360–381

Apollinaris of Laodicea and the Condemnation of His Christology

Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea, in his youth defended the Nicene creed and had once won Basil the Great over to it. Later he put forward a Christology that excluded a full human soul in Christ, and in 375 he ordained his follower Vitalius bishop of Antioch in defiance of Meletius and Paulinus.

His teaching was condemned by the Council of Alexandria in 362, by the Roman councils of 376 and 377 under Pope Damasus, and finally by the Council of Constantinople in 381. He was opposed chiefly by the Cappadocians, above all the two Gregorys.