Dyothelitism (Two Wills of Christ)
If Christ is fully human, then he wills as a man and as God alike
Dyothelitism is the teaching that Christ possesses two wills, one divine and one human, matching his two natures. Championed by Maximus the Confessor and defined at the Third Council of Constantinople in 681, it answered Monothelitism, which held that Christ had only one will. Received by the Chalcedonian churches, the doctrine reasons that a complete human nature must include a human will, freely united to and harmonized with the divine.
How it traveled
- Exegetical Fragments.— · 220explains
- Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.)Alexandria · 373explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. JohnConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Sixth Ecumenical Council. The Third Council of ConstantinopleConstantinople (Istanbul) · 680explains
- John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox FaithDamascus · 749explains
- Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59)Paris · 1274explains
Key passages(20)
John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith · John of Damascus
Confessing, then, the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, to be perfect God and perfect man, we hold that the same has all the attributes of the Father save that of being ingenerate, and all the attributes o
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The Sixth Ecumenical Council. The Third Council of Constantinople · The Ecumenical Councils
From which testimonies it is clear that each of those natures which the spiritual Doctor has here enumerated has its own natural property, and that to each one a will ought to be assigned. For an ange
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Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59) · Thomas Aquinas
We must now consider unity as regards the will; and under this head there are six points of inquiry: (1) Whether the Divine will and the human are distinct in Christ? (2) Whether in Christ's human n
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John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith · John of Damascus
If Christ has one energy, it must be one and the same energy that performs both divine and human actions. But there is no existing thing which abiding in its natural state can act in opposite ways: fo
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The Sixth Ecumenical Council. The Third Council of Constantinople · The Ecumenical Councils
Extracts from the Acts. Session VIII. (Labbe and Cossart, Concilia, Tom. VI., col. 730.) [The Emperor said] Let George, the most holy archbishop of this our God-preserved city, and let Macarius, t
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The Sixth Ecumenical Council. The Third Council of Constantinople · The Ecumenical Councils
Letter of the Council to St. Agatho. (Found in Migne, Pat. Lat., Tom. LXXXVII., col. 1247 et seqq.; and Labbe and Cossart, Concilia, Tom. VI., col. 1071 et seqq.) A copy of the letter sent by the ho
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The Sixth Ecumenical Council. The Third Council of Constantinople · The Ecumenical Councils
The Letter of Pope Agatho. (Found in Migne, Pat. Lat., Tom. LXXXVII., col. 1161; L. and C., Tom. VI., col. 630.) Agatho a bishop and servant of the servants of God to the most devout and serene vict
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The Sixth Ecumenical Council. The Third Council of Constantinople · The Ecumenical Councils
How then can that now be asserted which never was said by the holy orthodox fathers, nor even was presumptuously invented by the profane heretics, viz.: that of the two natures of Christ, the divine a
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Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59) · Thomas Aquinas
Reply to Objection 2: It is proper to an instrument to be moved by the principal agent, yet diversely, according to the property of its nature. For an inanimate instrument, as an axe or a saw, is move
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Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59) · Thomas Aquinas
On the contrary, In every order there is one first mover. But the will is the first mover in the genus of human acts. Therefore in one man there is only one will, properly speaking, which is the will
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Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59) · Thomas Aquinas
Objection 2: Further, Christ's soul had most perfect charity, which, indeed, surpasses the comprehension of all our knowledge, according to Eph. 3:19, "the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all know
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Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59) · Thomas Aquinas
I answer that, Contrariety can exist only where there is opposition in the same and as regards the same. For if the diversity exists as regards diverse things, and in diverse subjects, this would not
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Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59) · Thomas Aquinas
Therefore in Christ the human nature has its proper form and power whereby it acts; and so has the Divine. Hence the human nature has its proper operation distinct from the Divine, and conversely. Nev
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John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith · John of Damascus
And again: man’s unity in species is not the same thing as the unity of soul and body in essence. For man’s unity in species makes clear the absolute similarity between all men, while the unity of sou
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Exposition of the Christian Faith · Ambrose of Milan
The passages of Scripture above cited are taken as an occasion for a digression, wherein our Lord’s freedom of action is proved from the ascription to the Spirit of such freedom, and from places where
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Exegetical Fragments. · Dionysius of Alexandria
III.—On Luke XXII. 42, Etc. ———————————— But let these things be enough to say on the subject of the will. This word, however, “Let the cup pass,” does not mean, Let it not come near me, or approach
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Exegetical Fragments. · Dionysius of Alexandria
II.—The Gospel According to Luke. An Interpretation.—Chap. XXII. 42–48 ———————————— Ver. 42. “Father, if Thou be willing to remove But let these things be enough to say on the subject of the will.
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John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith · John of Damascus
Leo, Epist. 1 ad Flav. Note, therefore, that in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, we speak sometimes of His two natures and sometimes of His one person: and the one or the other is referred to one c
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John · John Chrysostom
Is not then this Thy will? And how sayest Thou, “I am come to send fire upon the earth, and what have I desired to see, Luke xii. 49.) For if Thou also desirest this, it is very clear that Thy will an
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The Sixth Ecumenical Council. The Third Council of Constantinople · The Ecumenical Councils
The Imperial Edict Posted in the Third Atrium of the Great Church Near What is Called Dicymbala. In the name of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour, the most pious Emperor, the peac
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