Who is monophysite

The Council of Chalcedon left a mark on history and on Christianity that is still clearly visible today. The "scar" of Chalcedon runs deep and long from the wound that divided the Church at this council. In the spirit of true brotherhood let us look at the events surrounding Chalcedon for the cause of Christian unity.

In the first five centuries before Chalcedon (45 I A. D.), and continuing to the papacy of St. Cyril the Great in Alexandria, the Coptic church was the pre-eminent See of all the Apostolic Sees of this time. The Alexandrian Fathers of the Coptic church led the way in the first three crucial councils held by the Church, and their spiritual and intellectual leadership established Alexandria as the center of theological discourse and the fountain head of Christian authority. The Catechetical school, located in Alexandria, spawned these great leaders of the Church and their resulting position by that pre-eminence gave these patriarchs of the Fgyptian Church enormous power, within their own country and in the Christian world. As a result they were ingeniously called the "Pharoahs of the Church," a status that alarmed the bishops of the Sees of Rome and Constantinople. Our story begins as this great heritage of the Church invested in St. Athanasius and St. Cyril was passed into the hands of St. Dioscorus, the 25th Pope of the Church of Alexandria.

The Eutychian Heresy and the Council of Chalcedon

The specific event which initiated the series of actions and reactions that

involved Dioscorus and finally led to the rupture between the churches of the East and West, was the appearance of the heresy of Eutyches, (378-457) an archimandrite of a Greek monastery in Constantinople. Eutyches espoused the idea of the unity of the two natures in one divine nature, from the Incarnation, denying the physical body of Christ. Flavianus, Bishop of Constantinople, called for a local synod and Eutyches was excommunicated and deposed. Eutyches, however, had influence in the imperial palace through a highly placed eunuch named Chrysaphius, who succeeded in persuading Emporer Theodosius II to call a general council under the leadership of Dioscorus to consider his case. Dioscorus accepted the invitation, and the second meeting at Ephesus took place in 449. Representatives of Rome, Antioch, and Constantinople along with ten bishops from Egypt converged on Ephesus in response to the imperial request. Eutyches was summoned to speak for himself, and in a movement from his previous position of incorporating the human entirely in the divine nature, proclaimed the Nicene Creed and the formula of St. Cyril, both of which were recognized as "The Orthodox Doctrine". He was then acquitted and reinstated in his former position by the council. Because of the Orthodox principle that excommunication was a two-edged sword, if passed unjustly, Flavianus was in turn deposed along with his supporters. Then a decision was taken by Pope Leo of Rome as a further assertion of Alexandrian supremacy, and he called the meeting a "highway robbery" and a "Dioscorian council".

In a letter to Emperor Theodosius II he called for another council, but his request was denied.

Such was the state of affairs when the untimely death of Theodosius occured, and the change of Emperors produced drastic changes. The succes sion of Marcian and his wife Pulcheria, a former nun who denounced her vows to marry Marcian, and the sister of the deceased Emperor, reversed the imperial ecclesiastical policy. The Council of Chalcedon was consequently summoned in 45I, not to discuss unity or duality of the natures of Christ, but to try Dioscorus for what Pope Leo considered a conciliatory attitude towards the initial Eutychian heresy. The expanding and menacing influence of Alexandria previously mentioned encouraged much political maneuvering at this council of unknown number of bishops (over 600). Pope Leo's tome was read and Dioscorus was eventually condemned without a hearing, then deposed, and in 454 exiled to the island of Gangra in Paphlagonia. Even the bishops who had signed the verdict of the second council of Ephesus were constrained to sanction the Chalcedonian decision against Dioscorus. The most magnificent and most glorious judges in Chalcedon (Session V. See NPNF Vol. XIV, p.26l), said: "Dioscorus acknowledged that he accepted the expression "of two natures", but not "that there were two natures." Leo said that there are two natures in Christ, unchangeably, inseparably, unconfusedly united in the only begotten Son. A careful investigation of all the events of the Chalcedonian council indicated that Dioscorus was not deposed for any matter regarding the Faith, but because of his alleged refusal to appear before the Council upon being summoned three times. The truth of the matter behind his not appearing is that he was detained and prevented from appearing by the imperial guards who had orders to secretly put him under house arrest.

The Ephesian Christoiogical Formula of St. Cyril The Great

The Coptic Church has consistenly held the Christological doctrine of the human and divine, mystically united in one nature, without confusion, corruption, or change. The Logos became flesh. He did not change into body through loss of His own nature, but united with body, becoming visible and invisible: Son of Man and Son of God. He was not two entities, but one essence and one personality, and one will, and one nature of the Word Incarnate. The Incarnation is a mystery, and mystery is always above logical discourse. In mysteries the faith can never be reduced to the dimensions of reason. Something can be known without being comprehended. A piece of good advice concerning mystery is not to strive to comprehend the incomprehensible. To do so is to go beyond the limits of the law. Christ is true and perfect God, and true and perfect man. Though true God and true man, Jesus in ONE SINGLE BEING in one nature of two: human and divine. This Christological doctrine is the very soteriological teaching of St. Athanasius who said, "The one Son is not two natures, the one adorable, the other not, but ONE INCARNATE NATURE Of THE GOD-WORD."

Our common father in Christ, St. Cyril of Alexandria, speaks of the one incarnate nature of God's Word. He does not deny, but rather expresses the full and perfect humanity of Christ. He formulated at the Council of Ephesus the following Christological formula: " Mia physis tou Theo: Logou sesarkomene,,," which means "One nature of God: The Word Incarnate." To this day the Coptic church remembers the tragedy of Chalcedon with acrimony, and protests the spiteful assumption and accusation that they are Eutychians or Monophysites. The Copts never denied the existence of the two natures, but insisted on their unity in one nature. As a result they deny the ecumenicity of Chalcedon for a number of reasons, and deny the Chalcedonian profession as a breach of faith contrary to the spirit of the Nicene Creed and the decisions of Ephesus 1. The Copts never called themselves "Monophysite" a term that was invented by the Greeks and Romans to humiliate the Copts. It is a term more fitting for Eutychianism, which was condemned by St. Dioscorus at the Second Council of Ephesus.

An Unpurged Sin

Chalcedon is a sin carried in the conscience of the church, which was not confessed and thus has remained unforgiven. This sin should be confessed and purged from the conscience of the Church.

Chalcedon is responsible for the defeat and destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the spread of Islam from China to Spain in one hundred years. It

all began with the Nestorian heresy that led eventually to the divisions and bitter controversies of Chalcedon, paving the way for Islam. As Dollinger says, "lslam must be considered at bottom a Christian heresy, the bastard offspring of a Christian father and a Jewish mother." ( Schaff Vol IV,p.188 ). Stanley calls Islam an "eccentric heretical form of Eastern Christianity- a rude attempt to combine heathenism, Judaism, and Christianity, which Mohammad found in Arabia, but in a very imperfect form... Mohammedanism was a well deserved divine punishment for the unfruitful speculations and bitter contentions which disgraced Christianity after Chalcedon. The hatred between Christians prevented them from aiding one another in efforts to arrest the progress of the common foe. Mohammedanism conquered in one hundred years the fairest portions of the earth by the sword, and cursed them by polygamy, slavery despotism, and desolation. The sword of Mohammed and the Koran are the most fatal enemies of civilization, liberty, and truth." (Life of Mohammed IV, p.32l-322.)

If we are not careful, history will repeat itself at the close of this age. We are beginning to see the first fruit of this today in the revival of Islamic movements all over the world. Before it becomes too late, Christians should seek to purge out the sin of hatred and division, and the political mentality which causes these divisions. Purging the Church and its conscience of the terrible sin of division can only be accomplished by repentance through weakness, and by seeking the all..in-allness of the fullness of Christ, the full stature of the perfect man of man and God of God. If we are supposed to drop the past with its controversial political differences, one can say in the spirit of unity that the spirit of weakness is the most precious possession of the Church: The weakness of God "which is stronger than the strength of man." One can say that the Chalcedonian problem was political and jurisdictional. But let us dissolve it. Let us drop the entire problem from the liturgical corpus along with the question of Ecumenical Councils and their importance due to rank or number. (The difference in number 3 or 7 or 2 I.) We all agree that the first three councils had a greater degree of fullness than the later councils. Let us focus on the areas of agreement and unity and show a cynical world that we are sincerely true to the cause of Christian unity.