The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon Flashcards
Who was Cyril of Alexandria?
The Patriarch of Alexandria, and a central figure in the Council of Ephesus.
What is Theotokos?
The belief that Mary is the Mother of God, and not simply the Mother of Christ (the human man).
What did Cyril teach?
He taught about an “unconfused union” of Christ’s two natures, and the Theotokos.
Who was Nestorius of Constantinople?
A scholar from Antioch and Bishop of Constantinople who claimed that Mary was the Mother of Christ, but not the Mother of God.
What were the three heresies determined by the Council of Ephesus?
Separation/Conjunction, Absorption, and Confusion.
Define the heresy of Separation/Conjunction
Jesus is either a divine person with two conjoined natures (and no true union) or a human person with the divine nature of the Son’s person inside. One Person with two natures, or Two people with two natures.
Define the heresy of Absorption
Jesus’ human nature is absorbed by the divine, because the human cannot survive the divine,.
Define the heresy of Confusion.
Jesus’ full human nature is confused in union of the divine nature, and therefore a new nature comes into being. This was interpreted to say that the divine was “created”.
Who’s teaching won at the Council of Ephesus?
Technically Cyril’s, although the debate continued on past the Council, thus necessitating another Ecumenical Council in 451.
Who called the Council of Ephesus?
Theodosius II.
Who called the Council of Chalcedon, and why?
Marcian, because there was too much conflict and debate about the results of the Council of Ephesus.
What did the Council of Chalcedon re-condemn?
Arianism, Pneumatomachianism, Nestorianism, Sabellianism, and other heresies about Christ’s two natures.
What did the Council of Chalcedon re-affirm?
The Nicene-Constantinople Creed, and Cyril of Alexandria’s teaching of the “unconfused union” of Christ’s two natures.
What was the result of the Council of Chalcedon?
The Chalcedonian Definition of the Faith.
What did the Chalcedonian Definition of the Faith state?
The Trinity was an un-confused union of the same physis (substance), and the two natures of Jesus were concurring in one person (prosopon) and made of one hypostasis, that being God. Divine Nature looks out from the human body.
