Council of Chalcedon (451 AD)
❦
Background
Ephesus left an open question. Eutyches, a monk in Constantinople, in opposing Nestorius went to the opposite extreme: after the incarnation, he taught, Christ's humanity was absorbed into the divinity like a drop of honey in the sea. This is Eutychianism, an extreme form of what later came to be called Monophysitism ("one nature"). In 449 a council at Ephesus, led by Dioscorus of Alexandria, vindicated Eutyches by force. Pope Leo called it the "Robber Synod" (latrocinium) [6].
The Council
After Emperor Theodosius II died, his successors Marcian and Pulcheria called a new council. Some 500 or more bishops met at Chalcedon, across the water from Constantinople, in 451. Pope Leo I's letter, the Tome, was read and acclaimed: "Peter has spoken through Leo," the bishops reportedly cried. Dioscorus was deposed [6].
What Was Decided
The Definition of Chalcedon confesses one and the same Christ, the Son, Lord, Only-begotten, "made known in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation." The difference of the natures is never removed by the union; rather, the property of each is preserved and comes together in one person and one hypostasis. This teaching is called the Hypostatic Union [6].
The four negative adverbs form a fence:
| Phrase | Guards against |
| Without confusion | Mixing the natures into a third thing |
| Without change | Divinity turning into humanity, or the reverse |
| Without division | Treating Christ as two persons (Nestorius) |
| Without separation | Imagining the natures could operate apart |
Canon 28 gave Constantinople equal privileges with Old Rome, which Rome refused to accept at the time [6].
Scripture Behind the Decision
- Fully divine. "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30).
- Fully human. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
- One mediator. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).
- Humility without loss of deity. Christ "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:6-7).
Aftermath
Chalcedon split the Christian East. The Oriental Orthodox churches (Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Malankara) rejected it, and their descendants hold that the dispute was partly one of vocabulary. Modern joint declarations between Chalcedonian and Oriental Orthodox leaders have said they confess the same faith in different terms, though full communion has not been restored [7].
CHAPTER 5