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Creeds

Council of Chalcedon, 451 A.D.
Act V

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance (homoousios) with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer (Theotokos); one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers has handed down to us.

Nestorianism

1. The theology of the church is not precise, but there are traits of ancient Nestorianism, which holds that there were two separate persons in Christ?one divine, the other human. Its members venerate Nestorius as a saint, deny the Virgin the title Mother of God while otherwise honoring her highly, and reject the ecumenical councils after the second.

2. The Nestorian Church (also known as the East Syrian or Assyrian Church) takes its name form Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople (d.c.451). Nestorius is believed to have asserted that Christ was composed of two persons, God the Son and the man Jesus and that it was only the man Jesus who was born of the Virgin Mary and who died on the cross. Accordingly, Nestorius claimed that it was wrong to describe the Virgin Mary as theotokos (mother of God); instead she should be referred to as christotokos (mother of Christ). This contradicted the orthodox understanding of Christ as one Person who embodied two natures, divine and human.

3.

4. Eastern Christianity on the Eve of Islam, by Dr. George Khoury

Monophysitism

1. Monophysitism produced the greatest schism that the Eastern Church had suffered. Strictly speaking, the Monophysites were those who did not accept the doctrine of the two natures (divine and human) in the one person of Jesus as it was formulated by the council of Chalcedon (451). They took for their watchword "the one nature of the incarnate Word of God", because the Monophysites believed that this terminology was the most natural and proper way to guard against Nestorian formulations. The question of the terminology is of vital importance in this matter, because there was no clearly defined theological language and terminology at the time. Thus, it seems that the dispute between monophysites and Chalcedonian orthodoxy was mainly one of the terms: to Monophysites, terms "nature" and "person" synonymous, and to those maintained the two natures of Christ, the terms "nature" and "essence."
 


Last edited 04-12-2001
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