Catechesis – Page 3 – Faith Unto Ages

The Early Church Fathers: Were they Miaphysite?

A common misconception about the Oriental Orthodox Church is that it’s Christology is ‘Monophysite’, meaning, that She followers the erroneous teachings of Eutyches of Constantinople that Jesus’ humanity had disappeared into His Divinity.

On the contrary, the Church teaches that Jesus Christ is Fully God and Fully Man; but One Concrete and Composite Nature from Two. This form of Christology is known as ‘Miaphysitism’, which has its basis in the teachings of the Early Church Fathers.

Below is an explanation of our Church’s Christology is more detail by His Holiness Pope Shenouda the Third, followed by a Florilegium on this dogmatic teaching.

Repent and Believe in The Gospel!

The word Gospel comes from the Greek word evaggelion (εὐαγγέλιον) which means “Good news” or “Glad Tidings”. Within the ancient & pre-Christian Greco-Roman empire, it was common to see this word used when a king was praised for their accomplishments, military victory, or ascension to a throne.

For example, the Roman senator Paullus Fabius Maximus issued an edict in honor of Caesar Augustus. He declared that his birthday should be considered as the beginning of the year on the provincial calendar since he brought peace to the Roman Empire. Because of this, his birth was considered to be the beginning of “εὐαγγέλιον”.

Reflection: Why was Jesus Baptized? The Feast of Epiphany & Biblical Catechesis

My brothers and sisters, today I wanted to share some catechesis for the Holy Feast of Epiphany:

As we know, we celebrate the baptism of Jesus within the Jordan river. But why? Is not baptism used for the remission of sin? Was Jesus not sinless? Below I will answer the reasons why our Lord was baptized.

1. Christ was baptized to fulfill the Old Testament story of Exodus. How so? Because: Just as God called the Israelites out of the land Egypt through water (Exodus 12) to which they later passed through the Jordan to enter the promised land (Book of Numbers), so has Christ been called out of Egypt (Matt 2:15), to also later pass through the Jordan through His baptism to show that He is the fulfillment of Israel. Thus His words to John: “It is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt 3:15).