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What did the Council of Ephesus decide about the title Theotokos in 431?

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Antonello da Messina: Madonna and Child — Mary *Madonna and Child*, oil and tempera on panel by Antonello da Messina, 1475; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

At the Council of Ephesus in 431, the church formally affirmed the use of the title Theotokos (Greek for "God-Bearer") for the Virgin Mary.12

This decision was central to the council's rejection of Nestorianism. Nestorius, the bishop of Constantinople, had opposed the term, arguing that it compromised the full humanity of Christ and suggesting that Christotokos ("Christ-Bearer") was more accurate.13

In contrast, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the council participants maintained that the title was essential to describe the intimate, inseparable union of Christ’s divine and human natures in one person (the Incarnation). By affirming the title, the council asserted that Mary was truly the mother of God, thereby condemning Nestorius’s views as a denial of the unity of the God-man.123