Docetism and Marcion

• Incarnation is the concept of the logos (divine word/reason) becoming flesh in Jesus.
• Many in the Roman Empire accepted Jesus as God, but questioned his human existence.
• Greeks and Romans proposed Jesus only appeared human to comfort the apostles.

Docetism

• Docetism was a prevalent early church heresy.
• Docetists believed Jesus was not human, only divine
• They adhered to the idea that the body is bad, and only the spiritual is good.

Marcion

• Marcion, condemned in 144, first spoke of a list of the New Testament.
• He wrote Antithesis
• Marcion saw contradictions between the Old and New Testaments.
• He believed the God of the Old Testament (the creator) was different from the God of the New Testament.
• The God of the Old Testament was bad because material is the source of all evil.
• The God of the New Testament was good, and Jesus represents the good God.
• Marcion removed mentions of the Jewish God and Jesus' physical birth from his scriptures.
• Marcion was a Docetist and most Gnostics were also Docetist.

Gnostics

• They thought Jesus' human form was possessed by God (the Christ).
• An example of this is Jesus' baptism in the Jordan where Christ would leave during unholy act like using the bathroom.

Manichaeans

• The Manichaeans were also Docetists
• By 300, Manichaean missionaries spread their belief
• The Manichaeans hated the body, believed the human spirit was trapped within it and Jesus was not important to their teachings.
• Early Christian writings, like the Gospel of John, emphasize Jesus' physicality.
• The Apostle's Creed, used around 300 in baptisms, asserts Jesus' humanity.
• Reflective of the debates at the time and notes Jesus' human actions after resurrection.

Apostolic Fathers

• Ignatius of Antioch (died 107) was connected with John and concerned with Jesus's physical body.
• Ignatius was excited about his execution under Trajan.
• He wrote letters to churches affirming Jesus as both God and human, and viewed his death as a sacrifice.
• Denying Jesus's physical reality equates to denying his spiritual reality.

Origen

• Origen (died 254) stated that human persons couldn't be saved unless the lord had taken on the human person.
• The flesh is the fulcrum (the pivot) of salvation.

Apollinarius

• Apollinarius (c. 310-382) belonged to the arian of Word Flesh Christology
• Word-flesh Christology (WFC) studies Christ as logos with human flesh instead of a human soul
• The soul animates the body, separating upon death.
• Apollinarius, a Syrian bishop, tried to explain WFC, believing Jesus was God in flesh without a human soul.
• He thought a human soul, being the source of temptation, would contradict Jesus' divinity.
• WFC was trying to align with the Nicene Creed.
• The logos 'divinised' the flesh and even if the logos left, the flesh was changed.

Arguments against WFC from the Cappadocian Fathers

• WFC is Docetism, because divinised flesh suggests Jesus isn't human.
• WFC is what it means to be human: body and soul.
• Recapitulation doctrine is that, like Adam, all die, but in Christ, all shall be made alive: Jesus is the second Adam.
• Adam was disobedient, sinful, and imperfect, while Jesus was obedient, virtuous, and perfect.
• Adam has body and soul, demonstrating that Jesus must have body and soul.
• Jesus overcomes death and forgives sins allowing humanity's souls to be restored because Jesus took a human soul himself.

Council of Constantinople

• 381 Council of Constantinople (#1) declared “Constantinople is the new Rome”.
• Ranking of the churches included: Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, and Jerusalem
• Each behaved as if they had large areas of jurisdiction. Top 3 had authority outside of their specific city.
• The addition of Constantinople into the ranking (below Rome and above Alexandria) caused issues.
• In 330, the capital of Roman Empire was moved to Constantinople.
• The west was expansive, whereas the east had lost expansion to the Persians and was confined to well-established civilisation.
• The west was often overrun by barbarian invasions.
• Emperors after Constantine responded in 2 ways: relying on barbarian generals and focused on defending and preserving the eastern half of the empire.
• Reaches its height in 395 when Theodosius dies and splits the empire
• The lunatic son sent to the west, and the smart son sent to the east.
• In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Christian clergy expands (takes over) roles formally done by civil authorities of the empire.
• There were lots of fights between church and state.
• Ambrose of Milan (374-397), originally wasn't Christian, was a lawyer and general, and known for his writing of hymns.
• He excommunicated Emperor Theodosius for his involvement in a massacre.
• Ambrose demanded public penance before Theodosius could attend mass.
• A period of doubt that the church must submit to the state was Established
• Before the 381 council, Constantinople was Arian.
• When Theodosius becomes emperor, he's determined to get rid of the Arians by establishing the Nicaean orthodoxy.
• In a lead up to the council, they had been arguing in Antioch over who the bishop of Antioch was for 20 years.
• Theodosius had to decide who the new bishop of Constantinople (Gregory the theologian), who then supported someone for Antioch, and is ran out of Constantinople.
• Nectarius was chosen as the bishop of constantinople (early 380s).
• The Origenist controversy, stemmed from the Arian controversy, led to a Platonist purge of the church.

Monasticism

• Monasticism became popular in the 4th century and threatened the bishops power.
• Pachomius (died 348) established his first monastery and thought that people who want to follow Jesus in the monastic way should live in community together.
• At the time of his death there are 11 monastery in Egypt that could hold around 1000 people each.
• Many of the people who lived there were ex. Army.
• Pachomius made the monasteries like roman barracks, he believed that monkhood was spiritual warfare.
• Threat to the bishop because people like monks and if they don't like what the bishop is doing they can physically separate themselves from the bishop.
• People didn't like the politically appointed bishops.
• The theology in the monasteries was heavily influenced by Origen
• Bishop of Cyprus Epiphanius (died 403), was concerned with Arianism and saw Platonism as highly influential for Arianism.
• He wrote a book “The medicine chest for the cure of all heresies”.
• He targets Origen because of his emphasis on the spiritual over the physical because he says Origen is still a living influence over certain Egyptian monks.
• Trained as a monk with the tall brothers
• The origen issue had become a major issue for the school in Antioch but played a role in the political battle between Alexandria and Constantinople
• Theophilius (in Alexandria) had his own issued w/the tall brothers (theological and political).
• He expelled them from Egypt (burned all their stuff and kicked them out).
• They went to Constantinople to complain.
• Bishop in Const after Nectarius was John Chrysostom (347-407).
• John in Antioch was very popular, loved asceticism, and a reformer.
• Took over the sea of Constantinople (everyone thinks this is a political appointment but John makes it holy).
• He removes priests that Nectarian appointed stopped having feasts at the palace, telling dudes to be faithful, argues that private property is a result of Adams fall.
• He criticizes the emperors wife for taking property from people.
• he scandalised bishops in asia minor because he chastised them.
• Theophilius implies that John might be a Origenist heretic, since he took in the Tall Brothers after they wre expelled by Theophilus.
• John calls Theophilius to Constantinople.
• John then in 403 calls the synod of the oak.
• They depose John and then they go to the emperor who authorises the ridding of him (exiles John).
• Johns supporters riot.
• After this, there is an earthquake (seen as divine sign).
• Emperor and his wife get freaked out and all John back.
• Theophilius writes a pamphlet saying that John is Satan in the form of an angel.
• John insults the emperors wife again after this and he is kicked out again
• John's supporters riot again and set fire to the cathedral, John is exiled
• Pope Innocent I rebilitates John to exercise roman authority over the east.
• Bishop of Constantinople accepts John as a saint.