Theological Term of the Week: Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria who was “the deepest thinking and most influential of all the Alexandrians.” He “wrote against Nestorius, demanding that he accept the Alexandrian view of Christ.”1

• From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. H. Needham, page 274: 

Unfortunately, Cyril’s theological brilliance went hand-in-hand with an almost unlimited ability to turn doctrinal debates into personal quarrels of bitter ferocity. It was never enough for Cyril to disprove and opponent’s theology; he had to destroy him as a man too. 

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Cyril of Alexandria
2. Ligonier Ministries: Cyril and Nestorius
3. Tabletalk Magazine: A Forgotten Father: Cyril’s Fight for the Faith
4. Early Church.org: Cyril of Alexandria

Related terms:

• Ambrose of Milan
• Apollinarius
• Athanasius
• Augustine of Hippo
• Basil of Caesarea
• Cappadocian fathers
• Gregory of Nanzianzus
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Hilary of Poitiers
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Jerome
• John Chrysostom
• Justin Martyr
• Monica
• Nestorius
• Origen
• Pelagius
• Sabellius
• Tertullian

Filed under Christian History

1From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. R. Needham.

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Theological Term of the Week: Nestorius

Nestorius
“[A] famous preacher at Antioch,” who reacted against Apollinarius’s teaching by emphasising “the completeness of Christ’s human nature and its distinctness from His divine nature.”1 He also rejected the title theotokos (birth-giver of God) for Mary. He lived from 381-451 and became patriarch of Constantinople in 428.

• From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. H. Needham, page 272: 

Nestorius rejected the title theotokos for Mary. This was not because he was protesting against the exaltation of Mary, which was then only in its very early stages. He protested because he was a committed Antiochene. Nestorius made a sharp distinction between Christ’s human and divine natures, and tended to speak about Jesus as a man with whom the divine Son had united Himself. According to Nestorius, Mary gave birth to the human person Jesus, not to the divine Son Who joined Himself to Jesus. Nestorius therefore rejected the title “birth-giver of God” for Mary. He suggested that Mary should be called Christotokos, “birth-giver of Christ”.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is Nestorianism?
2. Ligonier Ministries: Cyril and Nestorius
3. Banner of Truth: The Great Heresies:Nestorius and Eutyches

Related terms:

• Ambrose of Milan
• Apollinarius
• Athanasius
• Augustine of Hippo
• Basil of Caesarea
• Cappadocian fathers
• Gregory of Nanzianzus
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Hilary of Poitiers
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Jerome
• John Chrysostom
• Justin Martyr
• Monica
• Origen
• Pelagius
• Sabellius
• Tertullian

Filed under Christian History

1From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. R. Needham.

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Clicking on the Theological Terms button will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Theological Term of the Week: Apollinarius

Apollinarius (or Apollinaris)
“[A]n Alexandrian thinker, a friend of Athanasius and a strong opponent of Arianism,” who “got in trouble for teaching quite openly that Christ did not have a human mind or spirit.”1 He lived from 300 until 390, and became bishop of Laodicea in 361.

• From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. H. Needham, page 272: 

Apollinarius believed that the human mind was the source of all human weakness and sin. He therefore felt that Christ’s sinless perfection required Him not to have a human mind. The divine and infinite mind of the Son or Logos, Apollinarius taught, took the place of a human mind in Christ: He was a divine mind in a human body. This absence of a human mind preserved Christ from the possibility of sin. Apollinarius also thought that is Christ had a human as well as a divine mind, He would split apart into two separate persons, a human Son of Man and a Divine Son of God. So again, to avoid this disastrous conclusion, Apollinarius denied that Christ had a human mind. 

Learn more:

1. Philip Schaff: Apollinaris of Laodicea
2. 5 Minutes in Church History: An Eight-Syllable Heresy
3. Ligonier Ministries: The Apollinarian Heresy
4. Theology in the Middle: Apollinaris and Apollinarianism, Part 1 and Apollinaris and Apollinarianism, Part 2

Related terms:

• Ambrose of Milan
• Athanasius
• Augustine of Hippo
• Basil of Caesarea
• Cappadocian fathers
• Gregory of Nanzianzus
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Hilary of Poitiers
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Jerome
• John Chrysostom
• Justin Martyr
• Monica
• Origen
• Pelagius
• Sabellius
• Tertullian

Filed under Christian History

1From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. R. Needham.

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.