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Volumen 82 Fasciculus II 2016 ORIENTALIA CHRISTIANA PERIODICA COMMENTARII DE RE ORIENTALI AETATIS CHRISTIANAE SACRA ET PROFANA EDITI CURA ET OPERE PONTIFICII INSTITUTI ORIENTALIUM STUDIORUM EXTRACTA PONTIFICIUM INSTITUTUM ORIENTALIUM STUDIORUM PIAZZA S. MARIA MAGGIORE, 7 ROMA Nr. 2 / 2016 Poste Italiane s.p.a. Spedizione in abbonamento postale. D.L. 353/2003 (conv. in L. 27/02/2004 n˚ 46) art. 1, comma 2, DCB Roma. Semestrale. Taxe perçue. ORIENTALIA CHRISTIANA PERIODICA Piazza S. Maria Maggiore 7 — 00185 Roma www.orientaliachristiana.it tel. 0644741-7104; fax 06446-5576 ISSN 0030-5375 This periodical began publication in 1935. Two fascicles are issued each year, which contain articles, shorter notes and book reviews about the Christian East, that is, whatever concerns the theology, history, patro- logy, liturgy, archaeology and canon law of the Christian East, or whatever is closely connected therewith. The annual contribution is € 46,00 in Italy, and € 58,00 or USD 76,00 outside Italy. The entire series is still in print and can be supplied on demand. Subscription should be paid by a check made to Pontificio Istituto Orientale or a deposit to ccp. 34269001. International Bank Account Number (IBAN): Country Check Digit CIN Cod. ABI CAB Account Number IT 54 C 07601 03200 000034269001 BIC- Code BPPIITRRXXX Edited by Philippe Luisier (Editor), Rafaá Zarzeczny (Book Reviews) e-mail: [email protected]; Jarosáaw Dziewicki (Managing Editor) e-mail: [email protected], with the Professors of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. All materials for publication (articles, notes, books for review) should be addressed to the Editor. SUMMARIUM ARTICULI Edward G. Farrugia, S.J., In memoriam: P. Vincenzo Poggi, S.J. (1928-2016), Direttore di OCP dal 1976 al 2004 e dal 2010 al 2012 277-284 Gabriele Winkler, Über die armenischen liturgischen Gesänge er- läutert anhand der armenischen Begriffe mit ihren georgischen Parallelen ............................................. 285-305 Henryk Pietras, S.J., “La guerra di Costantinopoli”. La posizio- ne politico dottrinale dei vescovi alessandrini dopo il Concilio di Calcedonia ............................................ 307-351 Bishara Ebeid, The Christology of the Church of the East. An Analysis of Christological Statements and Professions of Faith of the Official Synods of the Church of the East before A.D. 612 ............. 353-402 Pietro D’Agostino, La légende du miracle de l'image de Tibériade (BHO 450) et la fondation monastique de Mâr Üanínâ : un regard croisé sur les sources .................................... 403-420 Dorothea McEwan, The wall paintings of Däräsge Maryam Church, in the Sämen Mountains, Ethiopia, and in particular the painted procession on the east wall ............................... 421-450 Mario Carolla, Due confessori della fede ...................... 451-476 ANIMADVERSIO Sergey Kim, Δι’ ἰβηρικῶν γραμμάτων. Georgians at the Philotheou Monastery on Mount Athos? .............................. 477-481 RES BIBLIOGRAPHICA Michel Fédou, La théologie byzantine et sa tradition I/1 (VIe-VIIe s.), sous la direction de Carmelo Giuseppe Conticello (Brepols, Turn- hout, 2015) ............................................ 483-490 RECENSIONES DE GIORGIO, Teodoro, San Teodoro. L’invincibile guerriero. Storia, culto e iconografia (R. Iacopino) ................................ 491-493 ÉVAGRE LE SCHOLASTIQUE, Histoire ecclésiastique (H. Pietras) ........ 493-495 GRUNDMANN, Regina – KATTAN, Assaad Elias (Hg.), Jenseits der Tradition? Tradition und Traditionskritik in Judentum, Christentum und Islam (E. G. Farrugia) ........................................ 495-499 JACOBSEN, Anders-Christian (a cura di), Origeniana Undecima. Origen and Origenism in the History of Western Thought. Papers of the 11th International Origen Congress, Aarthus University, 26/31 August 2013 (H. Pietras) ....................................... 499-501 PETTINAROLI, Laura, La politique russe du Saint-Siège (1905-1939) (S. Caprio) ............................................ 501-504 RAMSEY, John (Patrick), The Minor Clergy of the Orthodox Church: Their role and life according to the canons (E.-I. Roman) ............. 504-506 YACOUB, Joseph & Claire, Oubliés de tous. Les Assyro-Chaldéens du Caucase ( G. H. Ruyssen) ................................. 506-511 SCRIPTA AD NOS MISSA .................................. 512-513 INDEX VOLUMINIS ...................................... 515-516 ISSN 0030-5375 Bishara Ebeid The Christology of the Church of the East An Analysis of Christological Statements and Professions of Faith of the Official Synods of the Church of the East before A.D. 612 Introduction The assembly of the bishops of the Church of the East in 612, under the direction of Babai the Great, is considered to have undertaken the “Nestorianization” of the Church of the East.1 Before this date we can note another approach in official Christological statements from the Church of the East, in its official synods, and in its thinkers and theologians: of- ficially this Church used a traditional Antiochene Christology of the one parúopâ (πρόσωπον) and two kyanê (natures – φύσεις), while the theologians of this Church tried to interpret this doctrine through different currents of thought. These attempts of interpretation are reflected, as we will demon- strate in this article, in the Christological statements of the Synods of the Church before 612. Unfortunately there has not been any study on these professions of faith or statements, except the general presentation in the article by J. Fiey2 and the analysis in the article by S. Brock.3 Even Patros Yukhana Patros did not include all the synods in his presentation of the Christology of the Church of the East.4 Likewise, Bawai Soro, in his book on the Church of the East, did not refer to the Christological decisions of the synods of this Church.5 This fact has led us to write on this subject and to make an analysis of these Christological statements. As we will see, an examination of these synods and of their Christological professions of faith 1 By the term “Nestorianism” we mean the Christological expression: two kyanê (natures) and two qnomê (hypostases) in one parúopâ (person/πρόσωπον) of Christ, which could be found in some Greek sources (such as the anonymous author quoted by Leontius of Jerusa- lem), or in Syriac sources, even before 612 (such as Üabib, cited by Philoxenus). See also the clarification in the course of our introduction and also in note 87. This topic will be discussed in an article we are preparing and that deals with the Christology of Üabib. 2 Cf. Fiey, “Christologie et Mariologie.” 3 Cf. Brock, “The Christology of the Church.” 4 Cf. Patros, “La cristologia della Chiesa d’Oriente.” 5 Cf. Soro, The Church of the East. Apostolic and Orthodox. OCP 82 (2016) 353-402 0044 EEbeid.inddbeid.indd 335353 008/02/20178/02/2017 112:28:562:28:56 354 BISHARA EBEID reveals a significant progression of thought expressed in traditional and archaic language. A. de Halleux expressed the opinion that two Christological currents co-existed peacefully together within the Church of the East.6 To support his opinion, however, he did not refer to the synods and their statements. Other scholars, seeking to demonstrate that the opinion of de Halleux was not precise, tried to see a western Chalcedonian7 influence in some theolo- gians of this Church and to note the controversies between its theologians.8 We are convinced that the Christological development over time, by the theologians of this Church, occurred in various ways; not only was this interesting evolution indirectly influenced by the Christological currents of the West, but it was also directly related to the historical context of this Church. To prove our hypothesis, we will analyze the Christological statements of the nine synods held before the year 612, taking into consideration the historical context outside and inside the Persian Empire. We will call the two Christological currents, to which de Halleux and other scholars refer: qnomâ-parúopâ and two-qnomê, but these terms will not appear before our analysis reaches the point at which it can demonstrate their existence. To carry out our analysis, we will cite the statements and professions of faith of the Church of the East found in the Synodicon Orientale,9 translating them into English and taking into consideration the existent translation by S. Brock.10 At the end of our analysis we will present our conclusions to demonstrate our hypothesis on the Christology of these synods, a Christol- ogy in progress that attempted to resolve the same Christological questions that theologians and Councils in Byzantium sought to address. Before we start our analysis it could be helpful to make a clarification of some technical terms we use. Even if the term qnomâ is the Syriac transla- tion of the Greek ὑπόστασις, and even if it is usually translated by scholars as hypostasis (at least, in a Trinitarian context)11 we will leave it as qnomâ. In the history of Christian dogma, Trinitarian and Christological, the term ὑπόστασις did not have one significance and unique metaphysical function. If it was translated into Syriac by qnomâ, it does not always mean that the 6 Cf. de Halleux, “La christologie de Martyrius-Sahdona,” 29. 7 By the term west we mean Byzantium, the Byzantine Empire. 8 Cf. Abramowski, “Martyrius-Sahdona.” 9 It should be mentioned that the edition of the Synodicon, made by Chabot, is a very lim- ited collection and is based