Św. Augustyn prekursorem soboru w Chalcedonie (451 r.). Zarys doktryny o communicatio idiomatum w dziele „In Johannis Evangelium tractatus CXXIV”

Abstract

Augustine’s knowledge about two natures in Christ stems from biblical texts. His teaching in this regard is developed and formed on the grounds of his polemic with the then heresies. They questioned the genuine and complete manhood of Christ or negated His divinity. Teaching about Christ, he points to the triad in its ontological dimension: the Word, the soul, and the body. Therefore these three elements constitute Christ in one person: the soul and the body of Christ are united with the Word of God. The Bishop of Hippo takes the teaching about one Christ in its trinitarian perspective. He explains that the reception of human nature by the Second Person of the Holy Trinity did not make yet another person, separate from the other two. Therefore speaking about God, we are still speaking about the Trinity, and not about “four persons.” In his work In Iohannis evangelium tractatus CXXIV we find many enunciations in which Augustine is referring to the personal unity of Christ, and speaks clearly how the Word influences man: Christ sanctified man in the Word; human nature has thus been elevated. While believing in a personal unification of natures, the Bishop of Hippo often uses a communication of idioms, i.e. communicatio idiomatum. The truth about two natures in Christ implies also the actions proper to both natures. On their basis on can conclude whether Christ had performed a given deed as God or a man. The fact that St. Augustine presented his teaching about the two natures in one Person of Christ, in a clear and concise manner, shows that he had contributed immensely to the working out of one of the principal Christological formula, namely the communicatio idiomatum, as it was defined at the Council in Chalcedony (451). For this reason he was approved as the precursor of this council.