Everything about Miaphysitism totally explained
Miaphysitism (sometimes called
henophysitism) is the
christology of the
Oriental Orthodox Churches. Miaphysitism holds that in the one person of
Jesus Christ, Divinity and Humanity are united in one "nature" ("
physis"), the two being united without separation, without confusion, and without alteration. This is very similar to the proposition of
dualism, where the mind and body are thought to be separate entities that combine to make one unit, the person. In the case of miaphysitism, the separate entities are Jesus' divine and human traits.
Miaphysitism has often been considered by
Chalcedonian Christians to be a form of
monophysitism, but the Oriental Orthodox Churches themselves reject this characterization, a position which the
Eastern Orthodox and
Roman Catholic Churches have begun to take more seriously.
History
The term "miaphysitism" arose as a response to
Nestorianism. As Nestorianism had its roots in the
Antiochene tradition and was opposed by the
Alexandrian tradition, Christians in Syria and Egypt who wanted to distance themselves from the extremes of Nestorianism and wished to uphold the integrity of their theological position adopted this term to express their position.
The theology of miaphysitism is based on an understanding of the nature (
Greek φύσις
physis) of
Christ: divine and human. After steering between the
heresies of
docetism (that Christ only appeared to be human) and
adoptionism (that Christ was a man chosen by God), the Church began to explore the mystery of Christ's nature further. Having agreed that Christ is both divine and human, the first difficulty was Nestorianism, which was perceived as stressing the two natures of Christ to such an extent that it appeared, to opponents, that two persons were living in the same body. Nestorianism taught that Christ's humanity but not His divinity was born of the Virgin Mary.
The reaction to this was
monophysitism, which stressed that Christ has but one single nature where the divine consumed the human as the ocean consumes a drop of vinegar. This was called
Eutychianism. Both of these positions were seen as heretical, but the church remained divided on how best to formulate a response to these.
Cyril of Alexandria's works were the basis of the stance of miaphysitism. He spoke of the "one (
mia) nature of the Word of God incarnate" (μία φύσις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρκωμένη
mia physis tou theou logou sesarkōmenē) and a "union according to
hypostasis" (ἕνωσις καθ' ὑπόστασιν
henōsis kath' hypostasin), or
hypostatic union. The distinction of this stance was that the incarnate Christ has one nature, but that nature is
of the two natures, divine and human, and retains all the characteristics of both. However, opponents of those who took this stance regarded it as nothing more than
monophysitism. The alternative response, which eventually became Byzantine dogma, was
dyophysitism. This states that Christ has two natures, but emphasizes that they're not separated: Christ is fully one person (ὑπόστασις
hypostasis). The miaphysites regarded this as verging on
Nestorianism.
The
Council of Chalcedon (
451) is often seen as a watershed for
Christology, as it adopted
dyophysitism. However, as large portions of the Church in Syria and Egypt, who held to miaphysitism, rejected the decision, the controversy became a major socio-political problem for the
Byzantine Empire. There were numerous attempts at reunion between the two camps (including the
Henoticon in
482), and the balance of power shifted several times. However, the decision at Chalcedon remains the official teaching of the
Eastern Orthodox Church, the
Roman Catholic Church and traditional
Protestants. The non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches are usually grouped together as
Oriental Orthodox. Over recent decades, leaders of the various branches of the Church have spoken about the differences between their respective christologies as not being as extreme as was traditionally held.
Much has been said about the difficulties in understanding the Greek technical terms used in these controversies. The main words are
ousia (οὐσία, 'essence'),
physis (φύσις, 'nature'),
hypostasis (ὑπόστασις, 'concrete reality/person') and
prosopon (πρόσωπον, 'mask/person'). Even in Greek, their meanings can overlap somewhat. These difficulties became even more exaggerated when these technical terms were translated into other languages. In
Syriac,
physis was translated as
kyānâ (
ܟܝܢܐ) and
hypostasis was
qnômâ (
ܩܢܘܡܐ). However, In the Persian Church, or the East Syriac tradition, qnoma was taken to mean nature, thereby confounding the issue furthermore. The shades of meaning are even more blurred between these words, and they couldn't be used in such a philosophical way as their Greek counterparts. Hence, some have suggested that miaphysitism came about due to a grounding of language in the fact that someone's person and nature are a verisimilitude.
Miaphysite churches
As stated, the Churches of the
Oriental Orthodox Communion, while sometimes called monophysite, vehemently reject that label. These include the
Armenian Apostolic Church, the
Syrian Orthodox Church, the
Indian Orthodox Church, the
Coptic Orthodox Church (including the British Orthodox Church which is under the Patriarch of Alexandria), the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ('tewahido' is a
Ge'ez word meaning 'being made one') and the newly
autocephalous Eritrean Orthodox Church.
One or more of the
Independent Catholic Churches, while not being in full communion with the above Churches for various reasons, also embrace this Christology. These include the
Antiochian Catholic Church in America. In recent theological discourses, some Eastern Orthodox,
Old-Catholic and
Anglican theologians have begun to embrace this Christology as being consistent with, though different from, the Chalcedon formulation.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Miaphysitism'.
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