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APPENDIX A.'

ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIANS OF S. THOMAS.

THERE are two points in connection with the doctrine of the Syrians of Malabar which seem to require special notice. They are said to be Jacobites; and to adhere to the doctrine professed by the Eastern Church generally in regard to the procession of the Holy Spirit.

1. The Jacobite heresy, as the reader has already been reminded, is said to acknowledge only one Nature and one Person in Christ; but it would be a gross misconception of the teaching of the Jacobite doctors, to understand them to affirm that our Lord had only the Nature of God by itself, or that of Man by itself. This is as far as possible from being the case. What they really held is thus gathered by Asseman (tom. ii. p. 25) from the writings of one Xenajas, who was Bishop of Hierapolis in the sixth century :—

"Filius, inquit, Qui unus ex Trinitate est, univit sibi personaliter corpus animâ rationali et mente præditum, in utero Dei parentis. . . . In hoc Christus natus, in hoc nutritus, in hoc passus, in hoc mortuus. Divinitas Filii nec passa nec mortua. Hæc autem omnia non apparenter, non phantasticè, sed vere et naturaliter gesta. Denique Verbum non in carnem conversum, aut cum eâ commistum, vel confusum, neque ab ea divisum; et vice versâ; sed eo modo humanitati unitum, quo anima rationalis corpori: et quemadmodum ex animâ rationali et corpore una conflatur humana natura; ita ex

a Referred to at p. 110.

TENETS OF THE JACOBITES.

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humanitate Christi et divinitate una consurgit natura, non quidem simplex, sed composita, seu, ut recentiores

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plex, vel ut Xenajas loquutione S. Cyrilli in Epist. i. ad Successum abutitur, post unitionem in Christo una tantummodò Verbi incarnata natura."

Thus then they hold "that there is one Nature in Christ, compounded of the Divinity and the Humanity, but entirely devoid of conversion, confusion, and commixture;" or, as the doctrine is briefly expressed in the title of an Apologetic Treatise by the Jacobite Patriarch Elias, written in the eighth century, "Unam Dei Verbi incarnati naturam in Christo post unionem, salvis proprietatibus, (?) profitentur.”

These quotations from Asseman will serve to illustrate the bearing of such passages as those found at pp. 8, 62, and 110 of the Liturgies on this very important subject; and it may be interesting to compare with them the language of our own Article, which states the Catholic doctrine in the following terms :-"That two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, the Godhead and the Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man."

The Jacobites, it will be observed, acknowledge the two Natures in Christ as plainly as we do; but whereas we are taught that they "are joined together" in the one Person of Christ, they maintain that they were so "united" in Him by the Incarnation, as to become.

b Bibliotheca Orientalis, vol. ii. pp. 25, 95.

ONE NATURE, compounded of the two; one, yet twofold-Una Natura Duplex-but "without any conversion, confusion, or commingling."

It is remarkable that two of the expressions last quoted are employed in the decree of the Council of Chalcedon declaring the Catholic faith; and, further, that the term "salvis proprietatibus," which has been already noticed as having been adopted by the Monophysites, has its counterpart also in the Greek of the same decree. The words are: -Ένα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν υἱόν, κύριον, μονογενῆ, ἐν δύο φύσεσιν ἀσυγχύτως, ἀτρέπτως, ἀδιαιρέτως, ἀχωρίστως γνωριζόμενον, οὐδαμοῦ τῆς τῶν φύσεων διαφορᾶς ἀνῃρημένης διὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν, σωζομένης δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς ἰδιότητος ἑκατέρας φύσεως καὶ εἰς ἓν πρόσωπον καὶ μίαν ὑπόστασιν συντρεχούσης, κ.τ.λ.

c

Whatever, therefore, may have been the distinctive features of the earlier form of the Eutychian heresy, the later Monophysites (though adhering to the general modes of expression with which this name is associated) appear to have guarded their language with the greatest care, by the use of terms intended to maintain the conception of a distinct existence of the two Natures in the one Person of Christ, while at the same time they asserted their union. They recognize them, not as co-existing only, but as actually united; neither Nature absorbed in the other, but the two together forming by their union a tertium quid, if we may reverently so speak, yet "without confusion," "and so that the properties of each are preserved.”

I take the quotation from Bishop Beveridge, on Art. II.,

p. 97.

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If the foregoing be a correct description of the tenets maintained by the Jacobites, their heterodoxy would appear to consist, not so much in a denial of the Catholic faith, as in the addition which they have made thereto, by affirming more than it affirms.

It has been maintained however by some, and happily not without reason, that the difference between the orthodox and Jacobite doctrine on this subject exists rather in the mode of expression employed, than in real meaning; inasmuch as the union asserted by the latter is so limited by the use of qualifying terms, as to signify much the same thing as the conjunction or co-existence held by the orthodox Churches. The controversy (like so many others that have disturbed the Church's peace) appears to have been due, in a great measure, to an overweening love of logical precision, and a desire to define in terms what is beyond the reach of reason or language; and we may be heartily thankful that the Catholic doctrine has been handed down to us in the more cautious, and therefore more reverent, expressions of our own Article, and in the grand plain declarations of the Athanasian Creed.

The main point, however, with which we are concerned, is the practical question, whether the present creed of the Malabar Syrians on this vital point is such as to present a bar to intercommunion with them. That it has not been so considered by many eminent members of the Church of England, is plain from the historical sketch in the preceding pages; but perhaps only because their attention had not been closely drawn to the subject. Yet it may be found that the Syrians

in Malabar are not so thoroughly committed to the opinions condemned at the Council of Chalcedon as to present an insuperable obstacle to intercommunion. "Notwithstanding their profession of Jacobitism,” writes Dr. Buchanan, "they seem to explain it away in words; for they spoke of Christ's human nature." (Chr. Res., p. 129.) They clearly acknowledge both the divinity and humanity joined together in the one Person of Christ; and there is abundant evidence that they accept in its fulness the doctrine of atonement by His vicarious sufferings. See pp. 11, 33, 60, 62, 63, &c., the passages on pp. 62, 63 being especially remarkable.

Still, it becomes a question of deep anxiety whether we can, without danger of betraying the faith, hold communion with a Church whose clergy, it is affirmed,

renounce and abjure," in common with the worst heretics, "the Synod of Chalcedon," and Leo, who presided at that Synod; while at the same time they promise adherence to Gregory of Alexandria, Dioscorus, and Severus, who are said to have supported the Eutychian heresy d.

It is possible that these and similar passages are retained by the Syrians in Malabar, not so much from a strong attachment to them as integral parts of their Offices, as by the habitual use of accustomed forms; and, if so, the prospect of their being induced to omit

d Address of the Metran to the Candidates for the Priesthood, at their ordination. See it in the Madras Church Missionary Record, vol. iv. 134, and (probably) in Hough's Christianity in India. Compare pp. 77, 78 of the MSS.

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