Apollinaris of Laodicea

Apollinaris the Younger (died 390) was a bishop of but later became acceptable in orthodox theology. Laodicea in Syria. He collaborated with his father Although Apollinaris was a prolific writer, scarcely any- Apollinaris the Elder in reproducing the thing has survived under his own name. But a number in the form of Homeric and Pindaric poetry, and the New of his writings are concealed under the names of ortho- Testament after the fashion of Platonic dialogues, when dox Fathers, e.g. ἡ κατὰ μέρος πίστις, long ascribed to the emperor had forbidden Christians to teach the . These have been collected and . edited by . Two letters of his correspondence with are also extant, although there is scholarly debate regard- 1 Life ing their authenticity because they record the orthodox theologian Basil asking Apollinaris for theological advice He is best known, however, as a noted opponent on the orthodox term 'homoousios’. These concerns may of , Apollinaris’s eagerness to emphasize the be unfounded, as before Apollinaris began promulgating Godhead of and the unity of his person led him what were seen as heretical doctrines, he was a highly re- so far as to deny the existence of a rational human spected bishop and friend of Athanasius and Basil. (νοῦς, ) in Christ’s human nature, this being re- He must be distinguished from the Apollinaris Claudius, placed in him by the , so that his body was a glo- bishop of Hierapolis, who bore the same name, and who rified and spiritualized form of humanity. Over against wrote one of the early Christian “Apologies” (c. 170). this view the orthodox and catholic position (maintained by Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the , Oriental Orthodoxy, , and most tradi- tions within ) that God as his Logos assumed 2 References human nature in its entirety, including the νοῦς, for only so could he be humanity’s perfect redeemer and proto- [1] Chisholm 1911. type. It was alleged that the Apollinarian approach im- plied , that if the Godhead without constraint • Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vols. iii. and swayed the manhood there was no possibility of real hu- iv. passim man probation or of real advance in Christ’s manhood. The position was accordingly condemned by several syn- • Robert Lawrence Ottley, The Doctrine of the Incar- ods and in particular by that of Constantinople (381).[1] nation This did not prevent its having a considerable following, • Guillaume Voisin, L'Apollinarisme (Louvain, 1901) which after Apollinaris’s death divided into two sects, the more conservative taking its name (Vitalians) from • Hans Lietzmann, Apollinaris von Laodicea und seine Vitalis, the Apollinarist claimant to the see of Antioch, Schule (Tübingen, 1905). the other (Polemeans) adding the further assertion that the two natures were so blended that even the body of • Alessandro Capone, “La polemica apollinarista alla Christ was a fit object of adoration. The Apollinarian fine del IV secolo: la lettera di Gregorio di Nissa emphasis on the unity of human and divine in Christ and a Teofilo di Alessandria”, in Gregory of Nyssa: on the divine element in that unity was later restated in The Minor Treatises on Trinitarian Theology and the form of Eutychianism and persisted in what was later . Proceedings of the 11th International the radically anti-Nestorian monophysite school.[1] Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa (Tübingen, 17– 20 September 2008), ed. By V.H. Drecoll, M. Apollinaris did make a lasting contribution to orthodox Berghaus, Leiden – Boston 2011, pp. 499–517. theology in declaring that Christ was consubstantial (of one substance) with the Father as regarding his divin- • Alessandro Capone, “Apollinarismo e geografia ec- ity and consubstantial with us as regarding his humanity. clesiastica” in Auctores nostri 9, 2011, pp. 457–473. This formula, which originated with Apollinaris, later be- came official orthodox doctrine. Apollinaris was also one • Christopher Beeley, The Unity of Christ: Continu- of the first to claim that God suffered and died on the ity and Conflict in Patristic Tradition (Yale, 2012), cross, a claim which received immediate condemnation chapter 4.

1 2 3 EXTERNAL LINKS

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Apollinaris". Encyclopædia Britannica 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

3 External links

• English translations of the writings of Apollinaris and his followers 3

4 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

4.1 Text

• Apollinaris of Laodicea Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollinaris_of_Laodicea?oldid=724632437 Contributors: Cherkash, Charles Matthews, Jerzy, Eugene van der Pijll, Jhobson1, Carlossuarez46, Dimadick, Rich Farmbrough, Martpol, Pwqn, FeanorStar7, BD2412, Str1977, Jaraalbe, YurikBot, Welsh, Staffelde, GrinBot~enwiki, Mladifilozof, Iridescent, Twas Now, Rwflammang, Cydebot, Rgorman, Briantseng, Thijs!bot, Lopakhin, WinBot, Fayenatic london, Egpetersen, JAnDbot, Sam Medany, Baristarim, MishaPan, SieBot, Aolrnin, Vanished user ewfisn2348tui2f8n2fio2utjfeoi210r39jf, MenoBot, Qwaal, RogDel, Addbot, Zozo2kx, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, TakenakaN, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, DefaultsortBot, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, ChuispastonBot, PT09Christian, Aris- tokitty, Sever Juan, Xenxax, Sigehelmus, KasparBot and Anonymous: 19

4.2 Images

• File:Edit-clear.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist: The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the file, specifically: “Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although minimally).”

4.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0