A report on Nestorianism, Christology and Chalcedonian Definition

Nestorian priests in a procession on Palm Sunday, in a seventh- or eighth-century wall painting from a Nestorian church in Qocho, China

Paolo Veronese, The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (ca. 1560).

Christological spectrum during the 5th–7th centuries showing the views of the Church of the East (light blue), the Chalcedonian Churches (light purple), and the Miaphysite Churches (pink).

Christ Pantocrator, Holy Trinity's monastery, Meteora, Greece

An historical misinterpretation of the Nestorian view was that it taught that the human and divine persons of Christ are separate.

Saint Paul delivering the Areopagus sermon in Athens, by Raphael, 1515

Chinese stone inscription of a Nestorian Cross from a monastery of Fangshan District in Beijing (then called Dadu, or Khanbaliq), dated to the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271–1368) of medieval China.

The Four Evangelists, by Pieter Soutman, 17th century

Epitaph of a Nestorian, unearthed at Chifeng, Inner Mongolia

Christological spectrum during the 5th–7th centuries showing the views of the Church of the East (light blue), the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches (light purple), and the Miaphysite Churches (pink).

Saint Mary Church: an ancient Assyrian church located in the city of Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran.

c. undefined 450), who promoted specific doctrines in the fields of Christology and Mariology.

- Nestorianism

The reference to "co-essential with the Father" was directed at Arianism; "co-essential with us" is directed at Apollinarianism; "Two Natures unconfusedly, unchangeably" refutes Eutychianism; and "indivisibly, inseparably" and "Theotokos" are against Nestorianism.

- Chalcedonian Definition

The Chalcedonian Definition was written amid controversy between the Western and Eastern churches over the meaning of the Incarnation (see Christology).

- Chalcedonian Definition

Dyophysitism (Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and the Reformed Churches) Christ maintained two natures, one divine and one human, after the Incarnation; articulated by the Chalcedonian Definition.

- Christology

The Armenian Church rejected the Council of Chalcedon (451) because they believed Chalcedonian Definition was too similar to Nestorianism.

- Nestorianism

Nestorianism (5th century) considered the two natures (human and divine) of Jesus Christ almost entirely distinct.

- Christology

5 related topics with Alpha

Council of Chalcedon

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The fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church.

Spectrum of Christological views in late antiquity

Council of Chalcedon in the Nuremberg Chronicle

Such heresies attempted to dismantle and separate Christ's divine nature from his humanity (Nestorianism) and further, to limit Christ as solely divine in nature (Monophysitism).

Whilst this judgment marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates, it also generated heated disagreements between the Council and the Oriental Orthodox Church, who did not agree with such conduct or proceedings.

The Council of Chalcedon issued the Chalcedonian Definition, which repudiated the notion of a single nature in Christ, and declared that he has two natures in one person and hypostasis.

Oriental Orthodox Churches

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Distribution of Oriental Orthodox Christians in the world by country:
Main religion (more than 75%)
Main religion (50–75%)
Important minority religion (20–50%)
Important minority religion (5–20%)
Minority religion (1–5%)
Tiny minority religion (below 1%), but has local autocephaly

The Oriental Orthodox Churches are a group of Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with a total of approximately 60 million members worldwide.

Oriental Orthodox Churches shared communion with the Imperial Roman Church before the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, as well as with the Church of the East until the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, all separating primarily over differences in Christology.

Historically, the early prelates of the Oriental Orthodox Churches thought that the Chalcedonian Definition implied a possible repudiation of the Trinity or a concession to Nestorianism.

Miaphysitism

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Miaphysitism is the Christological doctrine upheld by the Oriental Orthodox Churches, which include the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The broad term "Dyophysitism" covers not only the Chalcedonian teaching but also what Nestorianism interpreted as meaning that Jesus is not only of two natures but is in fact two centres of attribution, and thus two persons, a view condemned by the Council of Chalcedon.

The council accepted by acclamation Leo's Tome, the letter by Pope Leo I setting out, as he saw it, the church's doctrine on the matter, and issued what has been called the Chalcedonian Definition, of which the part that directly concerns Miaphysitism runs as follows:

Monophysitism

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Monophysitism ( or ) or monophysism is a Christological term derived from the Greek μόνος (monos, "alone, solitary") and φύσις (physis, a word that has many meanings but in this context means "nature").

Cyril of Alexandria succeeded in having Nestorius, a prominent exponent of the Antiochian school, condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, and insisted on the formula "one physis of the incarnate Word", claiming that any formula that spoke of two physeis represented Nestorianism.

In 451, the Council of Chalcedon, on the basis of Pope Leo the Great's 449 declaration, defined that in Christ there were two natures united in one person.

The oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator at Saint Catherine's Monastery. The two different facial expressions on either side emphasize Christ's dual nature as both divine and human.

Hypostatic union

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Composites of the two sides of the face.

Hypostatic union (from the Greek: ὑπόστασις hypóstasis, "sediment, foundation, substance, subsistence") is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one hypostasis, or individual existence.

In 451, the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon promulgated the Chalcedonian Definition.

The Chalcedonian "in two natures" formula (based, at least partially, on Colossians 2:9) was seen as derived from and akin to a Nestorian Christology.