Prepared by:

Richard G. Pazcoguin
UST Institute of Religion
WHEN CHRISTIANITY WAS FINALLY
ALLOWED TO SURFACE IN THE ROMAN
EMPIRE, DOCTRINAL DEBATES BEGAN TO
ARISE. AS A RESULT, THE CHURCH HAD BEEN
PLAGUED BY CHRISTOLOGICAL HERESIES OR
FALSE TEACHINGS REGARDING THE PERSON
AND NATURE OF JESUS.

IN HER COMMITMENT TO PRESERVE

UNADULTERATED THE TEACHINGS OF THE
APOSTLES, THE CHURCH CONVOKED
ECUMENICAL COUNCILS. THESE WERE
GATHERINGS OF BISHOPS FORM ALL OVER
THE WORLD, THROUGH WHICH THE CHURCH
ONCE AND FOR ALL DEFINED THE TRUE
DOCTRINES HANDED DOWN BY THE
APOSTLES.
•DOCETISM
•MODALISM
•ARIANISM
•APOLLINARIANISM
•NESTORIANISM
•EUTYCHIANISM
The Greek work “dokei”
means “seemed”. Docetism is
the heresy which teaches that
Christ was Divine who
appeared to be human. He did
not have a real human body.
What people saw of Christ was READ:
a phantom, an illusion. JOHN 1:14
MATTHEW 4:2
JOHN 4:7, 19:28
MATTHER 9:24
Attributed to Sabellius, this
heresy is the belief that the
Father and the Son are one
and the same person.

“Father” and “Son” are just

names by which this single READ:
MARK 1:11
person revealed himself. JOHN 17:1
 Arius, an Alexandrian priest.,
preached that the Word (Jesus)
was not eternal, but was merely
created by the Father. Though
Jesus was of a similar substance as
that of the Father, he is not of the
same substance. In other words,
READ:
JOHN 1:1-2,18 Arianism is the belief that Jesus is
JOHN 14: not God but a unique creature-
PHIL. 2:6 greater than man but less than
God.
Apollinarius spread the belief that
Christ had a human body but not
a human soul. The “Word” (The
Spirit of God the Son) replaced the
human spirit. Apollinarius argued
that if Christ had a human soul
then he might have sinned. READ:
MARK 14:34
 Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople,
questioned the Divine Motherhood of
Mary with the argument that in Christ
are two persons: a human person and a
divine person. Mary is mother only of
the human Jesus.

Nestorius believed that God the Son

READ: simply used the human body as an
LUKE 1:43
instrument. Jesus is “God-bearing
man” rather than “God-Man”
“Physitos” is Greek for “nature”.
Eutyches, an Abbot in
Constantinople, preached the belief
that Christ had only one nature:
Divine. Jesus is not man.
This, according to him, was because READ:
GAL. 4:4
the human nature was absorbed by ACTS 2:22
the Divinity of God the Son.
• The Son was “begotten, not made” and
therefore had no beginning.
• Jesus is “of the same substance as the
Father” and therefore is of Divine
nature.
During the Council of Nicaea, St. Athanasius
defended the Divinity of Christ by arguing
that:

•If the Son were a creature, then he would

just be like humans, unable to save humanity
from sin.
•Christians worshipped Jesus. If Jesus were
not God, then the Christians since the
Apostolic times have been practicing idolatry.
The Council of Constantinople, which Fathers
were Sts. Cyril of Jerusalem and Gregory
Nazianzen, professed that:
•Christ is of the same substance with humanity,
possessing a human soul.
•What is not assumed is not redeemed. To
redeem humanity fully, Christ must be fully
human.
The Council of Ephesus presided over by
St. Cyril of Alexandria, declared that:
•Christ is one person with two natures:
Human and Divine – HYPOSTATIC UNION
•The distinctness of the natures was not
destroyed by the union, thus Christ was fully
human and fully divine.
During the Council of Ephesus, St. Cyril of
Alexandria defended the Divine
Motherhood of Mary by arguing that:
•Since Christ is only one person, what was
born of Mary was both human and divine.
•Mary is the Mother of God because by
virtue of the Hypostatic Union, what can be
said about the Humanity of Jesus can be
said about his Divinity.
The Council of Chalcedon, under the
leadership of Pope St. Leo the Great,
taught that:
•Christ was complete in Godhead and
complete in manhood, truly divine and
truly human, consisting of a rational soul
and body.
•The distinction of the human and divine
nature is not annulled by their union in
the one person of Christ.
Because Christ is truly
human, we know that he
understands our human
struggles. He knows
what we feel about
things. He knows what
we need. He knows our
weaknesses. “For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with
He is a compassionate our weaknesses, but one who has
God. similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.” Hebrews 5:15
Because Christ is truly Divine,
we can pray to him as St.
Stephen did:

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Acts 7:59

We can call him Lord and God as

St. Thomas the Apostle did:

“My Lord and My God.”

John 20:28
We can worship him as the
apostles did:

“Those that were in the boat did

him homage saying: ‘Truly you
are the Son of God.’”
Matthew 14:33 We can affirm Jesus Christ as
Creator:

“For in him were created all

things in heaven and on earth…
all things were created through
him and for him”
•The Son of God/Eternal Word, without losing
divine nature, assumed human nature.
•Jesus is truly God and truly human.
•Jesus has two natures (divine & human), not
mixed but united in one divine person
•As truly human, Jesus has human intellect and
will perfectly attuned to his divine intellect and
will.
•Incarnation = union of the divine and human
natures in the one person of the Word –
HYPOSTATIC UNION
 James Finley and Michael Pennock
JESUS AND YOU: DISCOVERING THE REAL CHRIST
Ind: Ave Maria Press, 1977

Robert C. Walton
CHRONOLOGICAL AND BACKGROUND CHARTS OF CHURCH HISTORY
Zondervan, 1986

MAJOR COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH

www.dailycatholic.org/history/councils.htm

CHRISTOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES AND HERESIES

www.ritchies.net/p2wk4.htm