503 Early Church History 21: The Dual Natures Controversy of the Fifth Century

This is part 21 of the Early Church History class.

In the fifth century Christians waged a theological civil war that ended in a massive church split. The issue was over the dual natures of Christ. How was he both divine and human? Did he have a human soul and a divine soul? Did his two natures fuse into one new nature? Although such abstruse distinctions would hardly get anyone’s blood boiling today, these doctrinal distinctives resulted in a zero sum war for supremacy involving not only theological argumentation, but also political conniving and outright gangster tactics in the battles that led to the famous Council of Chalcedon in 451. Though church history textbooks often whitewash this period of theological creativity, this episode will give you a brief but unapologetic overview of the major players and their deeds in the dual natures controversy.

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—— Notes ——

Options for Two Natures

• Athanasius (c. 357) affirmed Jesus as God and man but did not explain how the natures united. He called Mary Theotokos (God-bearer).
• Apollinarius of Laodicea (d. 382) said the Word became flesh without assuming a human mind (Apollinarianism).
• Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390) condemned Apollinarius and said that what God has not assumed, he has not healed.
• Eutyches of Constantinople (380-456) said the divine and human natures combined to form one new nature (Eutychianism/Monophysitism)
• Nestorius (c. 429) denied Mary as Theotokos, calling her instead Christotokos, and allegedly taught that Christ had two distinct natures in two persons (Nestorianism/dyophysitism).
• Leo I said Christ had two natures united in person, though the two natures remained distinct (Chalcedonian dyophysitism).

Condemning John Chrysostom

• John Chrysostom represented the Antiochene school of thought (as opposed to the Alexandrian).
• 397 Chrysostom became bishop of Constantinople.
• Eudoxia, wife of the emperor Arcadius, worked with Theophilus of Alexandria to depose Chrysostom.
• 403 Synod of the Oak deposed Chrysostom.
• 404 Chrysostom exiled.
• 407 Chrysostom marched to death

Condemning Nestorius

• 428 Nestorius became bishop of Constantinople.
• He immediately began persecuting “heretics” as a defender of orthodoxy.
• 429 Anastasius of Antioch preached in Constantinople that no one should call Mary
• Pu