These churches did not accept the definition of Mary as theotokos or "Mother of God." Sometimes called "Assyrians" or "Chaldeans" by western writers, they called themselves the Church of the East. They have often unjustly been considered Nestorian. They affirmed the unity of Christ's persons, but emphasized his full humanity in the manner of the Antiochene theology. In the ancient era this church was very large, reaching across Asia to China. It was destroyed in successive persecutions.