Apostolic Fathers The earliest Church Fathers, within two generations of the Twelve Apostles: Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, the anonymous authors of the Didache and Shepherd of Hermas (Rome) Eight Ecumenical Councils 1 Nicaea (325) Affirmed the divinity of Christ, who is homoousios (of the same stuff) with the Father; against Arius, who held that Christ was the first of God s creations. This led to confusion some thought this meant that the Father and the Son are one person. 2 Constantinople I (381) Reaffirmed Nicea, and added that the Holy Spirit is also a divine person. The council also made a political decision, affirming Constantinople as the second city in importance after Rome (slighting Alexandria and Antioch). Even Pope Damasus in Rome objected that these councils should restrict themselves to doctrinal issues. 3 Ephesus (431) Affirmed that Christ, although having two natures, is only one person, Son of the Father, meaning that Mary his mother can be called Mother of God; against Nestorius, who seemed to be separating Christ into two persons (saying Mary is the mother only of Jesus). Meanwhile, some bishops from Alexandria and Antioch held that Christ had two natures before the Incarnation, but one nature afterwards (the Monophysite position). 4 Chalcedon (451) Rejected the Monophysites, and reaffirmed and integrated Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus, using a clearly-worded letter sent by Pope Leo I as the text: Peter has spoken through Leo! The break with the Assyrian Church of the East widened. 5 Constantinople II (553) Attempted to reconcile the Monophysite position with Chalcedon s doctrine by rejecting three especially offensive statements (the Three Chapters). Pope Vigilius refused to sign this, so he was kidnapped by the emperor Justianian and forced to sign. Vigilius died on his way back to Rome. 6 Constantinople III (681) Reaffirmed Chalcedon, and affirmed that Christ s human nature meant that he had a human will as well as a divine will; against Monothelitism, the idea that Christ had two natures, but only one divine will, which preserved him from sin. 7 Nicaea II (787) Affirmed the cult of icons, holding that adoration is due only to God, but icons are useful for devotion and instruction, and may be venerated; against iconoclasts, who believed that venerating icons is idolatry; they went around breaking sacred images. 8 Constantinople IV (870) This council was held strictly to settle ecclesiastical authority. The Emperor Michael III deposed the Patriarch of Constantinople, and installed Photius in his place, creating a schism. After Michael III was assassinated his successor Emperor Basil II appealed to Pope Hadrian II to convene a council to heal the schism. Photius was deposed. This was the last Ecumenical Council to be held in the East, and the last council to be accepted as authentic by the Orthodox Churches. Great Fathers East Athanasius (298-373), Basil (330-379), Gregory of Nazianzus (330-390), John Chrysostom (347-407) West Ambrose (340-397), Jerome (347-420), Augustine (354-430), Gregory the Great (540-604) 1
I. Eastern Fathers: The Search for the Divine in our Midst Clement of Alexandria 150 215 Clement arose from the Catechetical School of Alexandria and was well versed in pagan literature. He saw that religion is a universal human phenomenon. At first, the Sun, Moon and other heavenly bodies were considered gods. Then people worshiped of the products of agriculture in the cults of Demeter and Dionysus. Next, people paid reverence to revenge, and deified the human feelings of love and fear. In the following stage, Hesiod and Homer enumerated the Twelve Gods. Finally, people proclaimed other people, such as Asclepius and Heracles, to be deities. Clement was critical of all forms of visual art, suggesting that artworks are but illusions and "deadly toys." His greatest praise is reserved for Plato, whose apophatic views of God prefigure Christianity. He developed a Christian Platonism by uniting Greek philosophy with Christian doctrine, and believed that gnosis could be attained by all common Christians. By conversion to Christianity we fully participate in the Logos, which is universal truth. Clement was the teacher of Origen. Origen 185 254 Origen was a scholar and early Christian theologian who spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He was a prolific writer in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis, philosophical theology, preaching and spirituality. He wrote both literal and allegorical commentaries and homilies on all the books of the Bible. Using his knowledge of Hebrew, he first produced a corrected Septuagint, and then a massive edition of the Old Testament in six columns (the Hexapla): Hebrew, Hebrew in Greek characters, the Septuagint, and three other Greek versions. He defended the authenticity of the Greek additions to the book of Daniel. Origen was largely responsible for arranging the texts which became the New Testament, and in his analysis and translation of the Bible, St. Jerome cites Origen as one of his authorities. Following his teacher Clement, Origen used the philosophy of Plato to explain Christian faith; he was the first to present Christianity as a complete theory of the universe. He firmly rejected doctrines such as Adoptionism (the opinion that Jesus was born human and only became divine after his baptism); but he also held unorthodox beliefs, such as a hierarchical structure in the Trinity: God was the First Principle, and Christ, the Logos, was subordinate to him. He viewed the soul passing through successive stages before incarnation as a human, and eventually reaching God after death. He imagined the demons being reunited with God. Reaction to these unusual ideas compelled him to defend himself in writing to Pope Fabian. The patriarch of Alexandria supported Origen, but when the bishop of Caesarea in Palestine ordained him a priest without Alexandria's permission, he was forbidden to return. Eventually he took refuge at Caesarea in Cappadocia. Because of his unorthodox views, Origen is technically not a Church Father by many definitions of that term; but he was certainly the most prolific and influential Scripture scholar of the early Church. Athanasius of Alexandria 298 373 At the age of 27, Athanasius began his leading role against the Arians as his bishop's assistant during the First Council of Nicaea. Emperor Constantine convened the council in 325 to address the Arian question that the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, is a creature, a substance distinct from the Father. After the council, Athanasius succeeded his mentor as archbishop of Alexandria. In addition to the conflict with the Arians, he struggled against the Emperors Constantine, Constantius II, Julian the Apostate and Valens. He was known as Athanasius Contra Mundum ( against the worldly order ). After his death, his writings were pivotal for all Church fathers who followed him, in both the West and the East, who noted his rich devotion to the Wordbecome-man, his great pastoral concern, and his profound interest in monasticism. St. Gregory of Nazianzus called him the "Pillar of the Church." He is called the "Father of Orthodoxy" in the East, and the Roman Catholic Church counts him as one of the four great Eastern Doctors. Ephraim of Nisibis (Syria) 306 373 Ephraim grew up under Jacob of Nisibis, who was a signatory at the First Council of Nicea in 325. Ephraim was baptized as a youth and became a son of the covenant, a form of Syrian monasticism in which members could live a consecrated life while being active in the world. Jacob appointed Ephraim as a teacher and ordained him a deacon. The Roman emperor surrendered Nisibis to Persia and the entire Christian population was expelled. In 363, Ephraim settled in Edessa, at the heart of the Syriac-speaking world, and full of rival philosophies and religions. Here for the rest of his life he applied himself to a teaching ministry in his new church. 2
He began to compose hymns and write biblical commentaries as part of his educational office, and rehearsed all-female choirs to sing his hymns set to Syriac folk tunes. In his hymns, he sometimes refers to himself as a herdsman, to his bishop as the shepherd, and to his community as a fold. Over four hundred of his hymns still exist. Ephraim is known as the founder of the School of Nisibis, which, in later centuries, was the centre of learning of the Syriac Orthodox Church. He took several legendary journeys, one of which was to visit Basil of Caesarea. This links the Syrian Ephraim with the Cappadocian Fathers (see below), an important theological bridge between the spiritual views of the two teachers, who held much in common. Ephraim succumbed to the plague in Edessa as he ministered to its victims. Cyril of Jerusalem 315-386 Cyril was well-read in both the Church fathers and the Greek philosophers. In 350 he succeeded Maximus as Bishop of Jerusalem, and his jurisdiction over Jerusalem was expressly confirmed by the First Council of Constantinople (381), at which he was present. He is typical of those Eastern bishops (perhaps a majority), initially mistrustful of Nicaea, who came to accept the Nicaean creed. He voted to accept the term homoousios at Constantinople, finally convinced that there was no better alternative. He avoided using homooussios in his writings, but he expressed its sense when he argued against heresies: Patripassianism (God the Father suffers on the cross), Sabellianism (the Father, Resurrected Son, and Holy Spirit are simply perceived in three different modes one God, rather than three distinct persons), and Arianism (there was a time when the Son was not). Like many of the Eastern Fathers, he focused on high moral living as essential to true Christianity. He taught the freedom of the will, and that sin is not a natural condition, but the consequence of freedom. Cyril sold silver plate, ornaments and imperial gifts to keep his people from starving. A local council deposed Cyril and forced him to retire to Tarsus. The next year, the Council of Seleucia reinstated Cyril. In 360, this was reversed by Emperor Constantius, and Cyril suffered another year's exile from Jerusalem until Emperor Julian allowed him to return. Cyril was once again banished from Jerusalem by the Arian Emperor Valens in 367. Cyril returned again under Emperor Gratian in 378, where he remained undisturbed until his death in 386. The three Cappadocian Fathers In Acts, on the Day of Pentecost, there were "residents of Cappadocia. The First Epistle of Peter addresses "exiles scattered throughout Cappodicia." Gregory of Nazianzen in Cappadocia 330-390 As a student on the way to Athens, Gregory s ship hit a violent storm, and terrified, he prayed to Christ that if He would deliver him, he would dedicate his life to His service. While at Athens, he developed a close friendship with his fellow student, Basil of Caesarea. Along with Basil s brother, Gregory of Nyssa, these three are known as the Cappadocian Fathers. In 361 Gregory was ordained a presbyter in Nazianzus by his father. Gregory's homilies were well received and attracted ever-growing crowds, but the local Christian community, along with the whole Eastern Church was in turmoil over Arianism. Gregory s father was accused of heresy by local monks. Gregory helped heal the division through combined personal diplomacy and oratory. In public debates combating Arianism, Gregory and Basil emerged triumphant: Look at these facts: Christ is born, the Holy Spirit is His Forerunner. Christ is baptized, the Spirit bears witness. Christ works miracles, the Spirit accompanies them. Christ ascends, the Spirit takes His place. What great things are there in the idea of God which are not in His power? What titles appertaining to God do not apply also to Him, except for Unbegotten and Begotten? Emperor Theodosius wanted to settle the turmoil and unify the empire behind the orthodox faith. He convened a council in Constantinople, which was attended by 150 Eastern bishops. (It never occurred to anyone to invite the bishop of Rome, Pope Damasus; a Roman council accepted the dogmatic affirmations of Constantinople in 382.) Gregory was selected to lead the Council. The Egyptian and Macedonian bishops arrived late and once there, they refused to recognize Gregory as bishop of Constantinople. Gregory was physically exhausted and he decided to resign his office: "Let me be as the Prophet Jonah! I was responsible for the storm, but I would sacrifice myself for the salvation of the ship. Seize me and throw me over. The emperor, moved by his words, applauded, commended his labor and granted his resignation. The Council 3
asked him to appear once more for a farewell ritual and celebratory orations. Gregory used this occasion to deliver a final address and then departed. Gregory's most significant theological contributions arose from his defense of the doctrine of the Trinity. He is especially noted for his theology concerning the nature of the Holy Spirit. Gregory is the first to use the idea of procession to describe the relationship between the Spirit and the Godhead: "The Holy Spirit is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by generation but by procession, since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness." The idea of procession would shape most later thought about the Holy Spirit. [Note that Eastern Catholics until today say: I believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father. They do not say and the Son. ] Gregory asserted that Christ was fully human, including a full human soul (including a human will). Gregory and his fellow Cappadocians maintained the Nicaean doctrine of homoousia, or consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. The Cappadocian Fathers helped to develop the framework of three persons united in a single Godhead but they asserted that ultimately, God's nature is unknowable to man. Even though God is unknowable for us creatures, Jesus is the eikon of the Father, all Christians can be assimilated with God in "imitation of the incarnate Son as the divine model." This is the doctrine of theosis. Gregory's works circulated throughout the empire; his orations were cited as authoritative by the First Council of Ephesus in 431. He is widely quoted by Eastern Orthodox theologians and highly regarded as a defender of the Christian faith. His contributions to Trinitarian theology are also often cited in the Western churches. Paul Tillich stated that Gregory of Nazianzus "created the definitive formulae for the doctrine of the trinity". Additionally, the Liturgy of St Gregory the Theologian in use by the Coptic Church is named after him. (The Coptic church, now mainly schismatic, is the descendent of the ancient Church of Alexandria.) Basil of Caesarea in Cappadocia 330-379 As a young man, Basil abandoned his legal and teaching career, and devoted his life to God: Suddenly I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the Gospel truth, and I recognized the nothingness of the wisdom of the princes of this world. Basil became pivotal in developing monastic traditions of the Eastern Church. In his exegesis Basil was a great admirer of Origen and the need for the spiritual interpretation of Scripture. He and his friend Gregory of Nazianzus collaborated in a collection of Origen's works, which were popular in Cappadocia. The Bishop of Antioch ordained Basil as a deacon. Eusebius, bishop of the ancient Syrian city of Samosata ordained Basil as presbyter in 365. Then Basil was elected Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia in 370. Basil attended the Council of Constantinople in 381. He first sided with Homoiousians, a semi-arian faction who taught that the Son was of like substance with the Father, neither the same (one substance) nor different. The Homoiousians refused to join with the Nicene Creed. Basil eventually abandoned the Homoiousians, emerging as a strong supporter of the Nicene Creed. Basil tried to overcome the distrustful attitude toward the Homoiousians, but the discussions were complicated by the emerging arguments regarding the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son. Basil belonged to those, who, faithful to Eastern tradition, would not allow the predicate homoousios to the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, his principal theological writings are his On the Holy Spirit. His work on the Holy Spirit is a lucid and edifying appeal to Scripture and early Christian tradition (to prove the divinity of the Holy Spirit). Hot-blooded and imperious, Basil nevertheless frequently stressed the need for reserve in doctrinal and sacramental matters. He was generous and sympathetic, organizing a soup kitchen for the poor during a famine. He gave away his family inheritance to benefit the poor, and worked to reform thieves and prostitutes. He built a large complex at Caesarea, the Basiliad, with a poorhouse, hospice, and hospital. He encouraged his clergy not to be tempted by wealth or the easy life of a priest. He had the courage to criticize public officials who failed to administer justice. He preached every morning and evening in his own church to large congregations. Gregory of Nyssa in Cappadocia 335 395 Gregory was an orthodox Trinitarian theologian, influenced by Plato through Plotinus, and following Origen, believed in universal salvation. However, as a highly original and sophisticated thinker, Gregory is difficult to classify, and many aspects of his theology are contentious. 4
He participated in the First Council of Constantinople (381), and following Basil, defined the Trinity as "one essence [οὐσία] in three persons [ὑποστάσεις]", the formula adopted by Constantinople. According to Gregory, the differences between the three persons of the Trinity reside in their relationships with each other, and the triune nature of God is revealed through divine action: the Father as progenitor, the Son as begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Father and the Son. However, this seems to subordinate the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to the Son. Modern Social Trinitarianism claims to be influenced by the Cappadocians' dynamic picture of the Trinity. But it would be incorrect to identify Gregory as a social Trinitarian, as his theology emphasizes the unity of God's will, and he clearly believes that the identities of the Trinity are the three persons, not the relations between them. Gregory believed that God is infinite, therefore limitless, and incomprehensible to the limited minds of created beings: "...every concept that comes from some comprehensible image, by an approximate understanding and by guessing at the Divine nature, constitutes an idol of God and does not proclaim God." Gregory's theology was thus apophatic: he proposed that God should be defined in terms of what we know He is not, rather than what we might speculate Him to be. A created being can never reach an understanding of God; for humans in both life and the afterlife there is a constant progression towards the unreachable knowledge of God, in three stages: initial ignorance, then spiritual illumination, and finally a darkness of the mind in mystic contemplation of the God who cannot be comprehended. Universal salvation: following Origen, he thought that perhaps redemption will be extended to those suffering in hell, and even the demons may have a place in Christ's "world of goodness" (I Corinthians 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him..."; Philippians 2:10 At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth"). Gregory was one of the first Christian voices to say that slavery as an institution was inherently sinful. He believed that slavery violated mankind's inherent worth, and the nature of humanity to be free. You say I got me slave-girls and slaves. For what price, tell me? What did you find in existence worth as much as this human nature? What price did you put on rationality? How many obols did you reckon the equivalent of the likeness of God? How many staters did you get for selling that being shaped by God? God said, Let us make man in our own image and likeness. If he is in the likeness of God, and rules the whole earth, and has been granted authority over everything on earth from God, who is his buyer, tell me? Who is his seller? To God alone belongs this power; rather, not even to God himself. For his gracious gifts, it says, are irrevocable. God would not therefore reduce the human race to slavery, since he himself, when we had been enslaved to sin, spontaneously recalled us to freedom. But if God does not enslave what is free, who is he that sets his own power above God's?" (Homilies on Ecclesiastes; Hall and Moriarty, trs., New York: de Gruyter, 1993, p. 74) Gregory was bishop of Nyssa from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death. John Chrysostom 347 407, John was born in Antioch in 349 and baptized in 368. He lived in extreme asceticism and became a hermit in about 375, spending the next two years continually standing, scarcely sleeping, and committing the Bible to memory. As a consequence, his stomach and kidneys were permanently damaged and poor health forced him to return to Antioch. John was ordained as a deacon in 381 for the Church of Antioch, which was not then in communion with Alexandria and Rome. (He was destined later to bring about reconciliation between those three churches for the first time in nearly seventy years.) John gained popularity because of the eloquence of his public speaking at the Golden Church, Antioch's cathedral, especially his insightful expositions of Bible passages and moral teaching (Chrysostom means Golden Mouthed ). He became Archbishop of Constantinople in 397, and was known as "the greatest preacher in the early church." John's many hundreds of Scriptural homilies are his greatest lasting legacies. In general, his homiletic theology displays the Antiochian school (i.e., somewhat more literal), but he also uses a good deal of the allegorical interpretation more associated with the Alexandrian school. Echoing themes found in the Gospel of Matthew, he calls upon the rich to lay aside materialism in favor of helping the poor, often employing all of his rhetorical skills to shame wealthy people to abandon conspicuous consumption: "Do you pay such honor to your excrements as to receive them into a silver chamber-pot when another man made in the image of God is perishing in the cold?" 5
He founded a series of hospitals in Constantinople to care for the poor, and spoke against abuse of wealth and personal property: Do you wish to honor the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not pay him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect him outside where he is cold and ill-clad. He who said: "This is my body" is the same who said: "You saw me hungry and you gave me no food", and "Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me"... What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well. During his time as Archbishop he adamantly refused to host lavish social gatherings, which made him popular with the common people, but unpopular with wealthy citizens and the clergy. His reforms of the clergy were also unpopular with these groups. He told visiting regional preachers to return to the churches they were meant to be serving without any payout. Beyond his preaching, he harmonized the liturgical life of the Church by revising the prayers and rubrics of the Liturgy. To this day, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite typically celebrate the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom as the normal Eucharistic prayer. Cyril of Alexandria 376 444 The councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, in piecemeal fashion, were hammering out the questions of the nature(s) of Christ and of the Holy Trinity; but prominent teachers kept coming up with conflicting theories. One of these was Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who believed that Christ could not truly be con-substantial with God and con-substantial with us because he would grow, mature, suffer and die (which God cannot do); moreover, Christ would possess the power of God, which would separate him from human beings. Nestorius held that the Virgin Mary may be called the Christotokos, "Mother of Christ" but not the Theotokos, "Mother of God." He requested the Emperor to convene a third ecumenical council, hoping to prove his orthodoxy. The Council of Ephesus convened in 431. Much to his surprise, a majority of the bishops, led by Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, declared Nestorius to be in heresy. The Nestorian bishops then convened a counter-council and declared Cyril a heretic. Cyril was not a heretic, but he was an unscrupulous politician. He had excluded from the Council John, Patriarch of Antioch, and his bishops because they arrived late (John was a friend of Nestorius). But in 433 the churches of Alexandria and Antioch worked out the Formula of Union, with additional clarifications, accepting the decisions of Cyril's council. (The Roman delegates also arrived after the council ended, but Pope Celestine had appointed Cyril to be his delegate.) Cyril is known as Pillar of Faith and Seal of all the Fathers; but the conniving surrounding Epesus led to endless debates and suspicions. Before Ephesus, in 424, the Persian Church had declared itself independent of the Byzantine and all other churches, in order to ward off allegations of foreign allegiance. The Persians increasingly aligned with the Nestorians. In 486 the bishop of Nisibis publicly declared Theodore of Mopsuestia as a spiritual authority (Theodore was Nestorius' mentor.) In 489 the Persian patriarch Mar Babai I expanded upon the church's esteem for Theodore, solidifying the church's adoption of Nestorianism. The schism was officially mended only recently. In 1994, the Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East declared the common understanding (with different wording) of the doctrine concerning the divinity and humanity of Christ. The Declaration stated the legitimacy of their respective descriptions of Mary as, on the Assyrian side, "the Mother of Christ our God and Savior," and, on the Catholic side, as "the Mother of God" and "the Mother of Christ." Maximus the Confessor 580 662 The Fourth Ecumenical Council, at Chalcedon, in 451, had reaffirmed the orthodox beliefs in Christ and the Trinity, using the formula worded by Pope Leo I. One would hope that peace would now reign in the churches. However, a new variant of the Christological position emerged: Monothelitism (derived from the Greek for "one will"). The Monothelites agreed to the hypostatic union as formulated by Chalcedon: two natures, one divine and one human, united in the person of Christ. But they held that Christ had only a divine will and no human will. A Christian monk, theologian, and scholar, Maximus, entered the scene. In his early life, he was a civil servant but he gave up the political sphere to enter into the monastic life. After moving to Carthage, Maximus studied several Neo-Platonist writers and became a prominent author. He insisted that Jesus possessed both a human 6
and a divine will, and engaged in public debates supporting his belief. His Christological positions eventually resulted in his torture and exile, in which he died. But his theology was vindicated by the Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople III, and he was venerated as a saint soon after his death. John of Damascus (John Damascene) 675 749 John was born into a prominent Syrian family known as Mansour and was reared in Damascus. His fields of interest included law, theology, philosophy, and music, soon rivaling Pythagoras in arithmetic and Euclid in geometry. He is said to have served as a Chief Administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus before his ordination. One account identifies his tutor as a monk by the name of Cosmas, who had been kidnapped by Arabs from his home in Sicily, and for whom John's father paid a great price. Cosmas brought with him the scholarly traditions of Western Christianity. Under the instruction of Cosmas, John wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still used both liturgically throughout the world at Easter. He is considered "the last of the Fathers." He died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem. In 726, Emperor Leo III issued an edict against the veneration of images and their exhibition in public places. John of Damascus undertook a spirited defense of holy images. He used a simplified style that allowed the controversy to be followed by the common people, stirring rebellion among the faithful. After his death, his writings would play an important role during the Second Council of Nicaea, which convened to settle the icon dispute. After an invalid council (in Hieria, 754 AD), and much political maneuvering, the Second Council of Nicaea assembled on September 24, 787 at the church of Hagia Sophia. It numbered about 350 members. They used the teaching of John Damascene to formulated the doctrine of the use of icons in prayer, and 308 bishops or their representatives signed. Church of the East Christological spectrum during the 5th-7th centuries showing the views 7
of The Church of the East (light blue), Miaphysite (light red) and the western churches i.e. Eastern Orthodox and Catholic (light purple). Summary of subtle, but important distinctions in the theories about Christ Arianism the Son of God was a subordinate entity to God the Father, the First of the Creatures. Condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325. Docetism Christ is strictly divine, and only the appearance as human, without any true reality. Condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325. Adoptionism Christ was a man adopted by God at his baptism in the Jordan, or his resurrection, or his ascension. Condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325. Nestorianism Christ is two persons, divine and human, living in the same body. The "School of Antioch" emphasized Christ s humanity (including the limited knowledge and "growth in wisdom" of the Christ of the Gospels). Condemned at the Councils of Ephesus in 431, Chalcedon in 451. Monophysitism Christ is one person and one hypostasis in one nature divine after the union of the divine and the human in the historical incarnation. This theory was born in the theological "School of Alexandria" which emphasized divinity (including the fact that the divine nature was itself "impassible" or immune to suffering). Condemned by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Eutychianism Christ's divinity consumed his humanity as the ocean consumes a drop of vinegar. Condemned by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Miaphysitism Christ is one person with divinity and humanity united in one (mia) nature (physis), without separation, confusion, and alteration. [The distinction is that the incarnate Christ has one nature, but that single nature is still of both a divine character and a human character, and retains all the characteristics of both.] Condemned by the Council of Constantinople II in 553. Monothelitism Christ has two natures but only one will. This theory formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629 after Constantinople II; condemned by the Council of Constantinople III in 681. Dyophysitism clearly distinguishes between person and nature, stating that Christ is one person in two natures, which are "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation." This is the official Orthodox and Catholic doctrine, established at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and reaffirmed thereafter. Much has been said about the difficulties in understanding the Greek technical terms used in these controversies. The main words are ousia (οὐσία, 'substance'), physis (φύσις, 'nature'), hypostasis (ὑπόστασις) and prosopon (πρόσωπον, 'person'). Even in Greek, their meanings can overlap somewhat. These difficulties became even more exaggerated when these technical terms were translated into other languages. In Syriac, physis was translated as kyānâ (ܟܝܢܐ) and hypostasis was qnômâ.(ܩܢܘܡܐ) However, in the Persian Church, or the East Syriac tradition, qnoma was taken to mean nature, thereby confounding the issue further. The shades of meaning are even more blurred between these words, and they could not be used in such a philosophical way as their Greek counterparts. Just as the Second Council of Constantinople (known as the "Fifth Ecumenical Council") condemned a certain understanding of the Dyophysite formula introduced at the Council of Chalcedon, it likewise condemned a certain understanding of the Miaphysite terminology of Cyril of Alexandria introduced at the Council of Ephesus, thus leaving room for other orthodox understandings for both Dyophysitism and Miaphysitism. A certain understanding of Miaphysitism thus was affirmed as acceptable doctrine among the Chalcedonians. In the light of modern historical research and ecumenical discussions, the miaphysite and Chalcedonian positions appear to differ mainly in their usage of the key term "nature" (Greek: φύσις, phýsis, as used in the original texts of the relevant Ecumenical Councils) rather than in the underlying Christology, but other smaller differences of interpretation or emphasis may also exist. Intercommunion between the Oriental Orthodox and various Chalcedonian churches has not yet been reestablished; however the agreement of 1994 between the Latin Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East is a step in this direction. 8
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