Best book in defence of Chalcedonian Christology

  • Thread starter Thread starter NJC89
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
N

NJC89

Guest
Hi all.

I am an Orthodox Christian, currently attending a Coptic Orthodox Church, but, as some of you may know from previous threads, have an itch to return to Catholicism from which i came.

At the moment i am studying the Council of Chalcedon heavily, and have read “The Council of Chalcedon re-examinded” By VC Samuel which is the most well known Oriental Orthodox defence of rejection of the Council of Chalcedon and Chalcedonian Christology.

I am also beginning to read Rome and the Eastern Churches by Aidan Nichols.

But in terms of Saints who wrote treatises around those times, i am wondering who would be the best to read on the defence of Chalcedon, as i don’t want to be too one-sided in my study.

Searching on Amazon would St Maximos the Confessor’s “On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ” be the bes defence of Chalcedonian Christology?

Thank you and God bless
 
Hello Nicholas,
This period of Church history always fascinated me and I am glad to find another seeking to research the spiritual environment surrounding the Council.

Off of the top of my head, I can definitely suggest the “Tome of Leo I” which was written by Pope Leo I as a letter to Bishop Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople. It was one of the primary sparks which ignited the debate which resulted in the Council of Chalcedon. The Chalcedonian Council Fathers agreed with it to such an extent that they did not believe that an additional treatise was needed to explain the Council’s position and instead simply endorsed the Tome with the full authority of the Council. They also did the same with two of St. Cyril of Alexandria’s letters, although I am not exactly sure which two.

The Tome of Leo can be found online for free in pdf form:
http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/3/20/stleosepistle00leouoft/stleosepistle00leouoft_bw.pdf

This includes two letters from Leo to Flavian and Flavian to Leo which sets the stage for the Tome and of which the Tome is a direct result.

God Bless,
Br. Ben, CRM
 
The link seems to be broken. If you search “Tome of Leo I pdf” on google, it should be the first result.

Or you can just copy the link from above, paste it into the url bar and remove the “https://” from the beginning of address.
 
Last edited:
My inclination (and my plan when I get around to this one, after the others) is actually to start with the joint statements by Rome and the OO a few years ago reconciling the teachings. There was a large portion of, “whoops! we’ve been talking past each other for a millennium in a half while saying the same thing, and the other wasn’t saying what we said it was saying”.

Having digested that, I’ll move on to the earlier bilateral errors . . .

hawk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top