Thanks for these comments. Some thoughts below.
At 23:48 14/10/99 +0100, you wrote:
>If you look back as far as 330 when Constatinople was the heart of the
>Orthodox Christianity, then we know that the Patriach of Constantinople was
>the most senior of the four Eastern Patriachs, the others being Jerusalem,
>Antioch and Alexandria. The other three were independant of him in
>jurisdiction and were formally ratified at the Council of Chalcedon, 451.
>All of the Eastern Christians had originally been united by communion but
>the schisms that occured in the C.5th and C6th led to a lasting rift - that
>is apparently still noticeable today.
Others have already picked up on the issue of when and whether C. was the
heart of Christianity. Isn't one of the first real indicators of its rise
in importance as a Christian centre the installation of Gregory in 379?
Its a case of bringing in the major thinker of his generation (apologies to
Basil and Nyssa), to try to run what's now a seat of clear importance to
the wider church (good web site by the way at
http://nazianzos.fltr.ucl.ac.be ).
>
>What I know about comes from hving done some small amount of work on
>Nestorianism. Nestorius, the Bishop of Constatinople, was a follower of
>Theodore of Mopsuestia, who in turn was a supporter of the Antiochene
>tradition of Christology - this upheld the incorruptability of Christ's
>human nature. Nestorius was condemned for making a too great a
>differentiation between Christ's Godhead and his humanity, that is he said
>Christ was in TWO natures. On top of that Nestorius also had problems with
>the title THEOKOTOS.
Nestorius had problems with the Theotokos, but most other Antiochenes do
not. Theodoret is generally happy with it, and can't understand why people
claim he isn't. The issue isn't just the natures. Its also the one or
two'prosopa', and also how many sons are there. Theodoret again becomes
greatly troubled that he is accused of teaching two sons, when he asserts
that there is one.
>
>Theokotos, or 'mother of God' had been affirmed for the Virgin Mary at the
>3rd Ecumenical Council at Epheus in 431, under St Cyril of Alexandria. This
>led to a lasting schism. The Christians living in East Syria and
>Mesopotamia, living mainly in Persia outside the perimeters of the Byzantine
>Empire felt unable to accept this definition of Theokotos. These
>Christians had been inspired by the school of Edessa, one of the pricipal
>centres for the Antiochene tradition
The position of Edessa is somewhat ambivalent. Rabbula, the bishop, was
certainly a die-hard supporter of Cyril, while Ibas, one of his successors,
jumped ship to the other side. When we mention the school of Edessa, I
think we usually think of Ephrem: I'm not sure what influence he could be
seen to have on Theodore, Theodoret, Nestorius, etc.
>
>There also grew some linguistic and cultural differences. For example, in
>Persia, over a period of time, a seperate communion appeared which was
>primarily Syriac in language. Those in Persia refered to themselves as 'The
>Church of the East', became known as 'Assyrians', 'Chaldeans and
>'Nestorians' - of course. However, the term Nestorianism is some what
>misleading as the Nestorians attributed not particular importance to him,
>but rather to Theodor of Mopsuestia>
Evidence for a linguistic difference is shaky. Syriac texts are found both
inside the empire and outside, and on more than one side of the theological
divisions. Think for instance of the monophysite John of Ephesus, and the
growing number of Syriac texts from in and around Antioch, e.g. Isaac of
Antioch and John of Apamea in C5.
>Now for the Non-Chaldeans! There were 5 (main???/only???) churches.
>Egyptian: this became the Coptic Orthodox Church, The Syrian Orthodox
>Church, sometimes named Jacobit after the C6th Bishop Jacob Baradaeus (Bara
>'dai). The Ethiopian Church, which was largely dependant on the Coptic
>Church. Incidently, it only gained full independence in 1959!! Then in
>connection with the Syrian Orthodox (jacobite) Church came the Syrian
>Orthodox Church of the Malabar, in South India, these became known as the
>St. Thomas Christians, named after ther supposed founder and finally there
>was also the Church of Armenia. These five churches have often been
>described as momphysite, because they described Christ as being in ONE
>nature - which is what St.Cyril of Alexandria believed.
>
>In a nutshell:
>Antiochene Tradition - Christ in two natures and scepticism of the title of
>'God bearer' for Mary.
>Alexandrain Tradition - Christ in one nature and Mary was the God bearer.
>
>There is probabley more to it than this, so I apologise if I've left
>something really obvious out! Hopefully none of this will be re-entered
>under the 'Student Version' thread!!!
>
>
>
Ian G Tompkins, MA, BD, DPhil
Administrative Assistant
Academic Registrar's Office
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Neuadd Penbryn - Penbryn Hall
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Aberystwyth
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