Assyrian Church of the East

===Christology===
[[Theologically]], the Assyrian Church of the East does not accept doctrinal definitions that were adopted at the [[Council of Ephesus]] (431) and the [[Council of Chalcedon]] (451), and still adheres to the [[Church of the East]]'s traditional [[Christology]], that is often labeled as [[Nestorianism|Nestorian]]. The use and exact meaning of that term has been the subject of many debates, not only throughout history but also in modern times, since the Assyrian Church of the East has distinctive views on several Christological questions and claims that its theological doctrines and traditions are essentially Orthodox, while admitting the need for further inter-Christian dialogue that would resolve various questions in the field of comparative Christological terminology.{{sfn|Brock|2006}}

The Nestorian nature of Assyrian Christianity remains a matter of contention. Elements of Nestorian doctrine were explicitly repudiated by Patriarch [[Dinkha IV]] on the occasion of his accession in 1976.{{sfn|Hill|1988|p=107}}

The Christology of the Church of the East has its roots in the [[Catechetical School of Antioch|Antiochene]] theological tradition of the early church. The founders of Assyrian theology are [[Diodorus of Tarsus]] and [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]], both of whom taught at [[Antioch]]. "Antiochene" is a modern designation given to the style of theology associated with the early church at Antioch, as contrasted with the theology of the Church of Alexandria.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=79}}

[[Catechetical School of Antioch|Antiochene]] theology emphasizes Christ's humanity and the reality of the moral choices he faced. In order to preserve the impassibility of Christ's Divine Nature, the unity of his [[Christology|person]] is defined in a looser fashion than in the Alexandrian tradition.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=79}} The normative Christology of the Church of the East was written by [[Babai the Great]] (d. 628) during the controversy that followed the 431 [[Council of Ephesus]]. Babai held that within Christ there exist two ''qnome'' ([[Syriac language|Syriac]]: ܩܢܘܡܐ / ''qnômâ'', a complex term, equivalent for [[Koine Greek|Greek]] term [[hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|hypostasis]]), unmingled, but everlastingly united in the one [[prosopon]] (person) of Christ.

The precise Christological teachings of [[Nestorius]] are shrouded in obscurity. Wary of Monophysitism, Nestorius rejected Cyril's theory of a [[hypostatic union]], proposing instead a much looser concept of [[Prosopon|prosopic union]]. Nestorianism has come to mean radical [[Dyophysitism]],{{sfn|Burgess|1989|p=90, 229, 231}} in which Christ's two natures are eternally separate, though it is doubtful whether Nestorius ever taught such a doctrine. Nestorius' rejection of the term [[Theotokos]] ('God-bearer', or 'Mother of God') has traditionally been held as evidence that he asserted the existence of two persons (dyoprosopism) — not merely two natures — in Jesus Christ, but there exists no evidence that Nestorius denied Christ's oneness.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=339}} In the controversy that followed the Council of Ephesus, the term "Nestorian" was applied to all doctrine upholding a strictly Antiochene Christology. In consequence, the Church of the East was labelled Nestorian, though its official Christology was in fact defined by [[Babai the Great]], at the council that was held in 612.{{sfn|Brock|2006|p=}}