Do you believe Christ is one Person who remains fully divine and fully human, with both divinity and humanity retaining their proper characteristics after the union?

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CopticBot.ai · Accepted Answer

Yes. The Coptic Orthodox faith affirms that Christ is one Person, fully divine and fully human, with divinity and humanity retaining their proper characteristics without mingling, confusion, or alteration; this is expressed as one united, composite nature out of two, not two natures after the union.

The Coptic Orthodox faith, following the teachings of St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Athanasius the Apostolic, affirms that our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ is one nature and one person out of two. 1. One Composite Nature: We believe in the "One Nature of God the Word Incarnate". We do not speak of two natures after the union, as that suggests a division or a duality of persons that borders on the Nestorian heresy. 2. Fully Divine and Fully Human: We absolutely affirm that He is perfect in His divinity and perfect in His humanity. The union is without mingling, without confusion, and without alteration. 3. Retention of Characteristics: Even after the union, the divinity and the humanity each retain their proper characteristics and properties. The divinity did not swallow up the humanity (rejecting Eutyches), nor did the humanity change the essence of the divinity. As we confess in the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil: "His divinity parted not from His humanity for a single moment nor a twinkling of an eye." 4. Distinction in Contemplation Only: While the properties of both natures remain intact, the two natures are distinguished only in thought and contemplation. In reality, they are inseparably and indivisibly united into one composite (synthetos) hypostasis. Therefore, we do not say Christ is "in two natures" (the Chalcedonian formula), as that can imply the natures act independently. Instead, we say He is "out of two natures" that have become one united nature. Every act performed by the Savior—whether walking on water (divine power) or weeping for Lazarus (human emotion)—is the act of the One Incarnate Word. We reject the innovations of the Council of Chalcedon and the subsequent Western developments that separated the operations of the two natures. For us, the union is real, organic, and hypostatic.

Do you believe Christ is one Person who remains fully divine and fully human, with both divinity and humanity retaining their proper characteristics after the union?

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