the history of heresies, and their refutation - Catholic Apologetics ...

Pontio Pilato, passus, et sepultus est; tertia die resurrexit a mortuis secundum Scripturas, & c. Et in
Spiritum Sanctum Dominum et vivificantem, ex Patre procedentem, et cum Patre et Filio adorandum et
conglorificandum qui locutus est per Prophetas, & c" (3). Nicephorus (4) relates, that St. Gregory of
Nyssa laid down the declaration of the Council in these words : " Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum et
vivificantem, ex Patre procedentem, cum Patre et Filio coadorandum et conglorificandum, qui locutus est
per Prophetas" (Act. Conc. Const.) When this was read in the Council, all the bishops cried out : " This is
the faith of all; this is the orthodox faith; this we all believe" (5).
75. We have now to speak of Apollinaris, who was condemned in the same Council of Constantinople. He
was Bishop of Laodicea, and St. Jerome’s master in sacred literature; but he broached another heresy,
concerning the person of Jesus Christ. His principal error, as Noel Alexander tells us, on the authority of
St. Epiphanius, St. Leo, St. Augustine, and Socrates (6), was, that he supposed the human nature of Jesus
Christ only half human nature he supposed that Christ had no soul, but that, in place of one, the Word
made flesh answered as a soul to his body. He softened down this doctrine a little after, for then he
admitted that Christ was not without a soul altogether, for he possessed that part of the sensitive soul,
with which we see and feel in common with all other sensitive beings; but that he had not the reasoning
part, or the mind, and the Word, he said, supplied that in the Person of Christ. This error is founded on
the false philosophy of Plato, who wished to establish in man three substances, to wit the body, the soul,
and the mind.
(3) Cabassutius, Not. Concil. p. 136; Orsi, t. 81 18, n. 71, & seq.; Fleury, I 18, n. 1, & seq.; Nat. Alex. T. 1.
diss 37 ar 2 (4) Niceff 12, c. 2.(5) Bernini, t. 1, p. 316. (6) Nat. t. 8, ar. 3, ex St. Epiph. Her. 77; St. Leo, Ser. de
Nat. Dom.; St Aug de her. c. 55; Socrat. l, 2, c. 36.
76. The Apollinarists added three other errors : First, that the body of Christ, born of Mary, was
consubstantial with the Divinity of the Word, and hence it followed that the Divinity of the Word was
passible, and suffered, in reality, torments and death. Eranistes, an Apollinarist, contended that the
Divine Nature suffered in the flesh, just as the soul suffers, conjoined with the body, in the sufferings of
the body. But even in this illustration he was in error, because the body without the soul is not capable of
suffering, and, when the body is hurt, it is the soul that suffers in reality, by the communication it has
with the body; so that, according to their system, the Divine Nature would suffer, if the flesh, supposed to
be consubstantial to the Divinity, was hurt. The second error was, that the Divine Word did not take flesh
from the Virgin, but brought it down from heaven, and, on that account, they called the Catholics, who
believed that the body of Christ was taken from Mary, Homicolists, and accused them of establishing, not
a Trinity, but a Quaternity, of Persons, because, besides the three Divine Persons, they admitted a fourth
substance, entirely distinct, Christ-God, and Man. Thirdly The last error was, that the Divine substance of
the Word was converted into flesh; but these three errors, N. Alexander says, were not taught by
Apollinaris, but by his disciples (7). Apollinaris erred also in the doctrine of the Trinity, by teaching that
there were different degrees of dignity in the Trinity itself. He calls the Holy Ghost great, the Son greater,
and the Father greatest. He, likewise, taught the errors of the Millenarians, and said that the Jewish rites
ought to be resumed (8). Fleury and Orsi, like wise, give an account of his heresy (9).
77. The heresy of Apollinaris, especially that part of it referring to the Mystery of the Incarnation, was
already condemned, in the year 362, by St. Athanasius, in the Council of Alexandria; it was also
condemned, in 373, by St. Damasus in the Roman Council, and the same year Bernini tells us that
Apollinaris died, the laughing-stock of the people, even of the children (10). An author, quoted by St.
Gregory of Nyssa (11), relates, that Apollinaris, being in his dotage, gave the book containing his
doctrines to a lady of Antioch, a disciple of his, to keep for him; this came to the knowledge of St.
Ephraim the Syrian, who was then at Antioch, and he borrowed the book for a few days, from the lady :
he took it home and pasted the leaves one to the other, so that nothing could open them, folded up the
book, and sent it back again to the lady.
(7) Nat. ibid. (8) Nat. ibid. (11) St. Greg. Niss. Serm. de St. Ephrem(9) Fleury, t. 3, l. 17, n. 225; Orsi,. t: 7, I
16, n. 115. (10) Bernin. t. 2, s. 4, c. 8.
Soon after this he had a Conference with Apollinaris, and they began to dispute about the doctrines of his
book, in presence of a great many persons. Apollinaris, weakened in his intellect, on account of his great
age, said that the answers to St. Ephraim’s arguments would be all found in his book, and he sent to the
lady for it; but when he tried to open the first page he found it pasted up, and the whole book just like a
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