Full house hears Coptic Metropolitan Bishoy

Tuesday 25 March

For the average Western theological student the word Chalcedon conjures up a chaotic and confusing series of ideas and events in church history where imperial and church politics, intrigues and compromises, forceful personalities and regional liturgical practices, all played a part in the formulation of a definition of faith that for all intents and purposes has provided a basis for unity between the major Christian traditions.

The prevalent perception is that, through the Council of Chalcedon (451AD), the bitter controversies over the Greek and Latin terms used to describe the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ which threatened schism were once and for all laid to rest.

The visit to Trinity College by His Eminence, Metropolitan Bishoy, the General Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, on Tuesday 25 March, was a gentle reminder for theological students that this view of Chalcedon is an historical misconception, and that Chalcedon ought not be relegated to the distant and prosaic past.

Not all churches accepted the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon and for 1,500 years the Coptic Orthodox Church, for example, has been estranged from communion with the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. It is only in recent years that an agreed statement on Christology has been reached through the Oriental Orthodox-Anglican Dialogue in Armenia, contributing to the promise of rapprochement between the various traditions.

Metropolitan Bishoy's public lecture titled, ‘The Christological Controversy and the Council of Chalcedon: An Oriental Orthodox Perspective and Recent Positive Development’, was warmly received by a capacity audience of well over 150 people in the Burge Lecture Theatre.


Dr David O’Brien
Academic Registrar and McMullin Lecturer in Theology