381 - 787

1. 381 - 787 Heresies, Ecumenical Councils, and Church Fathers

2. Seven Ecumenical Councils • We have discussed 2/7: • First Council of Nicaea (325) • Called to quell the Arian Controversy • Affirmed the Divinity of the Son • First Council of Constantinople (381) • Called to condemn Semi-Arianism and Apollinarism • Affirmed the Divinity of the Holy Spirit

3. “Hypostatic Union” • The debate shifted from the Trinity to Christology. • The “hypostatic union” of Christbecame the new topic • Hypostatic Union is a term in theology which describes the union of Christ’s humanity and divinity in His person (hypostasis). • Two schools of thought taught about Christ’s hypostatic union • Antiochian School • Alexandrian School

4. Heresy: Nestorianism • Doctrine advanced by Nestorius (d. 450) • Said that the human and divine persons of Jesus are separate. ---------------- • This was characteristic of the Antiochian School of Theology, which emphasized the distinction between the two natures of Jesus • It became controversial when he rejected the title Theotokos (God-bearer) for the Virgin Mary • He thought theotokosdenied Christ’s full humanity and claimed that God cannot be born. Rather Christ was born and then became divine • Instead, he proposed the title Christotokos, which implies Mary is only the mother of Christ’s humanity.

5. Opposition: Cyril of Alexandria • Cyril represented the Alexandrian School of Theology, which emphasized the unity of humanity and divinity into one nature of the person (hypostasis) of Christ. • “We must follow these words and teachings, keeping in mind what ‘having been made flesh’ means …. We say … that the Word, by having united to himself hypostatically flesh animated by a rational soul, inexplicably and incomprehensibly became man.” • He accused Nestorius of saying that Christ had two separate persons (human and divine) in one body • Cyril also fought to defend the Virgin Mary’s title of Theotokos • “The holy virgin gave birth in the flesh to God united with the flesh according to hypostasis, for that reason we call her Theotokos... If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is, in truth, God, and therefore that the holy virgin is Theotokos (for she bore in a fleshly manner the Word from God become flesh), let him be anathema.”

6. First Council of Ephesus (431) • The Council condemned Nestorianism • The Council decreed that Jesus was one person, not two separate people: complete God and complete man, with a rational soul and body. • The Council also decreed that the Virgin Mary was to be called Theotokos

7. “Hypostatic Union” – Eutyches vs. Pope St. Leo I • Eutyches was at the Council of Ephesus and disagreed with Nestorius • Eutyches claimed that Christ was a “fashion of human and divine elements” • This came to be known as the heresy of “monophysitism”  • Pope St. Leo I wanted to find a balance between the Alexandrian and Antiochian Schools. • He sent a letter to the Council of Chalcedon called the Tome • This letter stated that Christ had two natures • After it was read out the bishops said: "This is the faith of the fathers... Peter has spoken thus through Leo ..."

8. Council of Chalcedon (451) • The Council of Chalcedon rejected the notion of a single nature in Christ, and declared that he has two natures in one person (hypostasis) • It also insisted on the completeness of his two natures: Godhead and manhood. • This is known as the Chalcedonian Definition.

9. Chalcedonian Definition • “We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.”

11. Important Fathers: St. John Chrysostom • Born in Antioch • Chrysostom means “golden-mouthed” • He gained this name because his sermons were very elegant

12. Important Fathers: St Ambrose of Milan • Bishop of Milan • Was a politician before becoming bishop • Opposed Arianism • He was also a staunch defender of Mary’s virginity and role as Mother of God • Ambrose also opposed ‘caesaropapism’ • Caesaropapism is a political system in which the head of the state is also the head of the church and supreme judge in religious matters.

13. Pelagianism • Beliefs: • Man can be redeemed and sanctified without grace • Denied the existence of original sin • Salvation can be achieved by humans without divine help • They also rejected the practice of infant Baptism

14. Donatism • Became popular in North Africa after Diocletian’s Persecutions ended in 313. • Beliefs: • Sacraments administered by the traditores were not valid. • Traditores cannot become leaders in the Church

15. Important Fathers: St. Augustine of Hippo • Bishop in Hippo (modern day Algeria… North Africa) • Wrote an autobiography called Confessions • Argued against Pelagianism and Donatism • Against Pelagianism: • Helped to better develop concept of Original Sin • Also promoted infant baptism • Said Grace is a gift from God • Against Donatism: • Said Christ is the true minister of the Sacraments (Priests’ purity does not matter)

16. Second Council of Constantinople (553) • Called to oppose Nestorian writings • Reaffirmed the Council of Chalcedon’s decrees

17. Third Council of Constantinople (681) • Refuted monothelitism • Monothelitism is a heresy which claimed that Christ had two natures, but only a divine will. • The Council decreed that Christ had both human and divine wills

18. Iconoclasm • Iconoclasm constituted a ban on religious images and was accompanied by widespread destruction of images and persecution of supporters of the veneration of images. • The first period of ‘iconoclasm’ lasted from 730 – 787 • An iconoclast is someone who engages in iconoclasm (destruction of religious images/icons) • An iconophile (or iconodule) is someone who venerates relgious icons • It only occurred in the East, since in the West the Pope supported icons.

19. Second Council of Nicaea (787) • Restored the veneration of icons

20. Acts of the Second Council of Nicea • "As the sacred and life-giving cross is everywhere set up as a symbol, so also should the images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the holy angels, as well as those of the saints and other pious and holy men be embodied in the manufacture of sacred vessels, tapestries, vestments, etc., and exhibited on the walls of churches, in the homes, and in all conspicuous places, by the roadside and everywhere, to be revered by all who might see them. For the more they are contemplated, the more they move to fervent memory of their prototypes. Therefore, it is proper to accord to them a fervent and reverent adoration, not, however, the veritable worship which, according to our faith, belongs to the Divine Being alone — for the honor accorded to the image passes over to its prototype, and whoever adores the image adores in it the reality of what is there represented."