The Making of Nestorius
The Making of Nestorius
- Early Ideas about the Son of God
- Some referred to the Son as one intimately related in dependence on the eternal God
- Some to God himself in his relation to the world of nature
- Some to a man like us who had the spirit of God working pre-eminently in him
- Some to a perfect creature whom God brought into being before everyone else
- Nestorius' Ancestry
- Nestorius is a disciple of Theodore of Mopsuestia
- Theodore is a disciple of Diodorus of Tarsus
- Diodorus is a disciple of Lucian of Antioch
- Lucian is a disciple of Paul of Samosata
- Paul of Samosata's ideas developed from the gnostic ideas of Artemon and Theodotus of Byzantium
Gnosticism
Paul of Samosata (200 - 275 AD)
- Patriarch of Antioch (pre-Nicaea)
- Possibly the earliest origin of dyophysitism
- Taught that Jesus was adopted to be God's son in the baptism - the Holy Spirit came on Him and then the Father said "Today you are My Son" - adopting Him
- According to Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History Book V, Paul adopted the gnostic ideas of Artemon and Theodotus of Byzantium. Here, he is quoting from an anonymous writer who is called in modern times "Little Labyrinth" by scholars
- "For [the Artemonites] say that all the early teachers and the apostles received and taught what they now declare, and that the truth of the Gospel was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop of Rome from Peter, but that from his successor, Zephyrinus, the truth had been corrupted." (V.28:3)
- Victor I is the one who declared Theodotus' beliefs of Dynamic Monarchianism (Adoptionism) as heretical
- They considered that the truth of the Gospel was corrupted after Victor I
- "And what they say might be plausible, if first of all the Divine Scriptures did not contradict them. And there are writings of certain brethren older than the times of Victor, which they wrote in behalf of the truth against the heathen, and against the heresies which existed in their day. I refer to Justin and Miltiades and Tatian and Clement and many others, in all of whose works Christ is spoken of as God. For who does not know the works of Irenæus and of Melito and of others which teach that Christ is God and man? And how many psalms and hymns, written by the faithful brethren from the beginning, celebrate Christ the Word of God, speaking of him as Divine. How then since the opinion held by the Church has been preached for so many years, can its preaching have been delayed as they affirm, until the times of Victor? And how is it that they are not ashamed to speak thus falsely of Victor, knowing well that he cut off from communion Theodotus, the cobbler, the leader and father of this God-denying apostasy, and the first to declare that Christ is mere man? For if Victor agreed with their opinions, as their slander affirms, how came he to cast out Theodotus, the inventor of this heresy?" (V.28:4-6)
- The Scriptures contradict the ideas
- Writings of certain brethren before Victor I contradict the ideas
- Justin the Martyr
- Miltiades
- Tatian
- Clement of Rome
- Irenaeus
- Melito of Sardis
- Psalms and Hymns of the Christian Church
- Victor, himself, disagreed with them and excommunicated Theodotus!
- "They have treated the Divine Scriptures recklessly and without fear. They have set aside the rule of ancient faith; and Christ they have not known. They do not endeavor to learn what the Divine Scriptures declare, but strive laboriously after any form of syllogism which may be devised to sustain their impiety. And if any one brings before them a passage of Divine Scripture, they see whether a conjunctive or disjunctive form of syllogism can be made from it. And as being of the earth and speaking of the earth, and as ignorant of him who comes from above, they forsake the holy writings of God to devote themselves to geometry. Euclid is laboriously measured by some of them; and Aristotle and Theophrastus are admired; and Galen, perhaps, by some is even worshipped. But that those who use the arts of unbelievers for their heretical opinions and adulterate the simple faith of the Divine Scriptures by the craft of the godless, are far from the faith, what need is there to say? Therefore they have laid their hands boldly upon the Divine Scriptures, alleging that they have corrected them." (V.28:13-15)
- They subordinate Scripture to Philosophy. It is not wrong that they study Philosophy, but they subject the Scripture to it! They devise syllogisms and then re-interpret the Scripture through them!
- "For [the Artemonites] say that all the early teachers and the apostles received and taught what they now declare, and that the truth of the Gospel was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop of Rome from Peter, but that from his successor, Zephyrinus, the truth had been corrupted." (V.28:3)
Beginnings of Arianism
- Lucian of Antioch (240-312 AD)
- Priest
- Nephew of Paul of Samosata
- Teacher of Arius, Diodorus of Tarsus, Eusebius of Nicomedia
- Arius (256-336 AD)
- Priest in Alexandria
- Main heretic of the Council of Nicaea
- Diodorus of Tarsus (?-390AD)
- Bishop
- Supporter of the Council of Nicaea
- One of the 150 at Constantinople who opposes Apollinaris
- Friend of St Basil, St Meletius of Antioch - they are all united against Arianism.
- Like Paul of Samosata, Jesus and the Logos are uniting - but it's at conception, not at the baptism. It is not God becoming Man, but rather God adopting the man.
- Gregory writes 8 statements/anathemas towards Diodorus (not-named). Word Theotokos is used in one. St Cyril's 12 anathemas will later be based on these.
- Teachings, taken to an extreme, lead to Nestorianism
- Started a school in Antioch
- Theodore of Mopsuestia
- St John Chrysostom
- Apollinaris (?-382 AD)
- Bishop of Laodicea
- Opponent of Arianism
- In his eagerness to emphasize the divinity of Jesus, he denies the existence of a rational human soul in Christ. He believes that Christ is fully human but instead of a soul, it's the Divinity. His Divinity united with His Body (not with His Humanity).
- Eusebius of Nicomedia (?-341 AD)
- Arian Priest & Bishop
- One of the 318 at Nicaea - it is said he "signed by hand, but not by heart" against Arianism
- Exiled St Athanasius
- Baptized Constantine the Great on his deathbed
- Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428 AD)
- Bishop of Mopsuestia
- The teacher of Nestorius, Theodoret of Cyrus, Ibas of Edessa, John of Antioch, Domnus II of Antioch
- Was the most popular student of the School of Antioch - even as a contemporary of John Chrysostom
- Teaching: There is One Person in Christ, in Two Natures
- In order for humanity to have salvation, God needs to restore Adam. How? By putting Adam on and leaping back into Paradise
- If He merely unites Himself to a man, then He does not become man. He only saves Jesus of Nazareth. How am I saved? How are you saved?
- St Cyril says that what is described here is no more than what happens in the Prophets... "The Spirit of the Lord came upon me."
- Nestorius of Constantinople (386-451 AD)
- Patriarch of Constantinople
- Theodoret of Cyrus (393-458 AD)
- Bishop of Cyrus
- Successor of Theodore of Mopsuestia
- Ibas of Edessa (?-457 AD)
- Bishop of Edessa
- Edessa is the Syriac See of the Church bridging the Church of the East with the Church of Antioch
- John I of Antioch
- Domnus II of Antioch
- Nephew of John I of Antioch
- Student of Theodore of Mopsuestia and friend of Theodoret of Cyrus