Acephali
Various leaderless Christian sects / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Acephali?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
SHOW ALL QUESTIONS
Not to be confused with Acephaly.
This article is about the ancient Christian sects. For the legendary men without heads, see Headless men.
In church history, the term acephali (from Ancient Greek: ἀκέφαλοι akephaloi, "headless", singular ἀκέφαλος akephalos from ἀ- a-, "without", and κεφαλή kephalé, "head") has been applied to several sects that supposedly had no leader. E. Cobham Brewer wrote, in Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, that acephalites, "properly means men without a head."[1] Jean Cooper wrote, in Dictionary of Christianity, that it characterizes "various schismatical Christian bodies".[2] Among them were Nestorians who rejected the Council of Ephesus’ condemnation of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople,[2] which deposed Nestorius and declared him a heretic.