“Rightly dividing the word of truth”: discerning orthodoxy in the early church

Abstract

During the first four Ecumenical Councils, the Church had to face a number of controversies that threatened the fundamentals of its very own existence. These controversies were primarily of a Christological and Trinitarian nature. Consequently, these controversies were formally settled through the promulgation of doctrine, especially in the form of creedal formulas and anathemas. Notwithstanding this, certain heterodox teaching continued to persist in the Church due to various circumstances, primarily of a political nature. Being of such a fundamental nature, these doctrines address the very heart of the Church’s message, which is that of Divine Revelation, or the Encounter of the Divine with humanity. Such Revelation is communicated within the Church through the Sacred Scriptures and Tradition as mediated and interpreted through the Magisterium as the teaching office of the Church. Along the years, various theologians have attempted to determine the orthodoxy of such doctrines, or lack of it, by identifying various characteristics. Notwithstanding their methodological differences, there is a universal consensus that orthodoxy manifests itself as an organic and dynamic reality as the Church engages with an ever-changing world. While it encapsulates a past event, it points towards the eschatological Parousia.