“No, your bishop does not have cooties”

“No, your bishop does not have cooties” Part Five: Heresies about the Church 14 November 2010

Four ways of going wrong • “his Deity” • “his manhood” • “the conjunction of both” • “the distinction of the one from the other”

Four ways of going wrong • “his Deity” Arianism – Council of Nicaea, 325 • “his manhood” Apollinarianism – Council of Constantinople, 381 • “the conjunction of both” • “the distinction of the one from the other”

Four ways of going wrong • “his Deity” Arianism – Council of Nicaea, 325 • “his manhood” Apollinarianism – Council of Constantinople, 381 • “the conjunction of both” Nestorianism – Council of Ephesus, 431 • “the distinction of the one from the other” Eutychianism – Council of Chalcedon, 451

Nestorianism • “I’m OK calling Mary ‘Mother of Christ,’ but not ‘Mother of God.’” • Nestorius (b. after 361, d. after 451) was Patriarch of Constantinople. • He supported his chaplain Anastasius, who was preaching against the use of the term Theotókos. • Nestorius is said to have held that there are two persons in Christ. • The Council of Ephesus in 431 deposed Nestorius and upheld the title Theotókos.

Eutychianism (Monophysitism) • Eutyches (c. 378-454) was archimandrite of a large monastery in Constantinople. • In his zeal to oppose Nestorianism, he fell into the opposite error. • He held that there was only one nature “after the union” and denied that Christ’s human nature is consubstantial with ours. • Remember what Gregory of Nazianzus said: “That which was not assumed is not healed, but that which is united to God is saved.”

The Chalcedonian definition • “Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance (homoousios) with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood;

The Chalcedonian definition • like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation;

The Chalcedonian definition • the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers has handed down to us.”

Now to today’s material • On to Donatism, an eccelsiological heresy (heresy about the Church)

Persecution and its aftermath • Diocletian (284-313) • The severity of the persecution depended on several factors. • The situation in Northern Africa: • A relatively weak church • An efficient imperial administration • A culture of martyrdom • Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage, and his archdeacon Caecilianus took a stand against the hardliners.

The crisis point • February 303: Christian leaders were ordered to hand over their books to be burned. • Those who did so were called traditores. (Traditor = “one who hands over something.”) • Some accused Mensurius of being a traditor.

The 310s were a rough decade • What do we do with the traditores? • Mensurius was lenient, but some wanted the traditores expelled. • Mensurius dies in 311. • You have two factions: the hardliners (Numidian bishops) and the moderates • The moderates got wind that the hardliners were up to no good. • They elected and consecrated Caecelianus before the Numidians arrived.

The 310s were a rough decade • One of the consecrators was Felix, Bishop of Aptunga, a traditor. • The Numidians refused to recognize the election. They deposed Caecilianus and replaced him with Majorinus. • Majorinus died in 313 and was replaced by Donatus the Great. • Eventually Constantine got involved in support of the party of Caecilian. • The North African church split into two parties: the Donatists and the Catholics.

What is Donatism all about? • Cyprian of Carthage: “There is no salvation outside the church.” • So if you step outside the church (by schism or lapse), you can no longer administer sacraments. • But what if you repent? • Donatists say that once you’re out, you’re out. • Catholics say that if you repent, you’re back in.

Simmering schism • As far as the Donatists are concerned, the Catholics have no bishops and no sacraments. • The schism simmers for quite a while. • There are clearly ethnic and political tensions mixed up in all this.

Enter Augustine • Augustine is consecrated Catholic Bishop of Hippo in 396. • He relies extensively on the Gospel according to Matthew to make his case against Donatism. • Consider the parable of the net and the fish in Matthew 13:47-50.

The parable of the wheat and the weeds Matthew 13:24-31

The threshing floor • Matthew 3:11-12

Augustine’s ecclesiology • The church is not a country club for smug saints but a hospital for repentant sinners. • The church is a corpus permixtum. • The church is holy because Christ, who is holy, is sanctifying the church. • The efficacy of the sacraments depends on Christ, not on the bishop or priest. • The problem with the Donatists is that they make salvation depend on us rather than on God. That’s wrong for two reasons.

Are today’s schismatics Donatists? • Who are today’s schismatics, and why might one think they are Donatists? • In the strictest sense, the answer is no. • But in a broader sense, you could say that many of them are neo-Donatists.

XXVI. Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which hinders not the effect of the Sacraments. Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and some-times the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving the Sacraments.

Article XXVI Neither is the effect of Christ’s ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God’s gifts diminished from such as by faith, and rightly, do receive the Sacraments mini-stered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ’s institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.

Article XXVI Nevertheless, it appertaineth to the discipline of the Church, that inquiry be made of evil Ministers, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences; and finally, being found guilty, by just judgment be deposed.

Next week • Part Six — Heresies about salvation and morality: “As the Pelagians do vainly talk”

“No, your bishop does not have cooties”