The identity of Jesus Christ

Belief in saints as intercessors, or go-betweens for God and people, arose in part because of church teachings that encouraged believers to think of God as so holy and so pure that no sinner could dare approach him directly in prayer. The Old Testament had taught the same thing; but according to the New Testament,

Jesus, as God's son, was humankind's intercessor. The early Church, however, placed heavy emphasis on the fact that Jesus was God, and therefore downplayed the intercessor role.

This emphasis arose in response to heresies such as Arianism (the belief that Jesus Christ was not God) and Nestorianism. A Persian priest named Nestorius (died 451), who became bishop at Constantinople, had declared that Jesus had two separate identities, one human and one divine. The Council of Ephesus (EF-uh-sus) in 431 declared Nestorianism a heresy, but the belief found many adherents in the East—most notably the Far East, where it established a firmer foothold than any other branch of Christianity.

In 451, the Council of Chal-cedon (KAL-suh-dahn) declared that Jesus had two natures, both human and divine, in one. This became the accepted position of western Christianity; but the Monophysites (muh-NAH-fu-zytz) in the Middle East, reacting to Nestorianism, began preaching that Christ was only divine and not human at all. This led the pope to excommunicate, or banish from the church, most believers in that region. Whole branches of Christianity, most notably the Armenian and Coptic (Egyptian) churches, split with Rome for good.

Jesus had become so removed from humanity that now Christians needed an intercessor to go to him, and the Council of Ephesus named one: Mary, mother of Jesus. In declaring Mary "Mother of God," the Council set her up as a potential figure of worship, allowing her to be linked with pagan mother goddesses such as the Greeks' Artemis or the Romans' Diana. The worship of Mary, still practiced in some parts of the world today, gained force during the High Middle Ages. It should be said, however, that for the most part the church did not officially encourage Mary-worship: as with the saints, it was a practice that arose from the people, and the church merely sought to make a place for it.