Catholic Encyclopedia: Apollinarianism
A Christological theory, according to which Christ had a human body and a human
sensitive soul, but no human rational mind, the Divine <Logos> taking the place of this
last. The author of this theory, Apollinaris (<Apolinarios>) the Younger, Bishop of
Laodicea, flourished in the latter half of the fourth century and was at first highly
esteemed by men like St. Athanasius, St. Basil, and St. Jerome for his classical culture,
his Biblical learning, his defence of Christianity and his loyalty to the Nicene faith. He
assisted his father, Apollinaris the Elder, in reconstructing the scriptures on classical
models in order to compensate the Christians for the loss of Greek literature of which
the edict of Julian had deprived them. St. Jerome credits him with innumerable
volumes on the Scriptures ; two apologies of Christianity, one against Porphyry, and
the other against Julian; a refutation of Eunomius, a radical Arian, etc.; but all these
works are lost. With regard to Apollinaris s writings which bear on the present theory,
we are more fortunate. A contemporary anonymous book: Adversus fraudes
Apollinaristarum , informs us that the Apollinarists, in order to win credence for their
error, circulated a number of tracts under the approved names of such men as Gregory
Thaumaturgus (<He kata meros pistis>, Exposition of Faith), Athanasius (<Peri
sarkoseos>, On the Incarnation), Pope Julius (<Peri tes en Christo enotetos>, On Unity
in Christ), etc. Following that clue, Lequien (1740), Caspari (1879) and Draseke (1892),
have shown that in all probability these are Apollinaris s writings. Moreover, the
Fathers of the Church who wrote in defence of orthodoxy, e.g., Athanasius, in two
books against Apollinaris; Gregory Nazianzen, in several letters; Gregory of Nyssa in
his <Antirretikos>; Theodoret, in his Haereticae Fabulae and Dialogues , etc.,
incidentally give us ample information on the real system of the Laodicean.
The precise time at which Apollinaris came forward with his heresy is uncertain. There
are clearly two periods in the Apollinarist controversy. Up to 376, either because of his
covert attitude or of the respect in which he was held, Apollinaris s name was never
mentioned by his opponents, i.e. by individuals like Athanasius and Pope Damasus, or
by councils like the Alexandrian (362), and the Roman (376). From this latter date it is
open war. Two more Roman councils, 377 and 381, and a number of Fathers, plainly
denounce and condemn as heretical the views of Apollinaris. He failed to submit even
to the more solemn condemnation of the council of Constantinople, 381, whose first
canon entered Apollinarianism on the list of heresies, and he died in his error, about
392. His following, at one time considerable in Constantinople, Syria, and Phoenicia,
hardly survived him. Some few disciples, like Vitalis, Valentinus, Polemon, and
Timothy, tried to perpetuate the error of the master and probably are responsible for
the forgeries noticed above. The sect itself soon became extinct. Towards 416, many
returned to the mother- Church, while the rest drifted away into Monophysitism.
THEORY Apollinaris based his theory on two principles or suppositions, one
ontological or objective, and one psychological or subjective. Ontologically, it appeared
to him that the union of complete God with complete man could not be more than a
juxtaposition or collocation. Two perfect beings with all their attributes, he argued,
cannot be one. They are at most an incongruous compound, not unlike the monsters of
mythology. Inasmuch as the Nicene faith forbade him to belittle the <Logos>, as Arius
had done, he forthwith proceeded to maim the humanity of Christ, and divest it of its
noblest attribute, and this, he claimed, for the sake of true Unity and veritable
Incarnation. Psychologically, Apollinaris, considering the rational soul or spirit as
essentially liable to sin and capable, at its best, of only precarious efforts, saw no way
of saving Christ s impeccability and the infinite value of Redemption, except by the
elimination of the human spirit from Jesus humanity, and the substitution of the
Divine <Logos> in its stead. For the constructive part of his theory, Apollinaris
appealed to the well-known Platonic division of human nature: body (<sarx, soma>),
soul (<psyche halogos>), spirit (<nous, pneuma, psyche logike>). Christ, he said,
assumed the human body and the human soul or principle of animal life, but not the
human spirit. The <Logos> Himself is, or takes the place of, the human spirit, thus
becoming the rational and spiritual centre, the seat of self- consciousness and self-
determination. By this simple device the Laodicean thought that Christ was safe, His
substantial unity secure, His moral immutability guaranteed, and the infinite value of
Redemption made self-evident. And in confirmation of it all, he quoted from St. John i,
14 and the Word was made flesh ; St. Paul, Phil., ii, 7, Being made in the likeness of
men and in habit found as a man , and I Cor., xv, 47 The second man, from heaven,
heavenly.
DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
It is to be found in the seventh anathema of Pope Damasus in the Council of Rome,
381. We pronounce anathema against them who say that the Word of God is in the
human flesh in lieu and place of the human rational and intellective soul. For, the
Word of God is the Son Himself. Neither did He come in the flesh to replace, but
rather to assume and preserve from sin and save the rational and intellective soul of
man. In answer to Apollinaris s basic principles, the Fathers simply denied the second
as Manichaean. As to the first, it should be remembered that the Councils of Ephesus
and Chalcedon had not yet formulated the doctrine of Hypostatical Union. It will then
appear why the Fathers contented themselves with offering arguments in rebuttal, e.g.:
1) Scripture holds that the <Logos> assumed all that is human -- therefore the
<pneuma> also -- sin alone excepted; that Jesus experienced joy and sadness, both
being properties of the rational soul. (2) Christ without a rational soul is not a man;
such an incongruous compound, as that imagined by Apollinaris, can neither be called
God-man nor stand as the model of Christian life. (3) what Christ has not assumed He
has not healed; thus the noblest portion of man is excluded from Redemption. They
also pointed out the correct meaning of the Scriptural passages alleged by Apollinaris,
remarking that the word <sarx> in St. John, as in other parts of Holy Writ, was used by
synecdoche for the whole human nature, and that the true meaning of St. Paul
(Philippians and I Corinthians) was determined by the clear teaching of the Pastoral
Epistles. Some of them, however, incautiously insisted upon the limitations of Jesus
knowledge as proof positive that His mind was truly human. But when the heresiarch
would have taken them farther afield into the very mystery of the Unity of Christ, they
feared not to acknowledge their ignorance and gently derided Apollinaris s
mathematical spirit and implicit reliance upon mere speculation and human reasoning.
The Apollinarist controversy, which nowadays appears somewhat childish, had its
importance in the history of Christian dogma; it transferred the discussion from the
Trinity into the Christological field; moreover, it opened that long line of Christological
debates which resulted in the Chalcedonian symbol.
BATIFFOL, <Litterature grecque> (Paris, 1898); VOISIN, <Revue d histoire eccl.>
(Louvain, 1901); DRASEKE, <Apollinaris von Laodicea> (Leipzig, 1892)
HERGENRETHER-KIRSCH, <Kirchengeschichte> (Freiburg, 1902), I; RAINY, <The
Ancient Catholic Church> (New Yor, 1902); HAUCK-HERZOG, <Realencycl. f. Prot.
Theol. u. Kirche> (3d ed.) I, 671-76. DENZINGER, <Enchiridion> (Wurzburg, 1895);
PETAVIUS, <Dogmata Theologica> (Pairs, 1867); TURMEL, <Histoire de la theologie
positive> (Paris, 1904)
J.F. SOLLIER
Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
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