
Department for External Church Relations
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On the Day of the Remembrance of the Third Ecumenical Council, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Church of the Theotokos in Ephesus






On September 22 2022, the feast day of the memory of the righteous Joachim and Anna and the remembrance of the Third Ecumenical Council (431), priest Georgy Sergeev, responsible for organizing the service of the faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate on the territory of the Republic of Turkey, celebrated the Liturgy in the Basilica of the Theotokos in Ephesus, where the Council was held. The clergyman was accompanied by Priest Alexis Golovin, clergyman of the Moscow Patriarchate in Antalya, and Priest Dimitri Bogatyr in Alanya.
The service was attended by numerous pilgrims from Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya, Alanya, Marmaris, Manavgat and Kusadas. Many of them received the Holy Communion of Christ.
After the Liturgy, Father Georgy addressed the faithful and explained the tenets of the 3rd Ecumenical Council.
The priest thanked the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey for permission to conduct services in the church of the Blessed Theotokos, located in the city-museum of Ephesus, as well as the chairman of the Russian Cultural Society of A. Solzhenitsyn A. Ponomarev for his help in organizing the pilgrimage of the faithful.
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The III Ecumenical Council was held in the city of Ephesus (Asia Minor) in 431 during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450). It was convened to examine the false teaching of the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius (428-431). The Council condemned the heresy of Nestorius and confirmed the Orthodox doctrine that it was necessary to confess in Christ One Person (Hypostasis) and two natures - Divine and Human, and to glorify the Most Pure Mother of God as the Ever-Virgin and True Mother of God. The Holy Fathers of the Council issued eight rules and the Twelve Anathematisms against Nestorius by St. Cyril of Alexandria.
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