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Nature of Christ, book by H. H. Pope Shenouda III

3- Which of the two natures the Church of Alexandria denies?

 

St-Takla.org Image: Icon of Saint Athanasius the Coptic Pope, Athanasius of Alexandria, modern Greek art. صورة في موقع الأنبا تكلا: أيقونة يونانية حديثة تصور القديس أثناسيوس الإسكندري - البابا أثاناسيوس الرسولي.

St-Takla.org Image: Icon of Saint Athanasius the Coptic Pope, Athanasius of Alexandria, modern Greek art.

صورة في موقع الأنبا تكلا: أيقونة يونانية حديثة تصور القديس أثناسيوس الإسكندري - البابا أثاناسيوس الرسولي.

We wonder which of the two natures the Church of Alexandria denies?

Is it the Divine nature? Certainly not, for our Church was the most fervent defender against the Arian heresy in the Council of Nicea, held in the year 325 AD, as well as before and after that. Or is it The Lord's human nature that the Church of Alexandria denies? St. Athanasius of Alexandria resolved this entirely in the oldest and greatest book on this subject The Incarnation of the Word,

The expression "One Nature" does not indicate the Divine nature alone nor the human nature alone, but it indicates the unity of both natures into One Nature which is "The Nature of the Incarnate Logos".

The same applies when we speak about our human nature which comprises two united natures: the soul and the body. Thus, man's nature is not the soul alone nor the body alone, but their union in one nature called human nature. We will discuss this point in detail later.

St. Cyril the Great taught us not to talk about two natures after their unity.

So we can say that the Divine nature united hypostatically with the human nature within the Virgin's womb, but after this unity we do not ever speak again about two natures of Christ. In fact, the expression "two natures" implies in itself division or separation, and although those who believe in "the two natures" admit unity, the tone of separation was obvious in the Council of Chalcedon - a matter which prompted us to reject the Council and caused the exile of St. Dioscorus of Alexandria.

Before we go further in explaining the subject of the One Natures and the two natures of Christ, we would like to give a brief description of the widely known heresies concerning the Nature of Christ.


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