Combatting Heresy - Two Greats of the East
Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus
(January 2 - Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus)
Today, we celebrate the feast day of two of the Great Church Fathers of the East: Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus. St. Basil was the Bishop of Caesaraea in the 4th Century in modern-day Türkiye. He shares a feast day with his brother’s (St. Gregory of Nyssa) friend Gregory of Nazianzus - who became the Patriarch of Constantinople. These great Eastern saints were well known in the East and West of Christianity and well respected.
St. Basil worked hard to defend the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of Arianism and the followers of Apollinaris of Laodicea. We will focus on what those heresies are a bit later in this reflection.
St. Gregory of Nazianzus, also called Gregory the Theologian, was classically trained as an orator and philosopher. He infused Greek culture into the early Church in a pronounced way and set the style of Byzantine theology and ecclesiological structure. Along with the Emperor Theodosius, he convened the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 381.
At the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325, the majority of the world’s bishops adhered to the Arian heresy, put forward by the heresiarch Arius. By the Council of Constantinople, the majority of the bishops were Nicene but the Arian heresy had not gone away. In many ways, this council solidified the position of Nicaea and put an end to the significant threat of Arianism. In fact, the creed that we say on Sunday is not the “Nicene Creed,” it is the “Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.” Well, actually, we have three more words - “and the Son” - to describe the procession of the Holy Spirit. But that is a whole other controversy and article (the “filioque”) which I will probably cover at a later date.
At any rate, what is Arianism and what was Apollinaris of Laodicea teaching?
Arianism was a fourth Century heresy that denied the full divinity of Jesus, claiming that He was not co-eternal with God and was actually a created being. He was convinced that monotheism could not be held without holding to a strict absolute unity of God. Arius did not believe that God could share an identical eternal essence with a created being, and so there had to be a time, in Arius’ view, when the Son was not. In other words, he did not hold to the co-eternal and consubstantial nature of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This view of Arianism was rejected as utter heresy by the Council of Nicaea in 325, even though the majority of bishops were Arian. The Holy Spirit guides and guards the Church from error on matters of Faith and Morals. So, even in the bleakest ecclesial circumstances, we can hope in the Lord to see us through - a good reminder for today, perhaps. Arianism hung on like a parasite for several more decades before being finally silenced at the Council of Constantinople in 381. Though, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the false religion of Islam began in the 7th Century as a heresy that looked an awful lot like Arianism. Also, the modern post-Christian false religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses hold that Jesus is a created being - which echoes Arianism. This also goes to show that if someone comes up with a “new” idea in Christianity, it is probably just some old heresy making a resurgence.
The other heresy worth mentioning is Apollinarianism, begun by the 4th Century bishop Apollinaris of Laodicea. This was another heresy condemned by the Council of Constantinople in 381. Apollinaris held that in the incarnation, the divine Word took the place of the human mind and rational soul in Jesus Christ. He believed that Jesus had a human body and a divine spirit but did not have a human mind. He thought that the divinity of the Logos (the Word) served as the intellectual power in Jesus. He held this because he did not want to risk compromising the divine nature.
The orthodox Faith, on the other hand, holds that Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine - with a complete human nature, including a human mind and soul. The complete union of the divine and human natures in the person of Jesus Christ have no confusion or mixture. This view was held by the Council of Constantinople and further clarified at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. To learn more about the Incarnation, check this out, if you haven’t already:
And remember, it’s still Christmas! So, Merry Christmas!
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