Miaphysitism

References

Sources

1. 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 506)

   The firm position of the Coptic church, with other non-Chalcedonian churches, is that Christ is perfect in His divinity and in His humanity, which is different from saying that He is both God and man, as this statement implies a separation between His divinity and His humanity. He is the incarnate God, and in Him divinity and humanity are fully and perfectly united in essence, hypostasis, and nature. Ever since the Logos (the Word of God) dwelt inside the blessed Virgin Mary, the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, that is, the Son, acquired human flesh with a human soul, and was united wit

2. 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 655)

   Henosis kath' hypostasin was the term used by Saint CYRIL I, patriarch of Alexandria in the fifth century, to make clear beyond all argument the complete unity of the Divine Word and the flesh in Christ. For Cyril the Word is the only HYPOSTASIS ("substance"), and it "assumed flesh" (John 1:14) without ceasing to be the Word. The "Word made flesh" was not a compound of two independent natures, manhood and godhead, but one nature, that of the Word "inside man and enfleshed."

3. 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 207)

   The Alexandrian theologians, led by Saint Cyril, taught that Jesus Christ was the Eternal Logos under the condition of humanity. All the actions predicated to Jesus as a man were predicated to the Divine Logos as well; His mother, therefore, is the THEOTOKOS, mother of God.

4. 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 606)

   In self-defense, Dioscorus reiterated that the reason for Flavian's condemnation was his assertion of the two natures after the Incarnation. Quotations were made from the Fathers Athanasius, Gregory, and Cyril, to the effect that after the Incarnation there were not two natures, but the incarnate nature of the Logos. He said that if he were to be expelled, the Fathers would be expelled too. He claimed not to deviate from their doctrine, but to defend it.

5. 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 559)

   Against these views the Council of CHALCEDON (451) stated in its definition that Christ was "truly God and truly Man. . . . One and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, acknowledged in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation." … All of these churches accept the doctrine of the church fathers prior to the Council of Chalcedon while rejecting the definition of that council.

6. 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 796)

   MONOPHYSITISM, the doctrine that the incarnate Christ is one Person and has one divine nature as opposed to the orthodox doctrine that he is one Person and has two natures, one human and one divine. The rift between the Monophysites, including the Coptic, Syrian, Ethiopian, and Armenian churches, and the Orthodox Church has divided Eastern Christianity since the sixth century.

7. 7.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 207)

   The Copts energetically protested against the basic elements of Eutychianism, as they refused the doctrines of Nestorianism.

8. 8.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 207)

   This is illustrated by the statement on Christology drawn up by the Roman Catholic church and the Coptic church which was signed at the Anba Bishoi Monastery near Cairo on 12 February 1988, "We believe that our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, is perfect in His divinity and perfect in His humanity, that His humanity is One with His divinity,

9. 9.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 208)

   without mixture or confusion, unchanging and unaltered, and that His divinity at no time was separate from His humanity. At the same time we anathemize simultaneously the doctrines of Nestorius, and of Eutyches" (John Paul II and Shenouda III).

10. 10.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 637)

    MONOPHYSITISM, as held by the Coptic church, is a development of Alexandrian theology that rejected the communicatio, as it did Chalcedon as a whole. Now that controversies have become less pronounced, the doctrine of communicatio idiomatum may yet find favor in Coptic Christian circles.