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Council Basilica

Church of Mary (Double Church)

CHURCH of MAIR-ee · Modern Ephesus archaeological site, near Selçuk, İzmir Province, Turkey · Also called Church of Mary · 37.9450° N, 27.3395° E

Built in the early 5th century over an earlier Roman civic hall (the "Hall of the Muses") near the harbor of Ephesus, this basilica hosted the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the third Ecumenical Council, which affirmed Mary as "Theotokos" (God-bearer) against Nestorius. It is traditionally called the first church built in Mary's name, later the "Double Church" after its western domed hall and eastern basilica were rebuilt in separate phases. The council itself is not narrated in the New Testament, but its central question — the nature of Christ born of Mary — draws directly on passages such as Luke 1:31-35 and John 1:14.

Archaeology

Austrian Archaeological Institute excavations identified the structure beneath the church as a large late-Roman hall, abandoned in the 3rd century and converted into a church between roughly 400 and 431 — likely finished in time to host the 431 council. Around 500 the building was enlarged into a monumental domed cathedral, whose apse and piers still stand; scholars debate the precise phasing and whether the 431 sessions used the western hall, the eastern basilica, or both. It is one of the few New Testament-era Ephesian sites with a firm, non-legendary historical anchor.