I truly realize that this is truly a “heady” article. It is this for three reasons: (1) the subject matter is truly complex and, in some ways, very academic mixed with spirituality; (2) the Fathers were highly educated men who … Continue reading
Category Archives: Learning Our Faith from the Church Fathers
In the last issue I shared with my readers that fact that deification “in Christ” is necessarily the result of a freely accepted new birth in the Spirit and that Jesus himself, according to Maximus, has taken this choice in … Continue reading
I ended this article in the last issue of the Bulletin by expressing the fact that Maximus, in expressing his understanding of the person of Christ, did not imply any absorption of humanity or any lessening of the properly human, … Continue reading
Another Greek Father of the Church that was greatly responsible for how we view Christ and the Holy Spirit, is Maximus the Confessor. Maximus’ place in the history of Christian Doctrine is primarily associated with his defense of Chalcedonian orthodoxy … Continue reading
In the last issue, I shared some thoughts about the acts of the Council of Ephesus (431) and shared the fact that our veneration of Mary, as the Mother of God, is directly connected to our understanding of the Incarnation … Continue reading
In 431 the Council of Ephesus, which marked the first and decisive victory of Cyrillian Christology over Nestorianism, expressed itself in a single doctrinal decision: the Mother of Jesus is to be properly designated in the prayers of the church, … Continue reading
A certain tradition of interpreting Chalcedon as a factual disavowal of Cyril has existed in the West. In the East, on the contrary, the true Christian faith remained quite definitely Cyrillian. Furthermore, the implications of the Chalcedonian statement about “the … Continue reading
Can it be said that the Council of Chalcedon solved the Christological problem? Certainly not. Like all balanced, conceptual formulas, it solved certain problems but created new ones. Actually, the fathers of Chalcedon were conscious of the limited character of … Continue reading
I would, for the sake of supporting a truly, greater understanding of our faith and religion, share with my readers the actual text of Chalcedon. While it is long, I do believe it is worthwhile to read it as the … Continue reading
In the fifth century, Cyril triumphed over Nestorius using the same process as described in the last issue of this article, that is by using Greek vocabulary as a tool, changing its meaning and making it into a manageable instrument … Continue reading