- Chalcedonian
Chalcedonian refers to churches and theologians which accept the definition given at the
Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) of how the divine and human relate in the person ofJesus Christ . While most modern Christian churches are Chalcedonian, in the 5th - 8th centuries AD the ascendancy of ChalcedonianChristology was not always certain.The majority of the Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, and Ethiopian Christians rejected the Chalcedonian definition, and are now known collectively as Oriental Orthodox. However, some Armenian Christians (especially in the region of
Cappadocia andTrebizond inside theByzantine Empire ) did accept the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon and engaged in polemics against theArmenian Apostolic Church [The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Sixth to the Eighteenth Century By Agop Jack Hacikyan, Gabriel. Basmajian, Edward S. Franchuk] , and churches of the Syriac tradition among theEastern Catholic Church es are also Chalcedonian.The Chalcedonian definition
The Chalcedonian understanding of how the divine and human relate in the person of
Jesus is that the two natures (divine and human) are united in one person (Christ). This view, known as thehypostatic union , became the official theological understanding after it was endorsed by the Council of Chalcedon. The opposing view, that the person Jesus had only one nature, was known asMonophysitism .Dissent from the Chalcedonian view
In accepting the Trinitarian views supported by the
hypostatic union , those present at the Council of Chalcedon rejected the views of theArians , Modalists, andEbionites asheresies . (These views had also been rejected at theFirst Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.)Those present at the Council also rejected the
Christological views of theNestorians , Eutychians, and the Monophysites. Later interpreters of the Council held that Chalcedonian Christology also rejectedMonothelitism andMonergism . Those who did not accept the Chalcedonian Christology were collectively known as "non-Chalcedonian". Those who held to the non-Chalcedonian Christologies called the doctrine of the hypostatic union "dyophysite".References and notes
ee also
*
Dyophysitism
*Nestorianism
*Chalcedonian Creed
*Christology
*Council of Chalcedon
*Hypostatic union
*Miaphysitism
*Monophysitism
*Anastasius Sinaita
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