Week 7 · AD 601–700
One Person, Two Wills
Monks, councils, and the will of Christ
This week
Christ’s wills and the church’s rules
- Hild’s Whitby monastery housed men and women and studied Scripture
- Councils debate whether Christ has one will or two
- Whitby settles the date of Easter for Northumbria
- Islam rises, and Muslim armies take Syria in 636
- We ask how the Lutheran Confessions judge each council
Saint Agnes and Pope Honorius I
Unknown artist, about 625–638, Rome. Honorius I holds a model of the church he rebuilt.
Church life
Monasteries, Scripture, and the Lord’s Supper
Irish monastic art
Book of Durrow
- The oldest complete decorated Gospel book from Ireland and Britain
- Probably made at or near Durrow Abbey, Ireland, about 650–700
- A carpet page (a full-page design) shows a cross in knotted ribbons, with no human figures
- Irish monks who made books like this also founded churches in northern England
Christ and the sacraments
Hild’s monastery at Whitby
- Hild’s monastery housed both men and women
- Hild had her community study Scripture
- Its men served at the altar, where Christ gives his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper
- Five of her monks became bishops
Controversy
Does Christ have one will or two?
Controversy
One will in Christ
- Monothelitism: the teaching that Christ has only one will
- Its supporters wanted to protect the unity of Christ’s person
- Critics said a Christ without a human will cannot save humans
- Emperor Heraclius backed it in 638 with the Ecthesis (“Exposition”), a statement of faith
- Emperor Constans II banned all debate in 648 with the Typos (“Type”), an order
- Pope Honorius I wrote letters that seemed to favor one will
Councils and events
Synods, councils, and an Easter decision
Councils and events
Rome’s 105 bishops teach two wills
- Pope Martin I gathered a regional synod (church assembly) in Rome, October 649
- Christ has two wills and two kinds of action, one divine and one human
- Through both, Christ saves us
- Rome does not number it as an ecumenical (worldwide) council
- Lutheran classification: Mixed. Accepts Canons 1–16. Rejects Canons 17–20
Councils and events
Easter settled at Whitby, 664
- King Oswiu of Northumbria held an assembly at Hild’s monastery
- The Irish-trained church and the Roman church dated Easter by different methods
- After hearing both sides, Oswiu chose the Roman method for his kingdom
- Easter marks Christ’s resurrection, so the date mattered to the church
- Both sides were Christian. This was not a change of religion
Councils and events
Christ has two natural wills
- Emperor Constantine IV opened the council on 7 November 680
- About 174 bishops took part by the end of the council
- Christ has a divine will and a human will, without dividing his one person
- The two wills do not fight each other
- Rome and the East number it as the sixth ecumenical council
- Lutheran classification: Received. Follows from the Confessions’ teaching on two natures
Councils and events
Hatfield synod, England, 679 or 680
- Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury led the English bishops
- They confessed the Trinity, the first five general (worldwide) councils, and the Lateran synod of 649
- Their statement says the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son
- Lutheran classification: Received. Confesses the Trinity and the two natures of Christ
Councils and events
Trullo, also called Quinisext
- In 692, Emperor Justinian II called about 215 Eastern bishops to Constantinople
- They wrote rules (canons) that the fifth and sixth councils had left out
- The East treats these canons as part of those councils. The West did not receive them
- Lutheran classification: Mixed. Accepts Canons 13, 82 and 84. Rejects Canons 12, 55 and 67
Major people
Teachers, bishops, and poets
Major people
Leaders and teachers of the century
- Maximus the Confessor (about 580–662) taught that Christ has a divine will and a human will
- Pope Martin I (649–655) gathered the Lateran synod of 105 bishops
- Pope Gregory the Great (590–604) sent Augustine to England
- Theodore of Tarsus became archbishop of Canterbury in 668 and led the Hatfield synod
- Hild (about 614–680), abbess (head of a monastery) at Whitby, supported the Irish Easter method
- Caedmon, a farm worker at Hild’s monastery and the first named English poet
- Sergius, Patriarch (bishop) of Constantinople, led the one-will side
- Constans II, emperor, banned debate in 648. Maximus was tried under him in 662
Wider world
Islam and the Christian world
Wider world
Islam rises beside the church
- Around AD 610, Muhammad reported his first revelation, according to Islamic tradition
- Islam, the Muslim faith, teaches that Jesus is a prophet, not the Son of God
- AD 622: the Hijra, Muhammad’s move from Mecca to Medina, starts the Islamic calendar
- 20 August 636: Muslim Arab forces defeat the Byzantine army at the Yarmuk River
- Syria then passes to Muslim rule
- The Dome of the Rock inscription, AH 72 (AD 691–692), calls Jesus only a messenger of God
Confessional Lutheran connection
What the Confessions teach
Christ and the sacraments
A true man who saves us
- Christ’s human will matters because he saved us as a true man
- Compare Constantinople III’s definition with Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration VIII.5–12
- Ask why the Confessions say his two natures act in fellowship
- Lord’s Supper: connect the one Christ who became human with his body and blood (Solid Declaration VIII.76–87)
Christ and the sacraments
Baptism and human customs
- Trullo, Canon 84, baptizes infants of doubtful baptism
- Augsburg Confession IX says children are to be baptized
- Ask how Baptism gives God’s grace to children too young to speak
- Whitby’s Easter dispute was over a human custom
- Augsburg Confession VII: the church’s unity does not need the same human traditions everywhere
For discussion
What does it mean for the Lord’s Supper that Christ’s two natures act in fellowship?