The Christological-Soteriological

Problem from Constantinople I

(381) to Chalcedon (45I)
Evolution of the controversy and the attempt for
precision and solution on the faith in
Jesus Christ True God and True Man
 Dogmatic Pronouncement from
Constantinople I (381)
• Against Apollinarius
of Laodicea
The Incarnate Word
possesses an
authentic human
spirit and therefore
the rational faculty is
truly called a human
intellect.
 Confusion in Theological
Vocabulary – Trinity to Christology
 Emerging Orthodox
Christologies
• Alexandrian (logos
sarx)
– Safeguarding the
divinity of the Logos
Incarnate

• Antiochean (logos
anthropos)
– Safeguarding the
humanity of the Logos
Incarnate
 The Problem of Nestorius
• How can we
safeguard the divinity
of Christ without
destroying his
humanity?
 Solution of Nestorius
• Nature (ousia) exists only • Jesus is God because
as an individuating reality of the Logos – Jesus
– Person (hypostasis)
the Son of God
(principle drawn from the
Trinitarian Theology of • Jesus is Man because
Nicea I and of Mary – Jesus the
Constantinople I) Son of Mary
• Therefore, 2 natures
(ousia), 2 persons
(hypostasis)
• But the 2 natures cannot be united without
the humanity being swallowed up by the
divinity
• Otherwise…
We fall into the heresy of Apollinarius.

Why?
 Nestorianism
• Therefore a middle
ground (prosopon =
appearance/mask) is
needed where both
divinity and humanity
meet –true God and
true Man
Jesus Christ
Cyril of Patriarch of Alexandria
(d. 444)
• In c.430 came in conflict
with Nestorius
Patriarch of
Constantinople, who
supported the former’s
chaplain, Anastasius, who
had preached against the
application of the word
Theotokos to the BVM on
the ground that she was
the mother of only the
humanity of Christ.
Theotokos
(Gk. Θεοτόκος, Lat.
Deipara), the ‘one who
gave birth to God’, title of
the BVM. The word was
used of the Virgin by the
Greek Fathers (perhaps
by Origen and possibly
even by Hippolytus) and
increasingly became a
popular term of devotion.
• In 429 it was attacked
by *Nestorius and his
supporters as
incompatible with the
full humanity of
Christ, and the word
‘Christotokos’
proposed in its place.
• In the West the usual • The fact that "Mother
equivalent in practice of God" can be
was not Deipara, misinterpreted as
which corresponded asserting that Mary
to it etymologically, was the mother of
but Dei Genitrix God the Father means
(‘Mother of God’), that the title is less
with its somewhat precise than
different emphasis. Theotokos.
excludes the concept of Mary as a parent of God the
Father. While the title "Mother of God" does not of
itself exclude that concept, the manner in which it
has traditionally been used and understood by
Christians does exclude it, since the title has been
understood as referring only to her maternity of
Jesus.
It is for this reason that in patristic iconography
Mary is never separated from her Son.
 Council of Ephesus (431)
Approximately 200 Bishops were present. At the
urging of its president Cyril of Alexandria, the
Council denounced Nestorius' teaching as
erroneous and decreed that Jesus was one
person, not two separate people: complete God
and complete man, with a rational soul and body.
The Virgin Mary was to be called Theotokos
because she bore and gave birth to God as a man.
• The Council of Ephesus also declared the
text of the Nicene Creed of 381 to be
complete and forbade any additional
change (addition or deletion) to it. In
addition, it condemned Pelagianism.
Jesus Christ – Homoousios to the Father and Spirit
as to his Divinity; Homoousios to us as to his
Humanity

Pantocrator – Greek East Christ the King – Latin West

Crux of the Problem
 Aftermath of Ephesus

• Major schism within the Church, the Apostolic See of Antioch

an its daughter churches broke communion with the Apostolic
Sees of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem. Hence
the Orthodox-Catholic Church is understood now to be the
Church that subscribes to the dogma proclaimed at Ephesus.
The Territory of the Five Major Sees (Pentarchy)
from the IVth Century
 Churches that branched from the Ancient
Apostolic Church of Antioch
(Oriental Orthodox or Assyrian
Orthodox) Syriac Orthodox
Patriarchate of Antioch and All
the East
– Church of the East
– East Syrian Church
– Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
– Persian Church
• Head Catholicos-Patriarch of the East
• Title: His Holiness
• Region: Middle East, Central Asia, Far
East, India
• Liturgy: East Syriac Rite (Liturgy of
Addai and Mari)
• Headquarters Seleucia-Ctesiphon
(410 – 775); Baghdad (775 - 1317)
 Reasons for the Schism
• Doctrinal
– Ephesus’ Christology is fully of Cyril’s both
in language (prosopon = physis) and
explanation (one integral nature in the
Incarnate Word [mia physis tou theou logou])
• Ecclesiastical
– The Council of Ephesus was seen to be
orchestrated by Cyril and most of the bishops
were allies of Cyril
– Nestorius was condemned even before he was
able to appear in the Council. The anathema
against him and his “teachings” were already
made and served even while on his way to the
General Synod.
– Nestorius did not have a chance to defend
himself nor his theological views personally.
By the time he arrived he was already deposed
and a sentence of banishment made.
• The anathema of Pope Celestine (+ 432)
against Nestorius was based on the
accusations of heresy made by Cyril in a
letter to the Pope written in latin.
• Nestorius accused Cyril also of heresy in
an earlier letter to Celestine but did not
reach the pope’s hand immediately since it
was in greek.
 Theological vocabulary
available since Ephesus
• Ousia = essence (Cappadocian Fathers)
• Hypostasis = individual substance,
concrete reality = existence (Cappadocian
Fathers)
• Physis = Prosopon (?) = person (?) (Cyril)
Common Declaration Between the Catholic Church
and the Assyrian Church of the East
(11 November 1994, Vatican City)
 On the Word Incarnate

The Word of God, second Person of the Holy Trinity, became incarnate by the
power of the Holy Spirit in assuming from the holy Virgin Mary a body
animated by a rational soul, with which he was
indissolubly united from the moment of his
conception. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ is true God and
true man, perfect in his divinity and perfect
in his humanity, consubstantial with the Father and consubstantial
with us in all things but sin. His divinity and his humanity are united in

one person, without confusion or change, without division or separation.

In him has been preserved the difference of the natures of divinity and humanity,
with all their properties, faculties and operations. But far from constituting "one
and another", the divinity and humanity are united in the person of the same and
unique Son of God and Lord Jesus Christ, who is the object of a single adoration.
Christ therefore is not an "ordinary man"
whom God adopted in order to reside in him
and inspire him, as in the righteous ones and the prophets. But the
same God the Word, begotten of his Father before all worlds without beginning
according to his divinity, was born of a mother without a father in the last times
according to his humanity.

Signed: PP. John Paul II & Patriarch Dinkha IV

 On the Theotokos
The humanity to which the
Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth
always was that of the Son of
God himself. That is the reason
why the Assyrian Church of the East
is praying [to] the Virgin Mary
as "the Mother of Christ our
God and Saviour". In the light of
this same faith the Catholic tradition
addresses the Virgin Mary as "the
Mother of God" and also as "the
Mother of Christ".
We both recognize the legitimacy and rightness of these
expressions of the same faith and we both respect the
preference of each Church in her liturgical life and piety.
How is the Logos truly present in
Jesus of Nazareth?

The lingering question

 Eutyches (c. 378-454)
• A priest of Constantinople, following
Cyril’s vocabulary that after the
incarnation the Logos had only one nature
(physis) and that is Jesus Christ, hence…
• the human (less perfect) nature (physis) of
Christ had been completely absorbed by
His divine nature and thus the two had
been confounded into one in the
Incarnation. Thus, after this union,
Eutyches held, there was only one nature in
Christ (mono + physis).
If the circle and triangle overlap,
that's bad. If they don't overlap,
that's bad too.
An attempt of
further
theological
refinement in
Christology
The contribution of Chalcedon (451):
The Fourth Ecumenical Council
 Chalcedon’s dogmatic
pronouncement
• definitions of Nicaea and Constantinople, a
sufficient account of the orthodox faith
about the Person of Christ
• excluded the views (1) of those who deny
the title *Theotokos (‘Mother of God’) to
the Virgin *Mary, thereby implying that
the humanity of Christ is separable from
His Divine Person
(2) of those who confuse the Divine and
human natures in one, and therefore hold
that the Divine nature is by this confusion
passible.
– The prayer “Holy God, Holy Mighty One,
Holy Immortal One, Who was crucified and
died for us. Have mercy on us and the whole
world,” was considered to be heretical. Why?
• Any view that will assert the duality of
Sons, the passibility of the Godhead, any
mixture or confusion of the two natures,
the thesis that Christ’s human nature has a
different source from ours (e.g. a heavenly
source), and the doctrine which holds that
the two natures existed before the union
but became one at the Incarnation, are
rejected.
 The dogma…
• Christ is declared to be one Person in two
Natures, the Divine of the same substance
as the Father (homoousios tô patrí), the
human of the same substance as us
(homousios hemin), which are united
unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly.
The Six Major Heresies Regarding the
Person of JESUS CHRIST
 The contribution of
Pope St. Leo I (d. 461)
 Tomus ad Flavianum
“communicatio idiomatum” - all the properties of
a subject are predicated of its person; consequently, the
properties of Christ's two natures must be predicated of
his one person, since they have only one subject of
predication. He Who is the Word of God on account of
His eternal generation is also the subject of human
properties; and He Who is the man Christ on account of
having assumed human nature is the subject of Divine
attributes. Christ is God; God is man.
 Aftermath of Chalcedon:

The Great Schism of 451: The

Catholic-Orthodox Church reduced to
Rome and Constantinople
 Apostolic Church of Alexandria
(Pre-Chalcedonian Churches – Oriental Orthodox Church)

Language: Coptic, Classical Syriac, Aramaic, Armenian,

Ge'ez, Malayalam, Koine Greek, Arabic
Liturgy: Alexandrian, West Syriac and Armenian
• Coptic Orthodox
Church of
Alexandria,
• Syriac Orthodox
Church (sometimes
referred to as
"Jacobite"),
• Armenian Apostolic
Church
• Ethiopian Orthodox
Tewahedo Church,
• Orthodox Tewahedo
Church, and
• Malankara Orthodox
Syrian Church.
 Chalcedon as a betrayal of
Ephesus
• The Monophysite controversy did not
subside nor simply died down after the
declaration of Chalcedon
• After the Arian crisis in the 4th century,
Monophysitism is the other heresy that was
“autosustaining”. Why?
• Monophysites saw Chalcedon as a betrayal
of the legacy of St. Cyril of Alexandria.
• Although we could talk of duo physis of
the Incarnate Word, we could only do so
pre-incarnation, and always in an abstract
sense
• During and after the incarnation we can
only speak of one Christ, one action, one
nature (following Cyril’s person is the
individuating reality of essence/physis)
 Common Declaration on Christology
PP. Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III
(10 May 1973)

In accordance with our apostolic traditions transmitted to

our Churches and preserved therein, and in conformity with
the early three ecumenical councils, we confess one faith in
the One Triune God, the divinity of the Only Begotten Son
of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Word of
God, the effulgence of His glory and the express image of
His substance, who for us was incarnate, assuming for
Himself a real body with a rational soul, and who shared
with us our humanity but without sin.
We confess that our Lord and God and Savior and King of
us all Jesus Christ, is perfect God with respect to His
In
divinity, perfect man with respect to His humanity.
Him His divinity is united with His
humanity in a real, perfect union
without mingling, without commixtion,
without confusion, without alteration,
without division, without separation.
His divinity did not separate from His humanity for an
instant, not for the twinkling of an eye. He who is God
eternal and invisible became visible in the flesh and took
upon Himself the form of a servant. In Him are preserved
all the properties of the divinity and all the properties of
the humanity, together in a real, perfect, indivisible and
inseparable union.

“We must humbly recognize the limitations of our minds to grasp the
truth of it, nor are we able to give adequate words in our human
language to fully express it.”

Joint Commission between the Catholic Church and Coptic Orthodox Church,
March 1974
• To say that there are still two distinct
natures in Christ after the incarnation is
tantamount to admitting that Nestorius is
correct. Why?
• The insistence of a full humanity (nature =
body, soul, spirit) of the Incarnate Word
permanently introduces a creature to the
very life of the Trinity (immanent Trinity).
How?
The enigma of the Word
made Flesh or the Word
became Man
From Apollinarius of Laodicea,
Council of Ephesus, Council of
Chalcedon
 How is the Logos present in
Christ?
• Constantinople I vs. • Cyril and Ephesus vs.
Apollinarius of Nestorius, etal.
Laodicea – There are not two Sons but
only one Son who is the
- The Incarnate Word Son of God Jesus Christ
possess a true human born of Mary ever Virgin.
rational faculty
– (Problem of Nestorius: If
- (Problem of Apollinarius: Constantinople I is right
If the Incarnate Word that the humanity in Christ
possesses a complete is complete then is that not
nature –body, soul, spirit a human person
would this not mean automatically?)
automatically a human
person?)
• Chalcedon vs. Problem of Eutyches:
Eutyches How exactly is the
– There are two humanity of Christ
complete natures in deified (divinized)
Jesus Christ which are elevated by its contact
not confused. The with the divinity without
person is the unifying being destroyed or
substratum of the two annihilated unless the
natures (hypostatic incarnation has actually
union) assumed (absorbed) the
humanity by the divinity?