NESTORIANS, a Christian sect, the followers of Nestorius, bishop and patriarch of Constantinople; who, about the year 529, taught that there were two persons in Jesus Christ, the divine and the human, which are united, not hypostatically or substantially, but in a mystical manner; whence he concluded, that Mary was the mother of Christ and not the mother of God. For this opinion, Nestorius was condemned and deposed by the council of Ephesus; and the decree of this council was confirmed by the emperor Theodosius, who banished the bishop to a monastery.