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Apollinaris the Younger, also known asApollinaris of Laodicea andApollinarius (Ancient Greek:Ἀπολλινάριος;[1] died 382[2]), was a bishop ofLaodicea in Syria. He is best known as a noted opponent ofArianism. Apollinaris's eagerness to emphasize thedeity ofJesus and the unity of his person led him to deny the existence of a rational humansoul in Christ's human nature. This view came to be calledApollinarism. It was condemned by theFirst Council of Constantinople in 381.[3]
He collaborated with his father,Apollinaris the Elder, in reproducing theOld Testament in the form ofHomeric andPindaric poetry and theNew Testament after the fashion ofPlatonicdialogues, when the emperor,Julian, had forbidden Christians to teach theclassics. He is best known, however, as a noted opponent ofArianism. Apollinaris's eagerness to emphasize thedeity ofJesus and the unity of his person led him so far as to deny the existence of a rational humansoul (νοῦς,nous) in Christ's human nature, replaced in him by theLogos, and so his body was a glorified and spiritualized form of humanity.[3]
The orthodox position (maintained byCatholicism,Eastern Orthodoxy, theChurch of the East,Oriental Orthodoxy,Anglicanism, and most churches withinProtestantism) is that God as hisLogos assumed human nature in its entirety, including the νοῦς, as only thus could he be humanity's perfect redeemer and prototype. It was alleged that theApollinarian approach implieddocetism: if theGodhead without constraint swayed the manhood, there was no possibility of a real human probation or of a real advance in Christ's manhood. The position was accordingly condemned by several synods, in particular by theFirst Council of Constantinople, in 381.[3]
That did not prevent it from having a considerable following. After Apollinaris's death, it divided into two sects, the more conservative taking its name (Vitalians) from Vitalis, the Apollinarist claimant to the see of Antioch. The other (Polemeans) added the further assertion that the two natures were so blended that even the body of Christ was a fit object of adoration.[3] The Apollinarian emphasis on the unity of human and divine in Christ and on the divine element in that unity was later restated in the form ofEutychianism and persisted in what was later the radically anti-Nestorianmonophysite school.
Although Apollinaris was a prolific writer, scarcely anything has survived under his own name. However, a number of his writings are concealed under the names of orthodox Fathers, e.g. ἡ κατὰ μέρος πίστις, long ascribed toGregory Thaumaturgus. They have been collected and edited by Hans Lietzmann.[3]
Two letters of his correspondence withBasil of Caesarea are also extant, but there is scholarly debate regarding their authenticity because they record the orthodox theologian Basil asking Apollinaris for theological advice on the orthodox termhomoousios. The concerns may be unfounded, as before Apollinaris began promulgating what were seen as heretical doctrines, he was a highly respected bishop and a friend ofAthanasius and Basil.[2]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Apollinaris".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 183. This cites: