Apollinarians

Leaders

• Apollinaris of Laodicea (c. 310–390)
• Vitalis
• Polemon

Beliefs

Christ is one, not two. The divine Word took the place of the human mind or rational soul in Jesus, so that Christ's flesh was united with God without a competing human will. Opponents replied: 'what is not assumed is not healed' (Gregory of Nazianzus).

Home bases

• Laodicea ad Mare (Apollinaris)

  Latakia, Syria · 4th

  Apollinaris (c. 310–390), bishop of Laodicea and a staunch Nicene ally of Athanasius, taught that in Christ the divine Word took the place of a human mind. Condemned at Rome (377) and Constantinople (381), his followers formed separate churches for a time. Several of his works survived because they circulated under the names of orthodox Fathers.

  

Spread

Syria, Palestine and Constantinople, where rival Apollinarian bishops were set up in several cities in the 370s.

Books

• Apollinarian works under orthodox names (e.g. "Kata meros pistis"; letters as Julius of Rome)

What happened to it

Condemned at Rome (377), Antioch (379) and Constantinople (381), and absorbed by the early 5th century. Phrases from Apollinarian works circulating under orthodox names (e.g. 'one incarnate nature of God the Word', thought to be Athanasius's) later shaped Cyril and the Miaphysites.

Hostile sources

• Gregory of Nazianzus. Letters 101–102 to Cledonius c. 382

  Hostile.

• Gregory of Nyssa. Antirrheticus against Apollinaris c. 387

  Hostile.

Their own words

• Apollinaris. Works transmitted under the names of Athanasius, Julius of Rome and Gregory Thaumaturgus; Kata meros pistis 4th c.

  Insider, surviving under false names.

Sources

• ApollinarianismConfessional source

  Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 (confessional). Accessed 2026-11-11.

• Apollinarism

  Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-11-11.