Creed of Chalcedony
The Chalcedony Confession or Chalcedonense was decided in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon and established the doctrine of the two natures of Christ . The divine and human nature ( physis ) of Christ were understood to be united in one hypostasis (Latin persona ). The Monophysitism of the Oriental Orthodox Churches , Arianism and Nestorianism were thus rejected.
The Chalcedony Confession remained controversial for a long time, however, as several Roman emperors wanted to keep the Egyptian Monophysites in the empire. It was not until 681, at the Third Council of Constantinople , that the Chalcedony was finally adopted.
The Chalcedony Confession in AD 451
“So we follow the holy fathers and unanimously teach all to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The same is perfect in Godhead and the same perfect in humanity, the same really God and really man of a rational soul and body. He is of the same nature as the Father according to Godhead, and he is of the same nature as us according to humanity, similar to us in every way except sin. Before all time he was begotten from the Father according to Godhead, but in the last days he was born for our sake and our salvation from the Virgin and the Mother of God according to humanity.
[We confess] one and the same Christ, the Son, the Lord, the only-born, who is revealed in two natures, unmixed, transformed, undivided, undivided. The distinction of natures is by no means abolished by union; rather, the peculiarity of every nature is preserved, and both unite to form a person and a hypostasis.
[We confess] not one divided or separated into two persons, but one and the same only-born Son, the divine Logos (= Word), the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets of old taught us about him and [then] Jesus Christ himself as the creed of the fathers handed down to us. "
Theological meaning
The debate ended with the question of how it was possible that Jesus was both man and God. The Chalcedonese determined the relationship of the two natures in the one person with four negations, which should exclude that it is a mixture or gradual approximation ("demigod and superman"). This confirms and deepens the christological statements of the previous councils. As a much-cited concentrate, the four catchwords are unmixed , unaltered , unseparated and unseparated .
- The word 'unmixed' goes against the Arian view that the two natures of Christ have mixed and something completely new has arisen. This attitude was rejected because in this view Jesus would basically neither be God nor man, but something third.
- The attribute 'transformed' contradicts the Monophysites, who claimed that God, when he became man, absorbed and transformed human nature. In this case, only the divine nature would ultimately remain, since it dissolves the human nature.
- The words 'unseparated' and 'unseparated' stand against the Nestorians. Although they believed that Jesus must have had two natures, they considered these to be strictly separate from one another. That would give you the seemingly schizophrenic situation of a Jesus with two different personalities.
Beyond the negative boundaries, Chalcedonese was unable to describe the relationship between the two natures of Jesus Christ more precisely.
literature
- H. Denzinger, Enchiridion, 1967, 34th edition, No. 301f; Ed. Hans Steubing, Confessions of the Church, 2nd paperback edition, Wuppertal: R. Brockhaus, 1997, p. 27.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer : Christology Lecture. In: Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Werke 12 , Berlin 1923–1933; Chr. Kaiser, Gütersloh 1997, pp. 311–340.