Languages

 

The Online Lecture at Distance Learning Master’s Program in Ecumenical Studies

2011-04-18 16:30

ousia, physis, hypostasis, prosopon”, read by prof O.Kindiy, Associate Professor of Theology at the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, Ukrainian Catholic University.

Prof.Kindiy presented a brief history of the main Christological debates of the fourth and fifth centuries with special attention to the theological terminology used by the Councils of Nicea, Constantinopol, Ephesus and especially Chalcedon. During the course of polemics with Arianism, Appolinarianism, the so-called Nestorianism and Eutychianism four major terms played the decisive role in establishing the core of the orthodox view of the unity of human and divine in Jesus Christ (ousia, physis, hypostasis, and prosopon).

The Oros or the profession of faith at Chalcedon summarized the development of the Christology, but it also became the stumbling block for different theological schools and Churches in the East to reconcile with each other. As Alois Grillmeyer once emphasized, it was an unfortunate confusion of meanings given by different theologians to certain terms.