Nestorianism Controversy

One of the main questions is how did the Romans began to accept Christianity into their empire when it was hated and outlawed. Some of the reasons are a new ruler,change of beliefs from the people, and the spread of Christianity itself. Another one of the main questions is how did they go from being paganism to Christianity how was that made legal? Was it from a change of ruler,a new law that forced them, or just that the majority of the people of Rome believed in this religion.

The Christological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries were debates regarding the nature of Christ, and in particular the issue of his humanity versus his divinity. Docetism is a position which undermines the integrity of the humanity of Jesus because it claims that Jesus is fully divine but not truly human, because he is God merely adopting the appearance of being human. Arianism is the belief that Jesus is superior to the rest of creation but not equal to God because Jesus was created by God and thus is not eternal unlike God. The Council of Nicaea in 325 was called to fight against Arianism. The Council

The Patristic Era saw various controversies arising over the nature of Jesus Christ, which consequently lead to the establishment of the creed as an attempt to reject the heretical views held by proponents. An example of a heretical advocate is Arius, who suggested Christ was inferior to God, but still above other creatures (McGrath, 2001, p.358). However, early orthodox theologians disputed this idea due to the soteriological complications that accompanied it (Young, 2010, p.55). The central advocator of this dispute was Athanasius, who questioned how Arius’ belief allowed for salvation through Jesus Christ, which is a key orthodox belief identified within the Bible. Accordingly, this essay will critically evaluate the heretical opinion of Arius and determine how this Arian understanding was discarded by Athanasius and the Nicene Creed. It is important to note that the Arian thought that will be assessed is primarily presented to us by Athanasius, which will emphasise the conflicting orthodoxy/heretical opinion that was held. In addition to this, the essay will determine how the establishment of the creed at the Council of Nicaea, which was greatly influenced by Athanasius (McGrath 2001, p,12), was a failed attempt to expel all aspects of Arian heresy but a success in uniting Christians.

Chalcedon by asserting equality and individuality of the trinity (Lane 40). The Council argued against Macedonianism by asserting the equality of the Holy Spirit in the trinity (Lane 40). Finally the Council argued against Apollinarianism by asserting Jesus’s humanity (Lane 40)

The third point Cyril argues against Nestorius is that Jesus has two subjects. He questions who is speaking man or deity. Cyril questions that there are two ruling principles with the Logos and the human soul. He argues about where Nestorius says there is one will but not one person who is divided. And where Nestorius says the two natures are united permanently but unique and separate like a husband and wife.

to what the Christian religion believes Celsus says that Jesus was born to a mother who was a

Nestorius was born in Syria in 386 AD, and was a priest and monk in the monastery of Euprepius. Theodore of Mopsuetia taught him in clerical training in Antioch. His sermons were so phenomenal that Emperor Theodosius II inaugurated him as Patriarch of Constantinople in 428 AD. Shortly after, Nestorius became involved in two theological factions debating in their Christology. One side said the Jesus was born as a man, and they called Mary Theotokos, meaning “God-bearer.” The other side argued that this title of Mary was incorrect because God could not be born on account of his eternal nature. Nestorius tried to find a middle ground. He decided to call Mary Christokos, meaning “Christ-bearer.” He did this so it would not seem like God was

At the Council of Alexandria, the Christology of Apollinarism had become a public issue, and after a few years it became a serious concern. As a strong supporter of homoousion, ‘one in being’, of the son, Apollinarius was an opponent of dualism in the Antiochene Christology. He saw the effects of Paul of Samosata, teacher and believer of monarchianism, as harmful. His followers such as Eustahius and Diodore of Tarsus who confessed ‘the Lord as God incarnate, and yet falling into the separation’. This view failed to account for a human soul in Christ; instead, the Incarnation of Jesus was thought to be a union of the logos with the human flesh. Because of the influences of Athanasius’ teaching, Apollinarius must have had fragments of Athanasius’s lessons in mind, which implied that he viewed Christ as lacking a human mind or

On the other hand, a number of philosophy was able to argue that Christ was homoousios (same or one substance) in a way to debunk Nicene Creed by describing the relationship that exist between the father and Son, by stating the fact that Jesus is God that come to earth as a man which is also the Father. Arius believes that it

Cyril of Alexandria bitterly disagreed. He suggested that Nestorius was proposing that Jesus had two natures joined in a purely moral union and not in real organic union (Karkkainen 2003: 77). Out of this came the concept that Nestorius was teaching that Jesus was not one person but two: one human and one divine. However, it remained controversial whether Nestorius really meant what Cyril said. For Nestorius actually repudiated this teaching (Karkkainen 2003: 77). He, in fact, only tried to preserve the divinity as well as the humanity of Jesus (Dorman 2001: 159). He seemed to have proposed that Jesus is a "conjunction" of the divine nature person and the human nature person, and

For many years after the death of Christ, Christianity had many sectarian groups until it was standardized by the late fourth century in the Roman Empire. One of these groups was the Gnostic Christians. They believed God was a dyad, or as one having both male and female characteristics and as a result, practiced this equality between men and women in their communities. They clashed with the orthodox community during the second to fourth century and their teachings were excluded from the canonical teachings known as the New Testament. The standardized scriptures influenced the doctrine known today as orthodox, or correct teachings (Bentley and Zeigler 251). The traditional orthodox beliefs that women are to be subordinate to men are a

Even during numerous exiles, Athanasius continued to be a vigorous defender of Nicene Christianity against Arianism. Athanasius then famously said "Athanasius against the world". The Cappadocian Fathers also took up the torch; their Trinitarian discourse was influential in the council at Constantinople.Up until about 360, theological debates mainly dealt with the Divinity of Jesus, the 2nd person of the Trinity. However, because the Council of Nicaea had not clarified the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Trinity, it became a topic of debate.

Nestorius’ Christological model understands Christ as having two different; one part divine and one part human. In the eyes of Nestorius, however, these two natures function fully as one and are not separate. The divine nature is not limited by the human, therefore the divine does not feel pain, hunger, or tiredness. That, in fact, is the giant hole that Nestorius sees as problematic in divergent Christological models. In Nestorius’ eyes, any Christological model that doesn’t understand the distinction between the human and the divine actually blends the natures and waters down the divine, placing it under the influence of human nature.

One of the major topics of discussion in the early church was about the nature of God. Some people questioned the oneness of God and did not believe that there is one essence in all three persons of God. Some other people did not believe that there are three persons of God. The major heresies all fit on a scale between two opposites. These opposites consist of Monarchianism and Tritheism. The heresies eventually led the church to establish the doctrine of Trinity in the Council of Nicaea held in the year 325 A.D. Even though the heresies between the two extremes were appealing, the Catholic Church rejects them and teaches the doctrine of Trinity.

The Patristic Era saw various controversies arising over the nature of Jesus Christ, which consequently lead to the establishment of the creed as an attempt to reject the heretical views held by proponents. An example of a heretical advocate is Arius, who suggested Christ was inferior to God, but still above other creatures (McGrath, 2001, p.358). However, early orthodox theologians disputed this idea due to the soteriological complications that accompanied it (Young, 2010, p.55). The central advocator of this dispute was Athanasius, who questioned how Arius’ belief allowed for salvation through Jesus Christ, which is a key orthodox belief identified