Spirit-based Christology in Antirrheticus Adversus Apolinarium

Abstract

Abstract This chapter turns to Gregory’s second major christological treatise, Antirrheticus adversus Apolinarium. Apolinarius argued that the divinity and humanity of Christ were united via the ‘Spirit’. This chapter shows that Gregory offered his own alternative account of Christ’s unity via the Holy Spirit’s anointing of Christ in eternity, at conception, and in the post-resurrection transformation of Christ’s flesh. In this way, the Holy Spirit grounds both the ‘static’ and ‘dynamic’ unity of the divine and human natures in Christ. Antirrheticus adversus Apolinarium therefore presents us with a significantly more coherent picture of the relationship between Gregory’s trinitarian theology and his christology than we find in Contra Eunomium III.