persecuted under the emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century. According to legend, he was martyred with seven virgins; his feast day is celebrated on May 18 or June 7.