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Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444), patriarch of Alexandria from 412 and the leading opponent of Nestorius.

He insisted that the Word of God and the man Jesus are a single subject, so that Mary is rightly called Theotokos. He led the Council of Ephesus (431) and reached a settlement with the bishops of Antioch in 433. Both the Chalcedonian churches and the Oriental Orthodox treat him as a central authority on Christ, and his writings underlie Miaphysitism.