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:
- Philip Schaff: Apollinaris of Laodicea
- 5 Minutes in Church History: An Eight-Syllable Heresy
- Ligonier Ministries: The Apollinarian Heresy
- 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
1From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. R. Needham.
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