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The Chalcedonian Creed (451)

 

 


Introduction                                                                                                                                 

This creed was adopted at the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held at Chalcedon, located in what is now Turkey, in 451, as a response to certain heretical views concerning the nature of Christ, namely Apollinarianism (lessening Christ's manhood), Nestorianism (endangering the unity of Christ's unique person), and Eutychianism (absorbing of the human into the divine). It established the orthodox view that Christ has two natures (human and divine) that are unified in one person. The Christological settlement at Chalcedon illustrates the catholicity of the theology of the ancient church.


The Creed of Chalcedon

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

The same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood;
Truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body;
Consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us,
Without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead,

And in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten,
To be acknowledged in two natures, not confused, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence,

Not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

 

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