From the Incarnation of the Logos to the Incorruptibility of his Body. Johannine exegesis in the Aphthartodocetic Controversy and its prehistory

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hans-Ulrich Weidemann
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 452265217

This project combines Johannine exegesis, including its reception in ancient Christianity and especially in the Miaphysite movement, with research on the so-called Aphthartodocetic controversy (6th c.)– a controversy that not only elicited an intra-miaphysite schism with crucial effects on Eastern Christianity, but also reached the Chalcedonian Imperial Church. In the initial conflict between the Miaphysite bishop Julian of Halicarnassus († after 527) and the Patriarch Severos of Antioch (ca. 465–538) about the question, if Christ’s body was incorruptible and impassible by nature already before his resurrection, a decisive role was played by competing interpretations of christologically crucial passages of the Gospel of John – and this applies to both sides of the controversy. In this perspective, the project shall first analyse the extant documents concerning the controversy, and subsequently its repercussions beyond the boundaries of the “Miaphysite Commonwealth”, taking as an example Leontios of Byzantium. Then, a fundamental objective shall be to reconstruct the controversy’s exegetical pre-history. We will first look at the preceding generation(s) of Miaphysite exegetes of the Gospel of John, i.e. Jacob of Serugh and Philoxenos of Mabbug, and then, most importantly, at Cyril of Alexandria, the critical “person of reference” not just for all later Miaphysite authors, but also for their Dyophysite, (Neo)chalcedonian opponents. Seeing that Cyril, but also John Chrysostome, were considered as first-rate authorities in the 6th century, taking their commentaries into account will allow us to observe how “first-hand” exegesis partially developed into a “secondary” discourse drawing on the authority of earlier exegetes. Moreover, the study of Aphthartodocetism – as a kind of an extreme case study – allows for a new analysis of a core problem not just of Miaphysite christologies, but also of Chalcedonian ones: that is, the marginalisation of Jesus’ concrete corporality with its frailty and vulnerability. The question is, to which extend was this marginalisation conditioned by passages of the canonical text of the Gospel of John (and by their interpretation by such authorities as Cyril), or was counterbalanced by other passages of that same Gospel. Furthermore, the project takes into consideration, by way of case studies, the later history of Aphthartodocetism down to the 7th century, particularly in Armenia, but also on the Arabian Peninsula, i.e. in the environment, in which the Qur’an came forth. In terms of scriptural exegesis, the project shall contribute to a clearer distinction between different individual components of Johannine Christology, which is composed by elements deriving from heterogeneous traditions and is constructed according to principles that still remain a matter of controversy.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants