The Council of Constantinople Flashcards
What is the difference between the Nicene Creed and the Nicene-Constantinople Creed?
The second creed was written during the Council of Constantinople and determined the role and status of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity.
What about the Holy Spirit needed clarification at the 2nd Council?
How it differed from the Son, how it related to the Son & the Father in regards to the three “co’s”, whether or not it was a Person, an Attribute, or something else.
Who were the Pneumatomachians / Dnitarians?
A group who believed the Spirit was a power of the Father and possibly of the Son, not co-equal.
Who was Gregory of Nazianus?
The Arch-bishop of Constantinople at the time of the 2nd Council and the “hero”. Friends with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. Well-respected theologian.
Why is Gregory of Nazianus important?
He is responsible for differentiating between two words that were previously synonymous in an effort to describe the relationship of the Trinity. Hypostasis and Ousia.
What’s the deal with hypostasis and ousia?
Both were originally meant to mean “substance,” but Gregory redefined hypostasis to mean “divine persons” in relation to the Trinity.
What was the difficulty in describing the relationship of the Trinity?
It was difficult to determine whether the three members of the Trinity were distinct persons, three aspects of the same person, or three “roles,” defined by their relation to each-other but made of the same substance.
Elaborate on the Two Natures of Christ
He was fully human and fully man. He had a Divine Nature of the Son, and a fully corruptible (but uncorrupted) human nature.
What did the Sabellians believe?
They believed in a unitarian God with 3 roles (Personae), rather than a Trinity.
What’s the difference between personae and Prosopon?
Personae were three roles or “masks”. Prosopon was used to define the Spirit and the Son as parts of a greater whole (or ousia).
