Projects

The Council of Ephesus 431

The records of the Third Ecumenical Council which was held in Ephesus in AD 431 offer the most important evidence for all studies dealing with the first stage of the Christological controversies in the fifth century. Their definitive edition, as it is used today, was produced by Eduard Schwartz in 1923-29 and forms the first tome of the series Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum (ACO). The collection not only includes texts documenting the events at and the proceedings of the Council proper, but, by the inclusion of additional texts, even illustrates the entire history of that controversy, which flared up over the question as to whether it was orthodox to call Mary, the Mother of Jesus, ‘God-bearer’: its beginnings in AD 428, the Council proper, which was summoned for clarification of this problem, the agreement that was reached in 433, and the immediate aftermath of the controversy. Within the collection, however, the documents, which comprise almost 1.800 pages of Greek and Latin text, are not printed in chronological order, but are grouped into various individual collections, as they have been preserved by their textual tradition.

This project aims at producing the first modern translation of all documents in Schwartz’ collection, accompanied by introductions and extensive notes. It is envisaged that in the end they will be grouped in such a way that the sequence of the proceedings of the Council itself and of the events surrounding it will immediately become transparent to the reader. The commentary will discuss not only theological, but also historical, intellectual, and philological problems.