06_person_1215_Constantinople

At the Nicaea council, it was established that Jesus is fully God. At the Constantinople council, it was declared that Jesus is also fully man, with a human body and soul. There was still opposition from the Arians, who denied the deity of Christ. Apollinaris, a supporter of Athanasius, argued for Christ's deity but denied his full humanity. Gregory of Nazianzus countered by saying that without a human soul, our bodies cannot be healed. In 381, the council of Constantinople rejected Apollinarianism. So that was Nicaea, Jesus is fully God, eternal with God and the same essence as God. Next up is Constantinople, Jesus is fully man. He has the body of a man and also the soul of a man. So after Nicaea, Athanasius and the others still had to argue against Arianism quite a bit. The big fight was for the deity of Christ. One of Athanasius' friends against the Arians was a guy by the name of Apollinaris. But in trying to argue for Christ's deity, he denied the full humanity of Christ. He said that when Jesus took on flesh, he just wrapped himself in the body of a man, kind of like putting on clothes. But he still retained the soul of the eternal word. So a human flesh but divine mind. Gregory of Nazianzus responded saying that whatever is not assumed cannot be healed. If Jesus didn't have the soul of a man, then our bodies cannot be healed. Strong argument, right? So he resided over the council of Constantinople in 381. In 381, the first candidate of Constantinople rejected Apollinarianism by name.