Prof. Theresia Hainthaler (Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Theology and Philosophy, Germany)

Nicaea in the Christology of the Church of the East

The Council of Nicaea (325) is well known and used in texts of authors such as Narsai, Mar Aba, Ishoyahb I, Ishoyahb II, Babai the Great and Timothy I, whose creeds thus refer to Nicaea and Constantinople as their presupposed basis. Narsai used the condemnation of Arius at Nicaea as a tool and an argument when opposing Theopaschite ideas (if God has suffered, then he is no longer divine, similar to Arian ideas). Nicaea is also the norm of the faith for Mar Aba in his canons. The true faith is based on the decisions of the synods of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), a conviction expressed in the long explanation of the creed at the synod of Ishoyahb I, a creed that is opposed to Arius and underlines the homoousius. The creed of the Synod of 605 also refers to the synods of Nicaea and Constantinople. Nicaea is a further point of reference for Ishoyahb II and Timothy I. Moreover, Babai the Great traces Christological errors back to Arius, who was expelled from the Church by the synod.

Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Theresia Hainthaler (Dr. theol., Dr. h.c. of the Theological Faculty of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, 15 November 2013), is emeritus Honorary Professor for Early Church Christology and Eastern Christian Theology at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Theology and Philosophy, Frankfurt am Main. She studied mathematics at the University of Munich and was academic assistant in mathematics at the Free University of Berlin. She studied Catholic theology in Berlin and Frankfurt, Philosophy in Munich, and earned an MA in Orientalistics at the University of Frankfurt (Syriac, Arabic, Georgian, and Armenian). She has been working at the Faculty of Sankt Georgen since 1986 in the “Christ in Christian Tradition” research project (published in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish), founded by Alois Grillmeier SJ († 1998), which she has been directing since 1994. She had taught courses and seminars in patristics and systematic theology from 1989 to 2016 at Sankt Georgen and Goethe University, Frankfurt, and had given invited lectures in Jerusalem, Rome, India, etc. Her research work and publications are in the fields of patristics (Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, etc.) and ecumenical dialogue. She participated (as an expert scholar) in the consultations of the Pro Oriente Syriac Dialogue at Vienna (1994–2004), and in the Theological Dialogue of the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (2002–2004). She is a member of the Joint Theological Dialogue Commission between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Catholic Church since its resumption in 2016. Since 2005, she has been a member of the International Theological Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue Commission and its Coordination Committee, as well as sub-commissions. Since being commissioned by Cardinal Schoenborn of Vienna in 2006, she has been the academic director of the Orthodox-Catholic Patristic Colloquia on a European basis, started by Pro Oriente at Vienna in 2001. She was advisor of the German Episcopal Conference’s Ökumene-Kommission (Commission on Ecumenism) between 2011 and 2021, and has been a member of this Commission’s AG Kirchen des Ostens (working group Churches of the East) since 2007, as well as of the scholarship committee. She has served on doctoral examination committees and has evaluated numerous research projects, in addition to being a member of several advisory boards and appointment committees. Furthermore, she is an Honorary Member of the Pro Oriente Foundation’s Board of Trustees (since 13 October 2017), and a Fellow of the Accademia Ambrosiana (Class of Near Eastern Studies, Syriac Section) at Milan (since 7 November 2017).

Publications and Works

- “The causes of the feast, a literary genre of the East Syriac Church, in the 6th century: A survey with some theological remarks,” The Harp 23 (2008): 383–400. - “Christian Arabs before Islam: A Short Overview,” in People from the Desert: Pre-Islamic Arabs in History and Culture: Selected Essays, edited by Nader Al Jallad Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2012 (Textualia. Jews, Christians and Muslims in their texts, 2), 29–44. - Christ In Christian Tradition, Volume Two, Part Three: The Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch from 451 to 600, with additional contributions by Alois Grillmeier, Tanios Bou Mansour, and Luise Abramowski, in continuation of the work of Alois Grillmeier, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, 670 p. - “Christ in the flesh, who is God over all (Rom 9,5 Pesh.): The letter of Catholicos Timothy I (780-823) to the monks of Mar Maron,” The Harp 29 (2014): 73–96. - “Christological Declarations with Oriental Churches,” in Christians Shaping Identity from the Roman Empire to Byzantium: Studies Inspired by Pauline Allen, edited by Geoffrey D. Dunn, Wendy Meyer, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015, 426–56. - “Christology in Syriac Tradition,” The Harp 34 (2018): 455–90. - “Theological Doctrines and Debates within Syriac Christianity,” in The Syriac World, edited by Dan King, London and New York: Routledge, 2019 (The Routledge Worlds), 377–90. - (edited with Dirk Ansorge and Ansgar Wucherpfennig), Jesus der Christus im Glauben der einen Kirche: Christologie – Kirchen des Ostens – Ökumenische Dialoge, Freiburg im Bresigau: Herder, 2019, 461 p. - Festschrift: Patrologie und Ökumene: Theresia Hainthaler zum 75. Geburtstag, edited by Peter Knauer, Andrea Riedl, and Dietmar Werner Winkler, Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 2022, 624 p. (Bibliography, 43–62). - (Luise Abramowski †), Die Kirche in Persien, edited, revised and supplemented with further chapters by Theresia Hainthaler, Freiburg im Bresigau: Herder, 2022 (Jesus der Christus im Glauben der Kirche, 2.5), 839 + xxiii p. - “Christological Declarations with Syriac Churches,” The Harp 39 (2023): 497–527. - “‘Abdíshō‘’s Presentation of Christology in his Liber Margaritae,” in Christianity, Islam and the Syriac Renaissance: The Impact of ‘Abdīshō‘ bar Brīkha, Papers Collected on His 700th Anniversary (1318-2018), edited by Salam Rassi and Željko Paša, Rome: Pontifical Oriental Institute, 2024 (Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 316), 139–55.