Page 93 - THE ARMENIAN CHURCH_Neat

94 The Armenian Church

the sense of person composed of two
natures. Therefore, the expression of two
natures may imply for the Armenian Church
division in Christ. We can distinguish ‘two
natures’ in the abstract only if we first accept
one nature in the concrete. Christ is not "in"
two natures (en duo physesin), as the Council
of Chalcedon affirmed, but "of" two natures
(ek duo physeon). This has been the argument
of the Armenian christology, which is ex-
tremely sensitive to any formulation or in-
terpretation that may, even implicitly, sug-
gest the idea of duality after the incarnation.
The Armenian christology is firmly based on
the teachings of St. Cyril of Alexandria who
defined the unity of the divine and human
natures of Christ through his well-known
formula, "one incarnate nature of the Word of
God." The Armenian Church strenuously
maintains the inseparable oneness of two
natures and not juxtaposition or even uni-
fication of two natures. As to the unity of
Christ's natures, it rejects any sort of con-
fusion or mingling taught by Eutyches, and
separation of the natures taught by Nes-
torius. And in describing the mystery of the
hypostatic unity of divinity and humanity,
the four Chalcedonian adverbs have always
been used by the Armenian christology:
without confusion, without change, without
division, and without separation.
Following St. Cyril of Alexandria, the