The reception of Chalcedon in the West: a case study of Gregory the Great

Janet Sidaway

doi:10.1017/s0036930620000630

Abstract

AbstractGregory illustrates the complex reception of Chalcedon in the West in the way he dealt with the Istrian Schism caused by the Fifth Ecumenical Council of 553. At issue was whether Chalcedon's decisions in their entirety or its doctrinal statements alone were inviolable. Gregory strongly urged the latter, influenced by initial papal support for the Fifth Council, his conviction that only those within the church would be saved and pastoral anxiety about the imminence of the eschaton. However, his literary legacy also demonstrates his commitment to the soteriological significance of the Chalcedonian definition of the two natures of Christ.

Highlights

The longer term impact of the Council of Chalcedon (451) is receiving increasing attention as modern scholars reassess how interpretation of its definitions evolved to absorb new theological developments, while trying to maintain its status as the unchangeable reference point of christological doctrine
Most attention has been paid to the complex development of ‘Neo-Chalcedonianism’ in the East, before and after the Fifth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople in 553
Reception in the West has been comparatively neglected, perhaps under the influence of Aloys Grillmeier, who in 1987 stated: ‘Between 553 and 604 we find the West united in a single-minded but uncomplicated trust in Chalcedon.’1 My purpose in this article is to show through the writings of Gregory the Great that the reception of Chalcedon was far from ‘single-minded’ and ‘uncomplicated’

Summary

External threats

The letters record the dire conditions which affected the whole of western Europe in the second half of the sixth century, and attest to the struggles of the Catholic church itself amidst external attacks and internal threats from heresies and schisms. The influence of Rome within western Christianity had been greatly diminished by successive invasions of Germanic tribes, either Arian or pagan, through the fifth and sixth centuries. Gregory’s letters show that he worked tirelessly to save Rome from starvation and attack He used the income from his remaining properties, some of which were in Sicily, to buy food and to pay the soldiers to protect Rome, while writing frequently but fruitlessly to the emperor and to his representative in Ravenna, the exarch, begging for military help. He reassured Ethelbert that he did not think the end would come ‘in our days’, he emphasised that these events should be interpreted as signs that the end would come soon and that ‘we ought to be worried about our souls’.14 Gregory was concerned about the souls of those who defied the unity of the Catholic church by denying its interpretation of Chalcedon

Unity of the church

Schism in north Italy and Istria

Defining the two natures of Christ

Conclusion