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The Times (London), UK
November 1, 2014 Saturday
After 15 centuries, churches find the words to end split on nature of Christ
by Oliver Moody
For more than 1,500 years, a theological row has festered to become
one of the biggest and bitterest schisms in Christian history.
While the two wings of the faith may never be fully reconciled - it is
hard to persuade bishops to give up a good schism - a document has
been drawn up that brings together the Anglican Communion and its
counterparts in the Middle East in an agreement on the nature of
Christ.
Fifty years of negotiations in venues from Cairo to Woking have
resulted in a statement that could begin to heal centuries of wounds
around the heart of Christianity.
Diarmaid MacCulloch, the professor of the history of the Church at
Oxford, said the accord between the Anglicans and the Eastern Orthodox
churches was historic.
The Orthodox bishops represent a group of churches, including the
Copts, the Armenians and the Syrians, that broke away from the rest of
Christianity after an esoteric but ferocious battle over the mixture
of humanity and divinity in Jesus at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Often called the Miaphysites because of their belief that Christ had
one nature, the churches' remnants face persecution throughout the
Middle East today, in particular at the hands of Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
"For Anglicans to come to a common understanding about this mad
mystery is really significant. It's a delight that there's these two
sides coming together. It is, tragically, almost too late, because so
many of these churches are being destroyed by Isis now."
Theologians are fond of characterising the original dispute as a
wrangle over language so recondite that, in the words of one, "it robs
the man in the pew of not one of his forty winks during the sermon,
and outside the universities is greeted with an 'Er, what?'". The main
sticking point at Chalcedon was how Christ could be both man and God.
Was he one person, or two? The bishops hammered out a compromise that
Jesus was one being "in two natures" but the Oriental Orthodox held
out for "of or from two natures" and then left in disgust. The
churches have arrived at a solution where neither side loses face:
Christ has "one incarnate nature" that contains "two natures,
distinguished in thought alone". The delicate architecture of the
agreement involves words such as "hypostatic", "commingling" and
"Eutychianism" as well as gobbets of Patristic Greek, but even if the
text is baffling, the symbolism is potent.
"The terminology of the agreement may seem obscure to many readers,"
said the Rev Canon Jeremy Worthen, secretary for ecumenical relations
and theology to the Church of England. "But its central concern is to
speak truthfully about Jesus Christ as the son of God who became
incarnate for our salvation." Andrew Davison, Stanbridge lecturer in
theology and natural sciences at Cambridge, said there was still some
way to go before the churches ratified the document, but the auguries
were good.
November 1, 2014 Saturday
After 15 centuries, churches find the words to end split on nature of Christ
by Oliver Moody
For more than 1,500 years, a theological row has festered to become
one of the biggest and bitterest schisms in Christian history.
While the two wings of the faith may never be fully reconciled - it is
hard to persuade bishops to give up a good schism - a document has
been drawn up that brings together the Anglican Communion and its
counterparts in the Middle East in an agreement on the nature of
Christ.
Fifty years of negotiations in venues from Cairo to Woking have
resulted in a statement that could begin to heal centuries of wounds
around the heart of Christianity.
Diarmaid MacCulloch, the professor of the history of the Church at
Oxford, said the accord between the Anglicans and the Eastern Orthodox
churches was historic.
The Orthodox bishops represent a group of churches, including the
Copts, the Armenians and the Syrians, that broke away from the rest of
Christianity after an esoteric but ferocious battle over the mixture
of humanity and divinity in Jesus at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Often called the Miaphysites because of their belief that Christ had
one nature, the churches' remnants face persecution throughout the
Middle East today, in particular at the hands of Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
"For Anglicans to come to a common understanding about this mad
mystery is really significant. It's a delight that there's these two
sides coming together. It is, tragically, almost too late, because so
many of these churches are being destroyed by Isis now."
Theologians are fond of characterising the original dispute as a
wrangle over language so recondite that, in the words of one, "it robs
the man in the pew of not one of his forty winks during the sermon,
and outside the universities is greeted with an 'Er, what?'". The main
sticking point at Chalcedon was how Christ could be both man and God.
Was he one person, or two? The bishops hammered out a compromise that
Jesus was one being "in two natures" but the Oriental Orthodox held
out for "of or from two natures" and then left in disgust. The
churches have arrived at a solution where neither side loses face:
Christ has "one incarnate nature" that contains "two natures,
distinguished in thought alone". The delicate architecture of the
agreement involves words such as "hypostatic", "commingling" and
"Eutychianism" as well as gobbets of Patristic Greek, but even if the
text is baffling, the symbolism is potent.
"The terminology of the agreement may seem obscure to many readers,"
said the Rev Canon Jeremy Worthen, secretary for ecumenical relations
and theology to the Church of England. "But its central concern is to
speak truthfully about Jesus Christ as the son of God who became
incarnate for our salvation." Andrew Davison, Stanbridge lecturer in
theology and natural sciences at Cambridge, said there was still some
way to go before the churches ratified the document, but the auguries
were good.