Paradosis wrote:Mor,
I'm a bit confused, I've seen the quote that you have there (or pretty near to that quote-- what we pray in the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom) attributed to Saint Emperor Justinian. Are you saying that Bishop Alexander attributed it to Severus of Antioch, or that that is who you have seen it attributed to by others?
Sorry, Justin, let me try to clarify. The hymn that I quoted is from a ROCOR text of the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. It is that very hymn with which the Syrian and Indian Orthodox begin every Liturgy, and on days on which the Liturgy is not celebrated, it is sung daily at the Sixth Hour:
I will exalt You, O my Lord, the King, the Only-begotten Son and the Word of the heavenly Father, Who, by Your nature, are immortal. You accepted, by Your grace, and came down for the life and salvation of mankind, and did become incarnate of the holy, glorious and pure Virgin, Mother of God, Mary. Who without change did become a man and was crucified for us. O Christ our God, Who by Your death trampled our death and destroyed it. You Who are One of the Holy Trinity, and are worshiped and glorified in unity with Your Father and Your Holy Spirit, have compassion on us all.
http://sor.cua.edu/Liturgy/Anaphora/PubCeleb.html
I read some time ago the quote from His Grace's website, and thought it was interesting how, on the one hand, some Eastern Orthodox are ignorant of what the Oriental Orthodox actually do believe (although not ignorant of what they think the OO believe), and yet, on the other hand, at least one Eastern Orthodox bishop seems to feel that this hymn summarises the Eastern Orthodox teaching on Jesus Christ, and this hymn itself was penned by none other than Saint Severus of Antioch (our liturgical books refer to it as the hymn of Mor Severios). I have heard it attributed to the Emperor Justinian. I have also heard that it was penned by Saint Severus, and the latter (or some other OO prelate) requested of Justinian its addition to the EO Liturgy in an attempt to reunite the two factions. I am not too familiar with the history. My point is not regarding history, however. If this hymn is an accurate summary of the true Orthodox teaching on the Son of God, then it should be clear that both Churches, by professing the faith this hymn proclaims, believe the same thing fundamentally.
Perhaps you would say this is too simplistic, and refer me to Chalcedon, the Tome of Leo*, etc. I do not think it is simplistic; rather, I think it is simple. From where I stand, we are not as "monophysite" as some think we are. Councils and Tomes can be debated, and I would not deny one the right to affirm Chalcedon and the Tome and say we are wrong to reject it and provide reasons why we are wrong to reject it. But I do not think that our rejection of the Tome or our lack of recognition of Chalcedon as an ecumenical council makes us, by that fact, heretics when it comes to Christology. Our Liturgy (and, apparently, yours) begs to differ.
*There is an interesting article on orthodoxchristianity.net, in the Non-Chalcedonian section, about the Tome of Leo. I think it would be interesting to see some Eastern Orthodox response to it.