Early forms of Antiochene Christology with special emphasis on the Odes of Solomon and Syriac Acts of Thomas

Tenny Thomas, Oxford

The Chalcedonian Definition of Faith, with its dogma of two natures, perfect Humanity and perfect Divinity, united in one prosopon, seems to agree with the central notion of classical Antiochene Christologyas developed by Theodore of Mopsuestia. But while the terms in which the Chalcedonian fathers and the exegete from Antioch formulated their belief in Christ seem identical, the underlying problem was quite different for Theodore and his Alexandrian adversaries. The problem of the unity of Manhood and Divinity in Christ was Theodore not a philosophical issue of contrary attributes of a single person, but rather a moral question of the reconcilement of divine providential grace and freedom of human will. How can divine grace and human obedience co-exist in the actions of one single person, both of the only Son and of all sons and daughters of God who participate through imitation in his Sonship?

This orientation of Antiochene Christology towards the moral issue of sin and how it may be overcome through free obedience to God's law, a victory which is at the same time the work of God, who thereby restores Man to a state of sinlessness and immortality, remained the leading force in the theological reflection of Theodore of Mopsuestia. The sources of Theodore's characteristic views are usually sought in Platonic commonplaces about the body-soul dualism that were current in his time and formed a part of the standard education, and in his exegetical reflections on and elaborations of the biblical themes of divine law and human free will and obedience.

Third century writings from the Syriac-speaking area east of Antioch, provide a clear link between second century views of Christ's person and work and the classical Antiochene Christology as it was developed at the end of the fourth century in the Antiochene School. The Syriac Odes of Solomon and Acts of Thomas are the main third century writings from that area and provide the constituent elements in the historical developments mentioned.

The 42 Odes of Solomon present in highly poetical but sophisticatedly phrased wording a description of the state of salvation, in which anthropological and christological notions are closely interrelated. The Acts of Thomas show christological dualism and touch of diophysitism as the Odes of Solomon, with which they share certain christological titles. The similarities cry out for historical explanation. And this paper intends to explain the Christology of the Odes of Solomon and Acts of Thomas and how it influenced the theological concepts of Theodore of Mopsuestia.

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