On September 22, 2021, on the day of the memory of the righteous Fathers Joachim and Anna and the memories of the III Ecumenical Council (431), the priest responsible for organizing the care of the faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate in the territory of the Republic of Turkey, Priest George Sergeyev, celebrated the Liturgy in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Ephesus, where the Council was held.
At a special litany, prayer petitions were offered for getting rid of the coronavirus infection, a petition for doctors, and a prayer was also offered, during the spread of the harmful plague, something.
The service was attended by numerous pilgrims who arrived from Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya, Alanya, Kemer, Marmaris, Manavgat and Kusadasi. Many of them took communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
At the end of the Liturgy, Father George addressed the faithful with a word. The priest told about the history of the Council of Ephesus, noting the doctrinal importance of the council's decisions in the life of the Church of Christ.
The priest thanked the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey for the permission to perform Divine services in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, located in the museum city of Ephesus, as well as the chairman of the Solzhenitsyn Russian Society of Culture A. Ponomarev for his help in organizing the pilgrimage of believers.
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The Third Ecumenical Council was held in 431 in the city of Ephesus (Asia Minor) during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450). The Council was convened to consider the false teaching of the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius (428-431) by the Church. The Council condemned the heresy of Nestorius and confirmed the Orthodox teaching that one should confess in the Lord Jesus Christ One Person (Hypostasis) and two natures — Divine and Human, and praise the Most Pure Mother of the Lord as the Ever-Virgin and true Mother of God. The Holy Fathers of the Council issued eight rules and "Twelve Anathematisms against Nestorius" by St. Cyril of Alexandria.