Search

[German Version] (579/580 [whether in Constantinople or in the Palestinian village of Hesfin is disputed] – Aug 13, 662, Lazika), one of the most prominent Byzantine theologians, being equally important for the history of Monotheletism's dogmatic theology as well as for exegesis (esp. of the Bible, but also of Gregory of Nazianzus and of Dionysius Areopagita) and for the further development of theoretical mysticism (on the basis of a [critically received] Origenism and of the system of Evagrius Po…

[German Version] (John Scholasticus), Greek theologian in the first half of the 6th century, ultimately (between 536 and 553) bishop of Palestinian Scythopolis. Of the writings of this comprehensively educated man, which include a defense of the Chalcedonian definition (in accordance with neo-Chalcedonism) and a document against Severus of Antioch, only a few fragments have been preserved, except for his commentary on the …

[German Version] After the Council of Chalcedon, it became increasingly common in the East to interpolate the Trisagion (II) into the liturgy as an acclamation and petition to the triune God: “Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal one, have mercy upon us.” Shortly afterwards Peter Ful…

[German Version] (c. 400–480). A prominent contemporary witness to the Völkerwanderung (Migration period), during which he survived one of four destructions of Trier. As the barbarians advanced, he fled south from his home in northern Gaul; there with the consent of his wife Palladia he took a vow of continence, became a monk at Lérins, and finally a presbyter in Marseille. Of his writings (mentioned by Gennadius of Marseille, Vir. ill. 68), nine letters ha…

[German Version] According to the oldest Alexandrian sources (Kettler, 159–163), Melitius is said to have conducted visitations on his own authority in the leaderless dioceses of Lower and Middle Egypt during the persecutions of Christians (I) under Diocletian and to have appropriated the supervision rights of the fugitive Peter of Alexandria. Epiphanius of Salamis ( Haer. 68.1–3), on the other hand, apparently draws on sources sympathetic to Melitius and attributes the conflict to an early manifested antagonism between a lenient (Peter) and a rigor…

[German Version] The christological definition of the Council of Chalcedon, the Symbolum Chalcedonense, was achieved only after extensive resistance and under pressure from the imperial commissioners and the Roman legates. The text was solemnly read in the 6th session on Oct 25 and signed by all the bishops present. It began by repeating the creeds of Nicea and Constantinople (IV; 431), which actually should have sufficed, as had been deci…

[German Version] (Dec 16, 1903 [Old Style, Dec 3, 1903], Rosenbeck, Livonia – Jan 6, 1989, Heidelberg), doctor of theology, Heidelberg 1926; 5 honorary doctorates in theology; Privatdozent in church history, Marburg, 1928; Göttingen 1930; 1935 temporary professorship in Gießen; 1936 appointed professor in Heidelberg; appointment withdrawn in 1937 on political grounds; 1938 Privatdozent in Greifswald; 1940 temporary professorship in Vienna; ordinary professor in Heidelberg from 1946. With the exception of A. v. Harnack, whose theory …

[German Version] (d. Nov 17, 471), patriarch 458–471; he was a strict adherent of the christology (II, 1.c) of Chalcedon, as attested both by his encomium to Pope Leo I, and by his polemic “Against the XII Chapters (= Anathemas; Anathema) of Cyril of Alexandria” (if the latter is authentic, which Schwartz [175f., n. 2] doubts, however). As an exegete, he was close to the Antiochene School (Antioch: II). Among the fragments preserved in Catena, the notes on Genesis and Romans are significant.…

[German Version] In Chalcedon (Kadiköy, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, part of present-day Istanbul; Constantinople/Byzantium), what was probably the most illustrious assembly of bishops in antiquity met from Oct 8 to Nov 11, 451 (although the tradition of 600–630 participants is legendary). Church history came to know it as the fourth “ecumenical” council. Its primary significance lies unquestionably in the realm of the history of dogma (Two natures doctrine), although many of its disciplinary decrees also had important consequences. The council was made possible by a change in leadership of the Roman Empire. The new rulers, Marcian and Pulcheria, primarily wanted the council officially to reverse the decisions of Ephesus (449), which had provoked a storm of indignation especially in the West, and to put an end to the doctrinal conflict caused by Nestorius and Eutyches by getting as many of the bishops of the Empire as possible to sign a credal statement expre…

…

[German Version] The terms Monophysitism and Monophysites (“one-nature” Christology and its advocates) used by historians of dogma have their roots in heresiology (Heresy: I); they were coined by the opponents of the theological positions so labeled and to this day are rejected as inappropriate by the churches involved. In the following discussion, therefore, they will always be set in quotation marks (see also D. Wendebourg, “Chalcedon in der ökumenischen Diskussion,” in: van Oort & Roldanus, 190–223). The roots of “Monophysite” doctrine go far back. The Christology of Origen can be called “Dyophysite” in approach (a “two natures doctrine” similar to that of the Chalcedonian Definition) but “Monophysite” in intent. With the unity of his image of Christ, Origen seeks to preserve the precedence of the divine, on which his interest in salvation primarily depends (Ritter, 225). This type of doctrine then appears in clear outline in Apollinarius of Laodicea. The formula with which he expresses his …

[German Version] Monotheletism (“one will”) is a christological doctrine from the period after Chalcedon, which – like the earlier Monenergism (“single activity”) – was intended to build a bridge to so-called Monophysites and provide a more satisfying explanation for the Chalcedonian Definition (see Christology: II, 1.c). Many of its Eastern supporters were terrified by the “idol with two faces” painted on the wall by Philoxenus of Mabbug (ACO IV/1, 240–242 = A.M. Ritter Alte Kirche, 72002, no. 93j), that is, the potential misunderstanding of the dogma of 451 as embody…

[German Version] (died 449 or 450) was the successor of the patriarch Proclus, who died in 446. The protest of Eutyches against his condemnation by Flavian (Nov 448; Christology: II, 1) led to the Council of Ephesus in August 449, which deposed Flavian.…

[German Version] (died around 250). According to Gregory of Tours, Dionysius of Paris arrived in Gaul at the time of Decius as one of seven missionary bishops, worked in and near Paris, and suffered martyrdom there (Greg. T. Hist…

[German Version] I. Early Church The title patriarch appears to have been first used by early Judaism (I), with reference to the both the ancestral biblical figures ( 4. Macc. 7.19; 16.25; T. 12 Patr.; Ber. 16b) and the religious leaders of the Romans’ Jewish subjects (Heb. nasi ), throughout the history of that central religious office. The first such patriarch was probably Judah ha-Nasi, during the Severan dynasty (193–235); Cod. Theod. XVI 8.29 (May 30, 429) records the excessus (“termination”) of the Jewish patriarchate. In Christianity, the Montanists (Montanism; cf. Jerome, Ep. 41) may have been the first to call their leaders patriarchs; they were followed later by the “Arian” (Homoean [Arius]) Vandals (Victor of Vita, Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae II 13.53–55). Probab…

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Early Church – III. Middle Ages and Modern Period – IV. 19th Century to the Present I. New Testament 1. Definition and sources Although the New Testament does not speak explicitly of Jewish Christians, the phenomenon is everywhere apparent. Makeshift expressions are used (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 24:5; Rom 15:26; Gal 2:9, 12; note also that …

[German Version] I. General – II. History and Society – III. Religion and Culture I. General 1. Name/Designations In Egyptian-Coptic, Egypt is “the black (i.e. land)” (Egyptian *Kū́mut, Coptic Kēme, etc.) after the dark soil, in Semitic languages, generally, Miṣr-, etc., in Hebrew also מָצוֹר / Māṣôr (“border,” i.e. “borderland”?), in Greek after a sanctuary of the god Ptah as a designation for the old capital city Memphis, Aígyptos, i.e. Aígupto-s (in contemporary Egyptian perhaps *Hekoptáḥ). 2. Geography …

[German Version] I. Archaeology – II. Early Church – III. After 600 – IV. Councils – V. Patriarchate – VI. Literature – VII. Art – VIII. Church Music – IX. Judaism I. Archaeology Settlers from Megara settled Byzantium in the early 7th century on a previously inhabited hill on the Bosphorus, the most important water route from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea; a deep bay, the “Golden Horn” offered additional protection. In 324 ce, after the victory over Licinius, Constantine chose Byzantium as a new capital and dedicated it on May 11, 330 as Nea Roma, “New Rome”; soon the name Constantinoupolis, “City of Constantine,” prevailed. Many profane and sacral structures were erected, of which, however, only the slightest remnants are preserved. Emperor Theodosius II (408–450) constructed a new wall and doubled the area of the Constantine city from approx. 6 km2 to approx. 12 km2; only then…

…