Memnon of Ephesus

Memnon was metropolitan of Ephesus at the time of the Third Ecumenical Council, in the year 431, and one of the strongest supporters of Saint Cyril of Alexandria. He died about 440 or, according to our calendar, in 443. Our calendar remembers him on 16 December. Very little is known of his life: neither his birthplace nor the year of his birth, nor the place or year of his death, is known.

At the Council of Ephesus

In 431, in connection with the teaching spread by Nestorius, it was decided, on the initiative of Cyril of Alexandria, to convene a council. The place chosen was Ephesus, whose metropolitan was then Memnon. At Ephesus the bishops began to gather, some grouping around Cyril and Memnon, others around Nestorius. Though not all had arrived, some being on the road, among them the envoys of the pope and a great delegation of bishops from Antioch led by John of Antioch, Cyril and Memnon decided to open the council. They summoned Nestorius, but he and the bishops who supported him refused to come to the council which Cyril and Memnon wished to begin and asked that all the bishops be awaited. Nestorius blamed Memnon for the delay in opening the council.

Cyril and Memnon did not take account that not all had arrived and made up the council only of their adherents, at which they anathematized Nestorius. Memnon hosted the second session in his episcopal palace, and at the fourth session Cyril and Memnon presented a formal protest against John of Antioch, who had gathered a separate council which had condemned them both. After that, the bishops who had taken Nestorius's side deposed Cyril at their council and, with him, Memnon. Five days after the condemnation of Nestorius, John of Antioch arrived at Ephesus with his bishops and at his council of forty-⁠three bishops deposed Cyril and Memnon. Unable to agree and not meeting together again, the bishops left Ephesus. The emperor Theodosius II took the side of Cyril and Memnon, recognised the decisions of their council and sent Nestorius into exile to the Oasis. Reconciliation between Cyril and John was reached by the signing of the Formula of Reunion, in 433.

Writings and successors

In volume 77 of the Patrologia Graeca there is one writing of Memnon, a copy of the letter of Bishop Memnon of Ephesus to the clergy of Constantinople. According to some reports, out of jealousy Memnon sought to get rid of a priest under him, Bassianus, by ordaining him bishop of Evaza. Bassianus refused and in 444, by an irregular process, became Memnon's second successor.