Meet the Oriental Orthodox Christians and Their Controversial Christology

Taylormarshall.com ^ | March 18, 2015 | Dr Taylor Marshall

[NYer]

On planet earth there are about 70 million Orthodox Christians that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church (centered at Rome) or with the Eastern Orthodox (centered at Constantinople). These are the Oriental Orthodox Christians. They have all seven sacraments, revere the Mother of God and the saints, have a valid Eucharist, pray for the faithful departed, and have preserved a valid line of apostolic succession.

Armenian Christians in the Miaphysite Tradition

These Oriental Orthodox Christians do not accept the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451 which dogmatically defined that Christ is one divine Person with two natures (divine and human).

Meet the Miaphysites

The Non-Chalcedonian Oriental Orthodox Christians rejected this Council because Saint Cyril of Alexandria spoke of one nature (Greek: mia physis) in the incarnate Christ. These Non-Chalcedonian Christians rejected the Council of Chalcedon on grounds that a great saint and doctor of the Church, Saint Cyril, spoke of “one nature” or “mia physis.” According to them, how then could the Council teach “two natures”?

Coptic Orthodox celebrating their Divine Liturgy of Saint James

 

The Six Oriental Orthodox Churches

An Ethiopian Orthodox monk at prayer

The Non-Chalcedonian “Miaphysite” Christian Churches are the:

1. Armenian Apostolic Church
2. Syriac Orthodox Church
3. Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India
4. Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt
5. Ethiopian Orthodox Church
6. Eritrean Orthodox Church

The Oriental Orthodox Communion of Churches

This communion of Oriental Orthodox Churches are called by the following terms:

• Oriental Orthodox (to distinguish them from the Eastern Orthodox)
• Non-Chalcedonian (since they do not receive the Council of Chalcedon as do Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox)
• Jacobites (after Jacob Baradaeus, the Miaphysite Bishop of Edessa who died in AD 578)
• Miaphysites (in honor of the term used by Saint Cyril: mia physis or “one nature”)
• Monophysites (a pejorative term rejected by the Oriental Orthodox Church – they prefer the term Miaphysite)

The Big Debate Over Ek or En “Two Natures”

The big debate between Non-Chalcedonian Miaphysites on one hand, and Chalcedonian Catholics and Eastern Orthodox on the other, centers on the use of terms in Greek:

• The Non-Chalcedonians insist on Saint Cyril’s phrase “mia physis” (one nature) and the formulation that the incarnate Christ is “ek duo physeon” (out of two natures).
• The Chalcedonians (Rome and Constantinople) allow for Saint Cyril’s phrase “mia physis” (we must accept it, because it comes from a sainted champion of orthodoxy!) but prefer the formulation that the incarnate Christ is “en duo physesin” (in two natures).

It is important to note that Non-Chalcedonians reject the heretic Eutyches and also rightly believe that Christ is consubstantial with the Father and consubstantial with humanity. It seems that the heretic Eutyches condemned by the Council of Chalcedon did not profess that Christ was consubstantial with the rest of humanity. This is bad, bad theology because if Christ does not share our nature, He cannot save us or lift us up.

Saint John Paul II Forges a Way Toward Union

Pope Saint John Paul II signed accords with the Coptic Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox (both miaphysite) recognizing that their Christology is currently sound and orthodox – fully in accord with Roman Catholic Christology. The Catholic Church recognizes that the debate was essentially linguistic and political and it’s worth nothing that ALL the miaphysite churches belong to the Eastern Provinces of Byzantium and were non-Greek speaking nations. Hence, there is little separating the Oriental Orthodox from joining into full communion with the Successor of Saint Peter in Rome.

With the recent martyrdom of the 21 Coptic Martyrs and persecution of Syrian Christians, let’s pray for a reunion of all followers of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

I put together a free worksheet about Coptic Christians which you can download here:

Click Here to Download the 1 page Coptic Report pdf

Note: Saint Cyril of Alexandria wrote against the Nestorians saying: “one (mia) nature of the Word of God incarnate” (μία φύσις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρκωμένη mía phýsis toû theoû lógou sesarkōménē). Although Chalcedon taught “two natures” there must always be a way to preserve Saint Cyril’s “one nature” formulation. See John McGuckin (2004), Saint Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy, ISBN 0-88141-259-7 p. 140.

[NYer]

Ping!

[blam]

I thought ‘Oriental’ was now a racist word?

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Wow! Their costumes are even more ornate and beautiful than the Roman denomination. Stunning.

[MeganC]

I thought ‘Oriental’ was now a racist word?

Yep, They're all disoriented these days.

[JoeFromSidney]

On my first Sunday in Turkey I needed to go to Mass. My Department Chairman (a Muslim) had mistakenly directed me to the Greek Orthodox cathedral. When I got there I immediately realized that wasn't what I wanted. I looked around and found a place that looked "church-like" at the end of an alley. It had all the marks of a Catholic church (stations of the Cross, statues of the saint, etc.) but nothing to tell what it was. While I was standing there wondering what to do, a tour group came in. One of the tourists asked me something in English, which I was able to answer for him I then asked what this place was. He told me it was an Armenian Catholic church. I decided I might as well stick around and see if they had a Mass, which they did.

The next Sunday I found the church I should have been at, one run by an order of Italian monks.

[NYer]

He told me it was an Armenian Catholic church.

Beautiful!! I am a Roman Catholic but practice my faith in a Maronite Catholic Church. As a former pastor phrased it to another RC: "same faith, different flavor".

[Viennacon]

Bless these men and women who currently live in perilous times in many parts of the world.

[chajin]

"I thought ‘Oriental’ was now a racist word?"
Yep, They're all disoriented these days.

The word choice was no occident.

[Mike Darancette]

God bless our brothers in Christ.

[Kolokotronis]

As a matter of economia, the Oriental Orthodox can receive all of the sacraments of the Orthodox Churches as we can from them in the absence of one of their churches or one of ours as the case may be. This has been true for decades. In my parish, the Ethiopian contingent as well as the Armenians are very active members.

[Kolokotronis]

The church you were in was likely an “Armenian Catholic Church” not an Oriental Orthodox one.

[darkangel82]

LOL!

[piusv]

Pope Saint John Paul II signed accords with the Coptic Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox (both miaphysite) recognizing that their Christology is currently sound and orthodox – fully in accord with Roman Catholic Christology. The Catholic Church recognizes that the debate was essentially linguistic and political and it’s worth nothing that ALL the miaphysite churches belong to the Eastern Provinces of Byzantium and were non-Greek speaking nations. Hence, there is little separating the Oriental Orthodox from joining into full communion with the Successor of Saint Peter in Rome.

And I should believe and trust a man who kissed the Koran, asked St John Baptist to protect Islam, and prayed with heretics and schimatics?

I'm more likely to buy that Brooklyn Bridge.

[mosesdapoet]

Thanks; Knew they were participants following in the line of apostolic sucession but not why or how . In this day of ecumenicism because they are. Our hymnals should be borrowing songs from their traditions and observances not from the Shakers, Baptists, and other groups which don’t even believe in the mass.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks. I had never before thought about Jesus Christ being "consubstantial," homoousios, -- one in being? --- with humanity.

All that is way beyond me. Athanasian Creed, Chalcedonian Christology ---I'm just way out of my depth.

[JoeFromSidney]

Yes, it was.

[Dajjal]

bumpus ad summum