The Council of Chalcedon: A Historical and Doctrinal Survey - Report Example

Christology The Third grand council known as the Ecumenical council was held, in such councils all the theological experts and religious scholars gather together to decide about the teachings of Christianity or other religious teachings and concept. These leaders gather together to discus and then vote upon a certain agreement so that the decision that is then taken can be then delivered to the whole of the Christian world so that they are unanimously agreed upon a certain decision. These councils are held if any controversial topic comes up or some scholar has a different point or opinion about a certain matter. This council helps prevent any duplicity or double standards in the religion. The third Ecumenical council is also famously known as the First Council of Ephesus. It was held in 431 at the Church of Mary in the region of Asia Minor. The sole reason that this council was called was that the patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius. There was a serious conflict with the teachings of Nestorius and the doctrine of Christianity. The conflict was based on the teachings, rest of the clerics considered Nestorius’s teachings as wrong and not in accordance with the true doctrine of Christianity. His teachings were based on the fact that the personality of the Christ was not a single one but it comprised of two loosely linked personalities, one of them was divine the other was the normal human personality. His teachings emphasized on the fact that there existed disunity among the two natures of Jesus Christ. This was the main source of conflict, because of which the council was called, the other senior patriarch considered him as a traitor and then wanted him punished and taken off from the high rank that he had. The main point of conflict existed between Nestorius and the senior and most notable patriarch of Alexandria. According to the teachings of Nestorius Mary was not a god bearer and this is what caused the conflict, because his refusal that Mary was not a god bearer was considered as blasphemous. He was at first condemned but then he requested the leader at that time to hold a council so that he can present his justifications about the claims that he was making. The claim was not justified properly. Nestorius had hoped that he would be able to get hold of majority decision on his teaching and would then be able to prove his orthodoxy, but then the council again condemned his teachings and he was then sentenced. He had failed to achieve what he intended from the conference. The end result of the whole council meeting was that Mary was the God bearer and his teachings were not correct. The whole issue had then turned into a conflict between Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria and the Nestorius, who was the patriarch of Constantinople. The matter was then referred to The Pope Celestine I, who had the same thoughts and point of view about the whole situation as Cyril, and he then authorized Cyril to make Nestorius either recant his teachings and accept the fact that his teachings are wrong and the whole concept that he had developed about the personality of Jesus Christ and Mary should be renounced and he then should declare himself as in the wrong otherwise he would have to face the consequences or the punishment that would have been decided by the council. Once this happened, there was no way out for the Nestorius. He then sought the help of the Eastern Roman Emperor, he had hoped that he would not be punished and he would then be able to prove his teachings as the right ones and then prove Cyril wrong and have him punished instead. When this meeting took place, there were in total 250 people present who either belonged to religious backgrounds or had some other rankings. During this meeting a serious kind of conflict developed between the Roman Emperor Theodosius and Cyril. The council carried on for a very long time even then the arguments that were presented by Cyril were overall considered as more orthodox and genuine then the ones that were presented by Nestorius. He was then outclassed by all on all fronts and then therefore he had no other way but to forfeit his own teachings, there were some people who had begun to believe in his teachings and they then began to practice this belief in privacy and there were no spreading of this belief. He himself went into hiding and retired to his monastery, there he continued exert upon the fact that whatever he had been preaching was the right thing and continued to emphasize on his own orthodoxy. If the history is analyzed then we would then discover that there was always personal antagonism between the two. The conflict that arose was more because of their own personal rivalry. This issue was then ballooned and blown out of proportion Leo the great is one of the greatest saints of all times, he is famously known as the Doctor of Unification of Church mainly because he handled Attila the barbarian single-handedly. This attribute of his was rarely was seen in his time. He help in uplifting of the Church, his contributions even after his death so long back are remembered and are the reason for immortality. His works have been written down in golden words in the history of Christianity. It was due to his efforts that Saint Peter and the pope after him were able to stand up against all those who went against his church. He not only was a writer but established himself as role model and his whole life is an example of humanity, kindness and gratitude. It was during his time Rome was plundered, burned, sacked was facing so many wars, plagued with diseases and famines. He stood up against all odds and showed steadfastness and trust in God. It is because of which he is remembered as the great and has been called the universal doctor. His remedies for all the problems were so effective and he helped in keeping the people on the right path and remains loyal to their religion and their god. He reigned as the Pope for approximately twenty-one years and helped all the Africans who were struck with famine and diseases. In this darkest hour he assisted and preached people to stay put and serve humanity in any way the y could Penney, 2001). One of his greatest contributions is the unification of the doctrine of Christianity for he wanted all the churches around the globe to have a similar pattern. It was after him we had another pope who came to be known as the great. Leo the great had all the qualities men of god have. He was obedient, courageous, confident, filled with wisdom and experienced. He held various other offices if the church before finally being made the pope. His greatest achievement was the way he tackled Attila the Hun, who had come to molest Rome and plunder its citizens. This incident basically show the trust Leo had in god and the terror and fear which Attila felt when being approached by him and talked that he fled along with his men. This whole incident showing his true courage has been turned in to a painting which hangs over his grave in the St.Peter’s church. He believed that no matter what hell God will always protects the church and his followers. This is why when another miscreant barbarian Arian Vandal King came, Leo along with some of clergy men went to him unarmed with just the patience and love for Jesus and God. Though he was not able to stop them from looting and burning Rome but the people and citizens were all saved (Zacharias, 2006). There are 432 letters and ninety-six sermons, he was very famous for five minute sermons but all of his works are valuable asset for Christianity. He was the preacher of orthodoxy and tried to keep the Western church united under the supremacy of papal. He helped in augmenting the name of papacy by standing against the tribes who tried to plunder Rome. He helped in unification of the concept of divinity and human as one. He was rightly called the Doctor of Church and the first one to be named (Self, 2006). Cyril of Alexandria assumed the throne when Alexandria was at its highest and had a commanding position in the Roman Empire. His legacy has been a bit tarnished mainly because of his works on theology which has been misinterpreted and also because of the Christological controversies he was involved in. He during his time easily won over his enemies; he drove out the Jewish closed down his rival Christian churches. One of his works that makes him a controversial saint was his promotion of hate and in today’s time he might have been prosecuted for promotion of all the hate crimes. His contributions and reputation have been a bit distorted. He is one of the saints to be included in the father and doctors Church (Brown, 1991). He opposed the Nestorian Christianity and is considered as one the most important and influential theologian and is famous for twelve anathemas that he presented against the belief of Nestorius and his followers. It was because of him Nestorius was dethroned as the archbishop of Constantinople. He is famous amongst all the orthodox Christians and this is why he was named as the Seal of all Fathers. He was one of the best writers and his enemies and opponents couldn’t write anything that matched his eloquence and choice of words. He wrote the commentaries on the testament, and many exegeses which hare still an important part of documents for all the orthodox to there. Even after his death his books and written documents continued in fuelling the controversies. When he was made the pope there were many opposition mainly due to the difference between the churches of Constantinople and Alexandria n but in the end Cyril won over and Nestorius was exiled. His feast day is celebrated on the ninth June with great fervor by all the orthodox Christians. His opponents could never produce anything as eloquent and masterpieces that he had written and so he easily won over all his enemies. Cyril believed in immortality and transfiguration and said it was basically god who had transfigured in the form of Jesus. He is considered for the death of Hypatia a great astronomer and mathematician of his time. He had great conflicts and preached his beliefs and teachings considering it to be true and his basic thought which he advocated was that God had transfigured and was the embodiment of Jesus (Jalland, T., & Church Historical Society (Great Britain), 1941). Cyril faced great opposition from Jewish tribes residing theory and so expelled them after they killed many Christians. He was declared as a monster who was born to destroy the church and bring about the destruction by all his opponent saints and popes who had a conflict with his belief. He is also held responsible for the expulsion of the Novation’s but there is much confusion in accounts and so historians have difference of opinions. He was also termed as a proud pharaoh by the roman emperor. His legacy are his master pieces which he wrote and nothing equal to it have produced in all these years this why his works are central to traditions of the all the Orthodox. He is also considered as the father of the church and looked at with great esteem by the Orthodox. When we talk about Christology it is basically the study of concept of deity and human in one person that is Jesus Christ. The concept of one nature is that humanity and divinity can exist at the same time. Jesus had two personalities simultaneously one entirely God and the other entirely human, though people do contradict this concept saying that these are two different natures and not one. Christology attempts to answer this saying that these are not two natures but one. The argument presented is that human are basically in capable of being perfect and are immortal whereas god is firstly immortal and is the most perfect being who never commits any folly or mistake and has the power to do us anything (Clayton, 2007). The concept was one which was propagated by the orthodox and still is but nowadays we see this concept is once resurfacing and gaining momentum. It was this concept which resulted in the clash between different churches in the earlier ages mainly after Leo the great. This concept led to battles and expulsion of tribes and abdicating of thrones. The scriptures also present the concept of one nature and many saints have translated and commented on the verses saying that one nature is possible. They are of the opinion that God had transfigured into human and walked the streets as Jesus. The study of salvation also goes hand in hand with Christology. The orthodox believe that believing in one nature will also help you to gain salvation and bring you closer to Jesus. One more thing that comes when we talk about Christology is the concept of crucification of Jesus (Sellers, 1953) It is said that since there are no two nature then one other nature in the form of a person of Holy Trinity will have to sacrifice his life to reach salvation. The doctrine of salvation is also incorporated in Christology and we should know that it must be taught in all ages to remove secularism. It basically advocates that the divine side of the personality of Jesus has always been overshadowed and he has been treated as a mere human, though he was both. To keep all the concepts unified and to keep one doctrine for the church it was explained that that the whole story regarding the death of Jesus is a fabrication by the enemies of the religion. It is said that crucification is a sacrifice rather than it killed Jesus, he was the embodiment of God. It also explains the purpose of the cross which states that it basically absorbs in it all the negativity which surrounds you. Jesus was the perfection of morality he was sent down as a human to make them perfect steer them towards salvation and piety. It is said that Christology evolves with time and there will never be an end to it. The belief in Jesus is that it was basically shadow of God and one must have all their trust and grace for the exalted existence of him. The restoration of creation also is incorporated Christology along with believing in one nature. The purpose of sacrifice was the promise that the mankind will again be restored and this is yet to done. We should accept the humanity of Jesus but disregarding the divine and the deity he held is wrong he was both god and human simultaneously. REFERENCES Brown, S. F, Christianity (New York: Facts on File (1991) Wilkinson, P., & Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc, Christianity (New York: DK Pub 2003) Zacharias, G, Christianity (Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press/Thomson Gale 2006) Penney, S, Christianity (Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library 2001) Self, D, Christianity (Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library 2006) Sellers, R. V, The Council of Chalcedon: A historical and doctrinal survey ( London: S.P.C.K 1953).  Clayton, P. B, The Christology of Theodoret of Cyrus: Antiochene Christology from the Council of Ephesus (431) to the Council of Chalcedon (451) ( Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007) Jalland, T., & Church Historical Society (Great Britain), The life and times of St. Leo the Great (London: Society for promoting Christian knowledge 1941). Read More