Pneumatics

In the history of dogma, the adherents of a theological trend that emerged in the 4th century are referred to as Pneumatomachen ( Greek "fighter of the Holy Spirit" ) . Although they accepted the essential identity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God with God the Father , which the first Ecumenical Council (Nicaea 325) had codified in its confession , they were not prepared to extend this teaching to the Holy Spirit as well.

The main representatives of the pneumatomachical direction were the Patriarch of Constantinople Makedonius I (which is why the followers are also called Macedonians ) and Eustathius von Sebaste , but the teaching was more or less explicitly to be found in a number of theologians of the Eastern Church of the 4th century, especially among the Homeusians .

The main opponent was Basil the Great , who tried to refute the Pneumatomachen argumentatively in his work On the Holy Spirit and thus gave decisive impulses to the formation of the Trinity dogma.

literature

• Wolf-Dieter Hauschild : Pneumatology in the old church . Lang, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-906768-73-2 .