St. Memnon of Ephesus

Memnon was archbishop of Ephesus when the Emperor Theodosius chose that city for the Third Ecumenical Council in the year 431. The choice was fitting, for Ephesus was the city of the Apostle John and, by the tradition of the Church, the place where the Mother of God had dwelt, and the council was to defend her title, Theotokos.

When Cyril of Alexandria and the assembled bishops opened the council in the great church of the Theotokos, Memnon stood with them. Nestorius, supported by only a handful of bishops, refused to appear, and the council, with Cyril and Memnon at its head and more than two hundred Fathers consenting, condemned and deposed him.

John of Antioch arrived late with the eastern bishops and, refusing to recognize what had been done, gathered a rival synod that pronounced sentence of deposition against both Cyril and Memnon. For a season the two were held under guard, until the council and the Emperor confirmed the original judgment, lifted the unjust sentence, and restored them to their sees.

Memnon hosted the later sessions of the council in his episcopal palace and saw the faith of the Theotokos vindicated in his own city. He reposed in peace some time before the year 440. Little else is recorded of him beyond his part in the council.

The Church keeps his memory on the sixteenth of December, honouring him among the Fathers of the Third Ecumenical Council as the shepherd whose city sheltered the defence of the Mother of God.