Nestorianism

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For the church sometimes known as the Nestorian Church, see Church of the East.
"Nestorian" redirects here. For other uses, see Nestorian (disambiguation).
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    A depiction of Nestorius being defrocked and having his vestments removed at the Council of Ephesus, which is accepted by most mainstream branches of Christianity. The Council condemned Nestorius and his teachings as heretical.

    Nestorianism is a term used in

    Oriental Orthodoxy.[6] The already long extant Assyrian Church of the East
    , would affirm the orthodoxy of Nestorius, lining up the tradition of the fathers which preceded him.

    After the condemnation, some supporters of Nestorius, who were followers of the

    Syriac Orthodox. During the period from 484 to 612, gradual development led to the creation of specific doctrinal views within the Church of the East.[7] Evolution of those views was finalized by prominent East Syriac theologian Babai the Great (d. 628) who was using the specific Syriac term qnoma (ܩܢܘܡܐ) as a designation for dual (divine and human) substances within one prosopon (person or hypostasis) of Christ. Such views were officially adopted by the Church of the East at a council held in 612.[8]

    Opponents of such views in the West inaccurately labeled them as "Nestorian", leading to the practice of

    inter-denominational relations, the term Nestorian increasingly focuses on its primary meaning, the original teachings of Nestorius, rather than referring to the far older-originating Assyrian Church of the East or its offshoot, the Chaldean Catholic Church.[12]

    History

    Nestorian priests in a procession on Palm Sunday, in a seventh- or eighth-century wall painting from a Nestorian church in Qocho, China

    Nestorianism was condemned as

    Iberian bishops met in Vagharshapat and issued a condemnation of the Chalcedonian Definition.[14]

    Nestorians held that the Council of Chalcedon proved the

    Miaphysite Syriac Christians during the reign of Peroz I. In response to pleas for assistance from the Syriac Church, Armenian prelates issued a letter addressed to Persian Christians reaffirming their condemnation of the Nestorianism as heresy.[13]

    Following the exodus to

    Persia, scholars expanded on the teachings of Nestorius and his mentors, particularly after the relocation of the School of Edessa to the (then) Persian city of Nisibis (modern-day Nusaybin in Turkey) in 489, where it became known as the School of Nisibis.[citation needed] Nestorian monasteries propagating the teachings of the Nisibis school flourished in 6th century Persarmenia.[13]

    Despite this initial Eastern expansion, the Nestorians' missionary success was eventually deterred.

    David J. Bosch observes, "By the end of the fourteenth century, however, the Nestorian and other churches—which at one time had dotted the landscape of all of Central and even parts of East Asia—were all but wiped out. Isolated pockets of Christianity survived only in India. The religious victors on the vast Central Asian mission field of the Nestorians were Islam and Buddhism".[15]

    Doctrine

    Miaphysite Churches
    (pink)
    A historical misinterpretation of the Nestorian view was that it taught that the human and divine persons of Christ are separate.[16]

    Nestorianism is a radical form of

    Ancient Greek: οὐσία) (essences) but of one prosopon (person).[18] Both Nestorianism and Monophysitism were condemned as heretical at the Council of Chalcedon
    .

    Patriarch of Constantinople by Byzantine emperor Theodosius II
    in 428.

    Nestorius's teachings became the root of controversy when he publicly challenged the long-used title Theotokos

    Christ-Bearer') as a more suitable title for Mary.[20]

    He also advanced the image of Jesus as a warrior-king and rescuer of Israel over the traditional image of the Christus dolens.[21]

    Nestorius' opponents found his teaching too close to the heresy of

    Nestorian Schism, when churches supportive of Nestorius and the rest of the Christian Church separated. However, this formulation was never adopted by all churches termed 'Nestorian'. Indeed, the modern Assyrian Church of the East, which reveres Nestorius, does not fully subscribe to Nestorian doctrine, though it does not employ the title Theotokos.[23]

    Nestorian Schism

    Main article:
    Nestorian Schism

    Nestorianism became a distinct sect following the

    Nestorian Schism, beginning in the 430s. Nestorius had come under fire from Western theologians, most notably Cyril of Alexandria. Cyril had both theological and political reasons for attacking Nestorius; on top of feeling that Nestorianism was an error against true belief, he also wanted to denigrate the head of a competing patriarchate.[citation needed] Cyril and Nestorius asked Pope Celestine I to weigh in on the matter. Celestine found that the title Theotokos[19] was orthodox, and authorized Cyril to ask Nestorius to recant. Cyril, however, used the opportunity to further attack Nestorius, who pleaded with Emperor Theodosius II to call a council so that all grievances could be aired.[23]

    In 431 Theodosius called the Council of Ephesus. However, the council ultimately sided with Cyril, who held that the Christ contained two natures in one divine person (hypostasis, unity of subsistence), and that the Virgin Mary, conceiving and bearing this divine person, is truly called the Mother of God (Theotokos). The council accused Nestorius of heresy, and deposed him as patriarch.[24] Upon returning to his monastery in 436, he was banished to Upper Egypt. Nestorianism was officially anathematized, a ruling reiterated at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. However, a number of churches, particularly those associated with the School of Edessa, supported Nestorius – though not necessarily his doctrine – and broke with the churches of the West. Many of Nestorius' supporters relocated to the Sasanian Empire of Iran, home to a vibrant but persecuted Christian minority.[25] In Upper Egypt, Nestorius wrote his Book of Heraclides, responding to the two councils at Ephesus (431, 449).[18]

    Christian denomination tree

    Major denominational families in Christianity:
    This box:
    Schism (1552)
    (16th century)
    (11th century)
    (Not shown are ante-Nicene, nontrinitarian, and restorationist denominations.)

    Church of the East

    Main article:
    Ancient Christianity in the Indian Subcontinent
    The Daqin Pagoda, controversially claimed to be part of an early Nestorian church in what was then Chang'an, now Xi'an, China, built during the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907)
    Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, with a female figure dressed in a Tang dynasty costume, AD 683–770
    Yuan Dynasty
    (AD 1271–1368) of medieval China
    Epitaph of a Nestorian, unearthed at Chifeng, Inner Mongolia

    The western provinces of the

    Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451). The Persian Church became increasingly opposed to doctrines promoted by those councils, thus furthering the divide between Chalcedonian and Persian currents.[6]

    In 486, the Metropolitan

    Babai (497–502) reiterated and expanded upon the church's esteem for Theodore of Mopsuestia
    .

    Now firmly established in Persia, with centers in Nisibis, Ctesiphon, and Gundeshapur, and several metropoleis, the Persian Church began to branch out beyond the Sasanian Empire. However, through the sixth century, the church was frequently beset with internal strife and persecution by Zoroastrians. The infighting led to a schism, which lasted from 521 until around 539 when the issues were resolved. However, immediately afterward Roman-Persian conflict led to the persecution of the church by the Sassanid emperor Khosrow I; this ended in 545. The church survived these trials under the guidance of Patriarch Aba I, who had converted to Christianity from Zoroastrianism.[25]

    The church emerged stronger after this period of ordeal, and increased missionary efforts farther afield. Missionaries established dioceses in the Arabian Peninsula and India (the Saint Thomas Christians). They made some advances in Egypt, despite the strong Miaphysite presence there.[26] Missionaries entered Central Asia and had significant success converting local Turkic tribes.

    The Anuradhapura Cross discovered in Sri Lanka strongly suggests a strong presence of Nestorian Christianity in Sri Lanka during the 6th century AD according to Humphrey Codrington, who based his claim on a 6th-century manuscript, Christian Topography, that mentions of a community of Persian Christians who were known to reside in Taprobanê (the Ancient Greek name for Sri Lanka).[27][28][29]

    Nestorian missionaries were firmly established in China during the early part of the

    Jesus Sutras are said to be connected with Alopen.[30]

    Following the

    disputed – discuss
    ]

    Assyrian Church of the East

    West Azerbaijan Province, Iran

    In a 1996 article published in the

    John Paul II and Mar Dinkha IV underlines the Chalcedonian Christological formulation as the expression of the common faith of these Churches and recognizes the legitimacy of the title Theotokos."[31]

    In a 2017 paper,

    Mar Awa Royel, Bishop of the Assyrian Church, stated the position of that church: "After the Council of Ephesus (431), when Nestorius the patriarch of Constantinople was condemned for his views on the unity of the Godhead and the humanity in Christ, the Church of the East was branded as 'Nestorian' on account of its refusal to anathematize the patriarch."[32]

    Several historical records suggest that the Assyrian Church of the East may have been in Sri Lanka between the mid-5th and 6th centuries.[27][28][29]

    Modern discourse

    The accusations of Nestorianism have been used in contemporary theological discourse. One notable example is the case of John MacArthur, as he has asserted that when Mary gave birth to Jesus, she did not give birth to God, but rather gave birth to Jesus in his humanity and that "it’s heretical to call the blood of Jesus Christ the blood of God."[33][34] These statements have been critiqued as resembling Nestorianism by other Christians.[35][36]

    See also

    References

    1. ^ Brock 2006, p. 177.
    2. ^ Baum & Winkler 2003, p. 4.
    3. ^ "Nestorianism". Oxford English Dictionary.
    4. ^ Chesnut 1978, pp. 392–409.
    5. ^ a b Burgess 1989, pp. 90, 229, 231.
    6. ^ a b c Meyendorff 1989.
    7. ^ Brock 1999, pp. 281–298.
    8. ^ Brock 2006.
    9. ^ Baum & Winkler 2003, pp. 3–5.
    10. ^ Baum & Winkler 2003, pp. 4–5.
    11. ^ Brock 1996, pp. 23–35.
    12. ^ Seleznyov 2010, pp. 165–190.
    13. ^
      ISBN 978-83-233-9555-3 – via Google Books
      .
    14. ^ Kleinbauer, W. Eugene (September 1972). "Zvartnots and the Origins of Christian Architecture in Armenia". The Art Bulletin. Vol. 54, no. 3. p. 261.
    15. ISBN 978-1-60833-146-8 – via Google Books
      .
    16. ^ Hogan. Dissent from the Creed. pp. 123–125.
    17. ^ Martin Lembke, lecture in the course "Meetings with the World's Religions", Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, Spring Term 2010.
    18. ^ a b Hodgson & Driver 1925.
    19. ^
      doi:10.4314/actat.v32i2.1
      . Retrieved 2019-10-22.
    20. ISBN 978-1-85538-417-0
      .
    21. S2CID 171352591
      . Retrieved September 7, 2022.
    22. ^ Bentley, Jerry (1993). Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 105.
    23. ^ a b "Nestorius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
    24. ^ "Cyril of Alexandria, Third Epistle to Nestorius, with 'Twelve Anathemas'". Monachos.net. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008.
    25. ^ a b c "Nestorianism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
    26. ISBN 978-0-664-25650-0 – via Google Books
      .
    27. ^ a b "Mar Aprem Metropolitan Visits Ancient Anuradhapura Cross in Official Trip to Sri Lanka". Assyrian Church News. Archived from the original on 2015-02-26. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
    28. ^ a b Weerakoon, Rajitha (June 26, 2011). "Did Christianity exist in ancient Sri Lanka?". Sunday Times. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
    29. ^ a b "Main interest". Daily News. 22 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2015-03-29. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
    30. ISBN 1-56975-522-1 – via Google Books
      .
    31. ^ "Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East". Retrieved 8 February 2020.
    32. ^ "The Assyrian Church of the East: A Panoramic View of a Glorious History- Mar Awa Royel". Church of Beth Kokheh Journal. 2017-10-04. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
    33. ^ MacArthur, John (1987-01-01). "The Blood of Christ". Grace to You.
    34. ^ MacArthur, John (2006-04-02). "Exposing the Idolatry of Mary Worship: An Overview". Grace to You.
    35. ^ Horn, Trent (2024-08-14). ""Mary is NOT the Mother of God" REBUTTED". Catholic Answers.
    36. ^ Hymers, Robert (2005-07-23). "DR. MACARTHUR AND THE BLOOD OF GOD". Sermons For the World.

    Sources

    Wikisource has several original texts related to Nestorianism.
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nestorianism&oldid=1283570845"