RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESas expounded by Theodore.^90 The Synod of Joseph in 554 reaffirmed
the Nicene Creed and quoted the Chalcedonian Creed again.^91 The
influence of Theodore was increasing in the late sixth century. The
Synod of Ezechiel, held in 575, described Christ as the only Son of
God, in two natures, God and man, who "in the envelope of his
humanity" had paid the debt for human sin by his death on the cross.92
The real triumph of Theodore's Christology came in reaction to
issues raised within the church by Wnana of Adiabene. Because of
increasing Monophysite penetration in Iraq, I:Ienana seems to have
been trying to find some common ground between Chalcedonians and
Monophysites. He rejected the exegesis of Theodore in favor of that
of St. John Chrysostom, held that sin was part of human nature, and
was attracted to the concept of the hypostatic union of the divine and
human in Christ as presented by its supporters and adopted by the
Council of Chalcedon. But he carried the concept of the hypostatic
union to Monophysite conclusions, speaking of one nature and one
hypostasis (Syr., qenoma, substance) in Christ, accepted the suffering
and death of God in the flesh via the communicatio idiomatum, and
admittel;! the theotokos. Under pressure, his followers accepted the
doctrine of two natures in Christ but insisted on one hypostasis.^93
It was in this situation, and with more than a little factionalism
involved, that I:Ienana's enemies insisted, in turn, on not only two
natures but also two hypostases (Syr. qenome) in one prosopon of
Christ, and on the formal adoption of the exegesis of Theodore of
Mopsuestia. In 585 the Synod of Isho'yahbh I combined an apology
for Theodore with an attack on both I:Ienana and the Monophysites.
The creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople (381) were accepted along
with the doctrine that Christ acquired his divinity from the Father and
his humanity from Mary, who was called "always virgin." The doc-
trine of assumptus homo was also accepted.^94 In 595 the Synod of
Sabhrlsho' declared that orthodoxy was founded on the doctrines of
the blessed Theodore, the Interpreter, and that Christ was born spir-
90 Assemani, BO, III(l), 36; Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 545-46, 556; V66bus, School
of Nisibis, p. 168.
91 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 97-98,355-56.
92 Ibid., pp. 113,372.
93 L. Duchesne, L'Eglise au VI'Siecle (Paris, 1925), p. 325; Hoffmann, Persischer
Miirtyrer, p. 117; Labourt, Christianisme, pp. 214-15; Scher, "Histoire nestorienne,"
II(2), 505-6; V66bus, School of Nisibis, pp. 255-56, 249-50.
94 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 132-38, 194, 393-400, 454; V66bu5, School of Nisibis,
pp. 251-52.