The teaching of Christ’s descent into Hades is an inseparable part of the dogmatic tradition of the Church. It was shared by all members of the ancient church as reflected in the New Testament (NT), the works of the early … Continue reading
Category Archives: GAINING A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF OUR FAITH
Although the mother of Jesus was seen, within the mystery of human salvation, as the representative of humanity in need of salvation, she was the closest to the Savior and the worthiest receptacle of the new life. In the medieval … Continue reading
The attribution of the title of Theotokos was the only doctrinal decision taken by the church concerning Mary. However, the New Testament (NT), particularly Luke, had already proclaimed her eminent position in the economy of salvation (“henceforth all generation will … Continue reading
The fullness of humanity in Christ is also further defined in the theological synthesis of Maximus the Confessor and his doctrine of the “two wills”. It was affirmed during the period of iconoclasm when it was maintained the Christ could … Continue reading
It seems that a certain tradition of interpreting Chalcedon as a factual disavowal of Cyril has existed in the West. In the East, on the contrary, Christian orthodoxy remained quite definitely Cyrillian. Further more, the implications of the Chalcedonian statement … Continue reading
In the last issue of this article I actually shared the text from the Council of Chalcedon which finalized an actual dogmatic statement about Who the Church believes Jesus Christ to be. On the Cyrillian side, particularly noteworthy is the … Continue reading
In the last issue of this article, I shared with my readers that the Council of Chalcedon (451) clarified much of the language that several Fathers of the Church, especially Cyril, used to set forth the true faith about Jesus … Continue reading
I shared, in the last issue of this article, that the Cappadocian Fathers used ancient Greek thought to clarify the ideas of Athanasius about who Christ is. They accomplished this by using Greek, philosophical vocabulary as a tool, changing its … Continue reading
In this article I have been exploring the ideas of our “Fathers in the Faith” with regard to the Eastern Church’s ideas about the role of Christ as our Savior. If Athanasius and Cyril, by defending the divinity of Christ … Continue reading
In this article I have been exploring the “role” of Christ as Savior in the East. Cyrillian Christology implied that divinity and humanity were compatible and that Christ’s own particular humanity, although it was assumed in its incomplete state, was … Continue reading