St. Ambrose here argues against
Apollinarianism, who separated the two natures in Christ and taught
that He should not be adored except in His Godhead, giving to the
orthodox the nickname of ἀνθρωπολάτραι.
The Apollinarians held that Christ was Θεὸς
σαρκοφόρος,
as Nestorians made Him ἄνθρωπος
Θεοφόρος, instead of
the proper Θεάνθρωπος.
Apollinaris said Christ is οὔτε
ἄνθρωπος
ἅπλος, οὔτε
Θεὸς, ἀλλὰ
Θεοῦ καὶ
ἀνθρώπου
μίξις. He denied the
complete human nature of our Lord, saying that the Logos supplied the
place of the anima rationalis. This stunted humanity could
not be accepted by the Church, as it would involve a merely partial
redemption. Christ must be a perfect man, in order to be a
perfect Redeemer.
The heresy was opposed by St.
Athanasius, St. Basil, and others, condemned in synods at Alexandria
362, Rome 373 and probably 382, Antioch 378 or 379, and decisively at
Constantinople in the second œcumenical council. See
Dict. Chr. Biog.; Blunt, Dict. of Sects, etc.; Hefele on
Council of Constantinople; St. Gregory of Nazianzus’ Letters on
the Apollinarian controversy in this series, p. 437 ff.