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Introduction to the creed
stefanos
posted on May 09, 2007 - 02:40 PM
Alethos Anestee
You are correct that it was written by St. Cyril but St. Cyril had departed before the Council of Chalcedon.
When Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople, began teaching his heresies that Christ did not become God until after being born from St. Mary and that therefore we should not call St. Mary the Theotokos (birth-giver of God) but Christokos (birth-giver of Christ), St. Cyril, the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, wrote to him against his teachings. St. Cyril taught that the Word is and was God from the beginning and the Word became flesh in the womb of St. Mary. Therefore Christ in the womb of St. Mary and after the Nativity is True God and True Man, in a hypostatic union: one incarnate nature (miaphysis) of God the Logos, without confusion, alteration or separation. He also taught that St. Mary should be called the Theotokos.
After receiving a negative response from Nestorius, St. Cyril held a local council in Alexandria, in which the Introduction to the Creed was written by him: "We exalt you the Mother of the True Light. We glorify you O Saint the Theotokos...". Also at that council a synodical letter was sent to Nestorius clarifying his heresy again and concluding with the "Twelve Anathemas" against him.
Later in 431 AD, the Council of Ephesus was held and led by St. Cyril. To be brief it concluded with Nestorius being deposed and excommunicated by the 200 attending. It also reaffirmed St. Mary as the Theotokos. Its worth noting that it was from this council that bishops (and therefore some patriarchs) began wearing the Panagia (the medallion of St. Mary around there necks).
Please pray for me.
aguirguis
posted on May 09, 2007 - 03:12 PM
Stefanos,
Sorry to get off topic but you meantioned the "Twelve Anathemas"...do you mind elaborating on what they are and their origin etc...
PS on a side note, are their any good books that are easy to read that highlight what the councils are about and what they conclude etc...?
Andrew
stefanos
posted on May 09, 2007 - 03:53 PM
Andrew,
The twelve anathemas were written by St. Cyril against Nestorius and they accepted them at the 3rd Ecumenical Council of Ephesus. You can read them at this link. They basically highlight St. Cyril's teaching of the "One Incarnate Nature of God the Logos" (miaphysis tou theo tou logou sesarkomene).
http://www.monachos.net/library/Cyril_o ... athemas%27
You can read more about the Three Ecumenical Councils (and the other 4 accepted by the EO) at
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.html
It is not a quick read though and covers almost everything but with a Chalcedonion bias.
Stefanos
Biboboy
posted on May 09, 2007 - 04:11 PM
Christ is risen,
An excellent source on the Ecumenical Councils is The Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils by Norman P. Tanner.
And here's an alternative translation of the Twelve Anathemas:
1. If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth, and therefore that the holy Virgin is the Mother of God, for she bore in a fleshly way the Word of God become flesh, let him be anathema.
2. If anyone does not confess that the Word from God the Father has been united by hypostasis with the flesh and is one Christ with his own flesh, and is therefore God and man together, let him be anathema.
3. If anyone divides in the one Christ the hypostases after the union, joining them only by a conjunction of dignity or authority or power, and not rather by a coming together in a union by nature, let him be anathema.
4. If anyone distributes between the two persons or hypostases the expressions used either in the gospels or in the apostolic writings, whether they are used by the holy writers of Christ or by him about himself, and ascribes some to him as to a man, thought of separately from the Word from God, and others, as befitting God, to him as to the Word from God the Father, let him be anathema.
5. If anyone dares to say that Christ was a God-bearing man and not rather God in truth, being by nature one Son, even as "the Word became flesh", and is made partaker of blood and flesh precisely like us, let him be anathema.
6. If anyone says that the Word from God the Father was the God or master of Christ, and does not rather confess the same both God and man, the Word having become flesh, according to the scriptures, let him be anathema.
7. If anyone says that as man Jesus was activated by the Word of God and was clothed with the glory of the Only-begotten, as a being separate from him, let him be anathema.
8. If anyone dares to say that the man who was assumed ought to be worshipped and glorified together with the divine Word and be called God along with him, while being separate from him, (for the addition of "with" must always compel us to think in this way), and will not rather worship Emmanuel with one veneration and send up to him one doxology, even as "the Word became flesh", let him be anathema.
9. If anyone says that the one Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by the Spirit, as making use of an alien power that worked through him and as having received from him the power to master unclean spirits and to work divine wonders among people, and does not rather say that it was his own proper Spirit through whom he worked the divine wonders, let him be anathema.
10. The divine scripture says Christ became "the high priest and apostle of our confession"; he offered himself to God the Father in an odour of sweetness for our sake. If anyone, therefore, says that it was not the very Word from God who became our high priest and apostle, when he became flesh and a man like us, but as it were another who was separate from him, in particular a man from a woman, or if anyone says that he offered the sacrifice also for himself and not rather for us alone (for he who knew no sin needed no offering), let him be anathema.
11. If anyone does not confess that the flesh of the Lord is life-giving and belongs to the Word from God the Father, but maintains that it belongs to another besides him, united with him in dignity or as enjoying a mere divine indwelling, and is not rather life-giving, as we said, since it became the flesh belonging to the Word who has power to bring all things to life, let him be anathema.
12. If anyone does not confess that the Word of God suffered in the flesh and was crucified in the flesh and tasted death in the flesh and became the first born of the dead, although as God he is life and life-giving, let him be anathema.
_________________
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Chant hymns with understanding and rhythm;
Then you will soar like a young eagle
High in the heavens"
+ St. Evagrius the Solitary, On Prayer, 82.
In Christ,
Bishoy
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pistavros
posted on May 10, 2007 - 04:19 AM
Thanks for the replies guys,
But i was wondering if anyone has a direct refrence to the Introduction to the creed, or by whom it was fromulated (with refrence also)
I cant find any 'creed' from the homilys of St Cyril at the Council and the 12 anathemas that are like the Intorduction of the creed.
Thanks
Peace and Love
MS
stefanos
posted on May 10, 2007 - 10:33 PM
The source I have is notes from a course called Church History II from a Coptic Orthodox Theological College.
"Cyril first wrote to Nestorius, and the two exchanged correspondence for some time to no avail. After the negative response from Nestorius, Cyril convoked a local council in Alexandria, where the bishops re-affirmed the Nicene Creed and approved an introduction that Cyril had written. To this day Copts recite this introduction, “We honour you, O mother of the True Light…”, as a preliminary statement to the testimony of their faith." Chapt. 4, pg. 61.
I think the intro. to the creed is not found elsewhere (i.e. the EO churches) since it was only adopted in Alexandria and therefore the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Please pray for me.
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