Faith Facts
The faith before the division: what Christ said, what the first Church held, and where the split actually came from.
Where we all begin
Before AD 451 there was one Orthodox Church across the world, in many languages, many rites, many calendars, and one faith. Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, Constantinople and Jerusalem were not five denominations. They were one Church with five great centers, arguing sometimes fiercely, and communing together.
That Church confessed the Trinity at Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381). It confessed the Virgin as Theotokos and condemned Nestorius at Ephesus (431). Both our families inherited all of it, intact.
That is the point that gets missed: nothing of the pre-451 inheritance was lost by either side. The Copts did not lose Nicaea. The Greeks did not lose Cyril, he is a saint in both calendars. Both kept the Creed, Ephesus, the Theotokos, the Eucharist, the episcopate, the fasts, the icons, and the monasticism Egypt gave the world.
The seven marks of the undivided faith
Every one of these is still standing in both families today. Each is given with the word of Christ first and the witness of the first Church second.
1. One God in Trinity
Christ said
"Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Matthew 28:19. And: "I and My Father are one." John 10:30.
The first Church
The Creed of Nicaea and Constantinople. St Athanasius, On the Incarnation. St Basil, On the Holy Spirit.
2. The Incarnation
Christ said
"I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." John 6:38. And: "Before Abraham was, I am." John 8:58.
The first Church
St Ignatius, Ephesians 7 and Smyrnaeans 1, insisting on real flesh against those who said Christ only seemed human. St Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
John 1:14
3. One Christ, perfect God and perfect man
Christ said
"He that has seen Me has seen the Father." John 14:9. And He wept (John 11:35), thirsted (John 19:28), and slept (Mark 4:38).
The first Church
Ephesus (431). St Cyril of Alexandria. The Formula of Reunion (433).
4. The Theotokos
Scripture
"Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Luke 1:43.
The first Church
Ephesus (431), received by both families.
5. The Church as one Body
Christ said
"Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18. And: "Other sheep I have... and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." John 10:16.
The first Church
St Ignatius, Philadelphians 4: one Eucharist, one altar, one bishop. St Cyprian, On the Unity of the Catholic Church.
6. The Mysteries
Christ said
"Unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 3:5. And: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you." John 6:53.
The first Church
The Didache 7 and 9. St Justin Martyr, First Apology 65-67, the earliest description of the Liturgy outside Scripture, and it is recognisably ours.
7. The life of repentance
Christ said
"Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3 and 13:5.
The first Church
The Didache 8, fasting on Wednesday and Friday. The Shepherd of Hermas, fasting and giving what is saved to the poor.
So what changed in 451?
Not one of those seven. What changed was the vocabulary chosen to defend the third, and how that vocabulary was heard in Alexandria, Antioch, Rome and Constantinople, in different languages, under an emperor, in the bitter aftermath of a previous council, with translations that did not carry the same weight in every tongue.
The Church split over how to say what it already believed together.