Apollinaris of Laodicea

Apollinaris of Laodicea the Younger (also called Apollinar or Apollinarios , by the Latin authors: Apollinarius ; * around 315 in Laodikeia, † around 390 in Antioch) was Bishop of Laodicea ( Latakia , Latinized Laodicea) in Syria and the founder of Apollinarism .

Life and teaching

Apollinaris was a lecturer in the Church of Laodikeia when he was elected bishop by the Nicene Congregation around 361.

In the Arian dispute he supported the Nicene party, which turned against Arianism . When he gave hospitality to Athanasius of Alexandria , who was then exiled , he was excommunicated by the Arian counter-bishop George of Laodicea .

In his writings, Apollinarios defended Christianity against the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyrios and against the Roman emperor Julian , who had apostatized from Christianity. He was friends with Athanasius of Alexandria, was in correspondence with Basil of Caesarea and had 373 or 374 Jerome among his disciples.

In his writings he proved his extensive philosophical education, e.g. B. he rewrote a large part of the Bible in classical Greek form.

Apollinarios deviated from the Nicene doctrine in his monophysitism , according to which divinity and humanity could not be united in one person, Jesus Christ. He taught that Christ had no human soul, but was composed of the divine Logos and thus - analogous to the body-soul dualism of that time - also carnal purely divine. This conception was the prelude to the great christological dispute of the early church, which was only decided in 451 with the Council of Chalcedon in terms of the doctrine of two natures .

After his multiple condemnations by synods of the Church (375 and 382 in Rome , 378 in Antioch , 381 in Constantinople ) his writings were published under foreign names. Under the name of the revered Athanasius, they also came to Cyril of Alexandria , who unknowingly quoted from them and, against the Antiochene doctrine of two natures, derived expressions such as " an incarnate nature of the God-Logos".

literature

• Carl Andresen , Adolf Martin Ritter (ed.): Handbuch der Dogmen- und Theologiegeschichte , Volume 1. 2. Edition, Göttingen 1999, pp. 230–235.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Apollinaris of Laodicea. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 198-199.
• Silke-Petra Bergjan , Benjamin Gleede, Martin Heimgartner (eds.): Apollinarius and his consequences . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-16-153587-1 .
• Alessandro Capone : La polemica apollinarista alla fine del IV secolo: la lettera di Gregorio di Nissa a Teofilo di Alessandria . In: Volker Henning Drecoll , Margitta Berghaus (ed.): Gregory of Nyssa: The Minor Treatises on Trinitarian Theology and Apollinarism. Proceedings of the 11th International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa (Tübingen, September 17-20, 2008). Leiden 2011, pp. 499-517.
• Richard Goulet: Apollinaire de Laodicée . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 1, CNRS, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-222-04042-6 , pp. 268-270.
• Reinhard Huebner : The writing of the Apolinarius of Laodicea against Photin (Pseudo-Athanasius, contra Sabellianos) and Basilius of Caesarea . De Gruyter, Berlin 1989.
• Adolf Jülicher : Apollinarios . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Col. 2842-2844.
• Ekkehard Mühlenberg : Apollinaris of Laodicea (= research on churches and dogma history , vol. 23). Goettingen 1969.
• Kyriakos Savvidis: Apollinarios 3. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , column 855 f.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Schneemelcher, W .: Apollinarios von Laodicea . In: Religion Past and Present . 3. Edition. tape 1 . Mohr, Tübingen 1957, p. 474 f .
2. ^ Karl Heussi : Compendium of Church History . 16th edition JCB Mohr, Tübingen 1981, ISBN 3-16-141871-9 , p. 99.

Web links

• Literature by and about Apollinaris von Laodicea in the catalog of the German National Library