Chalcedonian Christianity is a term referring to the branches of Christianity that accept and uphold theological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451.[1] Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christological Definition of Chalcedon, a Christian doctrine concerning the union of two natures (divine and human) in one hypostasis of Jesus Christ, who is thus acknowledged as a single person (prosopon).[2][3] Chalcedonian Christianity also accepts the Chalcedonian confirmation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, thus acknowledging the commitment of Chalcedonism to Nicene Christianity.[4][5]
Chalcedonian Christology
Those present at the Council of Chalcedon accepted Trinitarianism and the concept of hypostatic union, and rejected Arianism, Modalism, and Ebionism as heresies (which had also been rejected at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325). Those present at the council also rejected the Christological doctrines of the Nestorians, Eutychians, and Monophysites (these doctrines had also been rejected at the First Council of Ephesus in 431).
The Chalcedonian doctrine of the Hypostatic Union states that Jesus Christ has two natures, divine and human, possessing a complete human nature while remaining one divine hypostasis. It asserts that the natures are unmixed and unconfused, with the human nature of Christ being assumed at the incarnation without any change to the divine nature. It also states that while Jesus Christ has assumed a true human nature, body and soul, which shall remain hypostatically united to his divine nature for all of eternity, he is nevertheless not a human person[6][7][8][9], as human personhood would imply a second created hypostasis existing within Jesus Christ and violating the unity of the God-man.
- (Not shown are non-Nicene, nontrinitarian, and some restorationist denominations.)
References
- ^ Meyendorff 1989, p. 165-206.
- ^ Grillmeier 1975, p. 543-550.
- ^ Meyendorff 1989, p. 167-178.
- ^ Meyendorff 1989, p. 171-172.
- ^ Kelly 2006, p. 296-331.
- ^ "Is Jesus a Human Person?". NCR. Retrieved .
- ^ "Jesus Is Not a Human Person". Catholic Answers. Retrieved .
- ^ "Was Christ a Divine-Human Person? | Reasonable Faith". www.reasonablefaith.org. Retrieved .
- ^ "Person (in theology) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved .
Sources
- Athanasopoulos, Constantinos; Schneider, Christoph, eds. (2013). Divine Essence and Divine Energies: Ecumenical Reflections on the Presence of God. Cambridge, UK: James Clarke & Co.
- Kharlamov, Vladimir (2009). The Beauty of the Unity and the Harmony of the Whole: The Concept of Theosis in the Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
- Chesnut, Roberta C. (1978). "The Two Prosopa in Nestorius' Bazaar of Heracleides". The Journal of Theological Studies. 29: 392-409.
- González, Justo L. (2005). Essential Theological Terms. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
- Florovsky, Georges (1987). The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century. Vaduz: Büchervertriebsanstalt.
- Grillmeier, Aloys (1975) [1965]. Christ in Christian Tradition: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451) (2nd revised ed.). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
- Kelly, John N. D. (2006) [1972]. Early Christian Creeds (3rd ed.). London-New York: Continuum.
- Loon, Hans van (2009). The Dyophysite Christology of Cyril of Alexandria. Leiden-Boston: Brill.
- Menze, Volker L. (2008). Justinian and the Making of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Meyendorff, John (1966). Orthodoxy and Catholicity. New York: Sheed & Ward.
- Meyendorff, John (1989). Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
- Nichols, Aidan (2010) [1992]. Rome and the Eastern Churches: A Study in Schism (2nd revised ed.). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
- Norris, Richard A., ed. (1980). The Christological Controversy. Minneapolis: Fortess Press.
- Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Pásztori-Kupán, István (2006). Theodoret of Cyrus. London & New York: Routledge.
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