Branch of Christianity that accepts the Council of Chalcedon
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. 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 ). Chalcedonian Christianity also accepts the Chalcedonian confirmation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed , thus acknowledging the commitment of Chalcedonism to Nicene Christianity .
Chalcedonian Christology is upheld by Catholicism , Eastern Orthodoxy , and Protestantism , and thus comprises >95% of Christianity.[ 6]
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 .
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,[ 7] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10]
The Hypostatic Union was also viewed as one nature in Roman Christianity by a minority around this time.[ 11] Apollinarism and Eutychianism were taught to explain some of the seeming contradictions in Chalcedonian Christianity.[citation needed
(16th century)
(11th century)
(Not shown are ante-Nicene , nontrinitarian , and restorationist denominations.)
References
Sources
Athanasopoulos, Constantinos; Schneider, Christoph, eds. (2013). Divine Essence and Divine Energies: Ecumenical Reflections on the Presence of God ISBN 9780227900086 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 ISBN 9781606081648 Chesnut, Roberta C. (1978). "The Two Prosopa in Nestorius' Bazaar of Heracleides". The Journal of Theological Studies . 29 (2): 392–409. doi :10.1093/jts/XXIX.2.392 . González, Justo L. (2005). Essential Theological Terms ISBN 9780664228101 Florovsky, Georges (1987). The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century ISBN 9783905238075 Grillmeier, Aloys (1975) [1965]. Christ in Christian Tradition: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451) ISBN 9780664223014 Kelly, John N. D. (2006) [1972]. Early Christian Creeds ISBN 9780826492166 Loon, Hans van (2009). The Dyophysite Christology of Cyril of Alexandria ISBN 978-9004173224 Menze, Volker L. (2008). Justinian and the Making of the Syrian Orthodox Church Oxford University Press . ISBN 978-0-19-953487-6 Meyendorff, John (1966). Orthodoxy and Catholicity Meyendorff, John (1989). Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions: The Church 450–680 A.D. ISBN 9780881410563 Nichols, Aidan (2010) [1992]. Rome and the Eastern Churches: A Study in Schism ISBN 9781586172824 Norris, Richard A., ed. (1980). The Christological Controversy ISBN 9780800614119 Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State Pásztori-Kupán, István (2006). Theodoret of Cyrus Routledge . ISBN 9781134391769
See also
