APRIL 5:  THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE NATURE OF CHRIST

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The Government of the Church:

            By the fifth century, five bishoprics compete for leadership of the church.  These patriarchs are the bishops of Rome (the pope), Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.

Two “Schools” of Christology:

Antiochene (from Antioch in Syria):  They make a careful distinction between the human and divine natures in the person of Christ.  When Christ performed miracles and rose from the dead, that’s the divinity.  When Jesus suffered and died on the cross, that’s the humanity.  Leading figure from this school:  Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople 428-431.

Alexandrian (from Alexandria in Egypt):  They emphasize the unity of divinity and humanity in the person of Christ, and reject any attempt to “divide” his natures.  Instead of “Christ died for our sins” they will say “God died for our sins.”  Leading figure:  Cyril, bishop of Alexandria 412-444, and his successor Dioscorus (444-451).

Councils:

431:  Controversy over the Virgin Mary.  Should she be called “Mother of God” (Cyril) or only “Mother of Christ” (Nestorius)?  Council at Ephesus decides in favor of “Mother of God,” Theotokos in Greek, and condemns Nestorius as a heretic.

449:  Second Council of Ephesus, dominated by the Alexandrian Dioscorus, imposes a Monophysite creed (Christ has “one nature”) based on an extreme version of Alexandrian Christology.  Because the result of this council is later overturned, it goes down in history as the Robber Council of Ephesus.

451:  Council of Chalcedon, condemns the previous council and decides in favor of a two-nature Christology.  They attempt to compromise:  Christ has both human and divine natures, but the two natures are united “without confusion or mixture.”  Christ is “perfect God and perfect Man.”

After Chalcedon:  the Christian world is divided.

Churches that accept Chalcedon:  Constantinople and the Greek-speaking east; the Roman pope and the Latin west.

Churches following a “Monophysite” position:  Syrians, Egyptians (Copts), Armenians, Ethiopians.

Nestorians survive in Persia and Central Asia, and reach China in the ninth century.