Ephesus and Christianity

EPHESUS AND CHRISTIANITY

Ephesus is vividly alluded to in Acts 19-20 in connection with St. Paul’s extended ministry at Ephesus. Apostle Paul probably spent two and a half years in Ephesus during his third missionary journey, until a riot forced him to leave the city rapidly. Some authorities believe that St. Paul was imprisoned in the so-called Prison of St. Paul in Ephesus. Eventually the belief in Christ and the veneration of his Blessed Mother replaced the worship of Artemis and the other deities. Ephesus was the site of the third ecumenical council in 431 AD, at which the question of the Virgin Mary being the mother of God was debated. In this council it was decided that Chirst had a double nature as God and man, and the Virgin Mary was theotokos, god-bearer.