eugyppius

Christianity is very much that unifying force for the Eastern Roman Empire. This makes the lingering Monophysite /Chalcedonian controversy one of the primary internal social & political problems of 7th Century Byzantium.

Now the emperors try to solve the MQ (Monophysite Question) in 2 ways: 1) By persecuting the Monophysites and installing 'orthodox' Chalcedonian bishops at key sees; and 2) by trying to develop compromise doctrines that will please both sides.

Heraclius, with help from Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople, comes up with Monoenergism, as a thing that is supposed to unite everyone.

Monoenergism holds that, yes the Word has two natures – but don't worry, Monophysites! He also as *one energy*. The idea, I gues, is that if Christ can still have one of something, the Monophysites might be satisfied.

As soon as Heraclius wins the war with Persia, he begins promoting Monoenergism officially. The problem is that a gaggle of important people, including the Patriarch of Jerusalem, don't like it.

The problem with compromise doctrines, is they don't have any adherents out there in the wild. What's worse, the reception isn't just lukewarm. It provokes a huge new destructive debate over Christ's energies and their precise number.

By AD 638, Heraclius abandons monoenergism. He issues the Ecthesis, a hilarious statement that tells everyone to shut up and never discuss Christ's energies ever again.

Instead, the Ecthesis declares, everyone is now to believe that Christ has two natures (Chalcedon position) but – wait for it – *one will*.

This is monotheletism. Surprisingly, it satisfies the eastern patriarchs, including the Patriarch of Jerusalem, but it finds a new opponent in the Bishop of Rome. Now Eastern & Western churches are fighting and Heraclius dies full of regret about the mess he started.

Maximos the Confessor, an African monk, joins forces with the Pope & you have Lateran Council of 649 condemning monotheletism at great length The whole mess is finally cleaned up, formally by the Third Council of Constantinople (AD 680/1) ...

... , which affirms that Christ has two wills and two energies, as well as two natures.

But that's only the formal solution. Informally, what put an end to all this was the loss of the eastern provinces – especially the Monophysite stronghold at Egypt – to the Arab invaders. Without these hardliners, there was no more reason to seek out these odd compromises.

So what do we make of all this? Old textbooks used to say the Monophysites and the chariot racing faction known as the Greens were one and the same.

Alan Cameron, who has done a lot to throw cold water on various theories surrounding the circus factions (going too far in some respects, maybe), points out this doesn't hold up.

Heraclius, for example, was a known Green (yes, the emperors also had their favourite football clubs). But Heraclius was also a bitter enemy of the Monophysites, in his zeal to restore and reunite the empire.

More plausible is a long-standing theory that the Monophysites were in some sense nationalists, or regional particularists. They used their doctrinal differences to distinguish themselves from the broader Roman empire.

A good analogue would be the Goths and other barbarian invaders of the western Empire, who were (formally anyway) Arians. It is not really my field, but I doubt anybody really believes these bearded warlords had all that many deep theological concerns.

Being Arian, it's safe to say, was a way to exempt themselves from western Roman ecclesiastical hierarchies and maintain their own ethnic distinctions and separate status as an invading military aristocracy.

So, were the Monophysites like that? Well, maybe. In 1959, AHM Jones wrote a dypeptic article attacking this theory of Monophysitism: "Were ancient heresies national or social movements in disguise?" Journal of Theological Studies 10, from p. 280.

He raises some interesting points. First of all, there's a hard-line version of the 'nationalist' thesis, which says that Coptic speakers (in Egypt) or Syriac speakers (in Syria) were the real Monophysite base. Jones shows this is untenable.

Sophisticated clerics and Greek-speaking theologians all support Monophysitism in these regions. It's not just a bunch of local rubes.

There's also no evidence that Monophysites ever pursued political aims. They opposed Heraclius, sure, but only when he interfered with their clerics or bishops, or tried to force them into Monoenergist /Monotheletist compromises.

Jones also points out that the Egyptian church was particularly hierarchical and inward-looking. The patriarch of Alexandria enjoyed the right to appoint all the bishops in his province.

It's easy to see how this would rapidly lead to doctrinal uniformity in the Egyptian church, and indeed it's *precisely Egypt* where Monophysitism is the most uniformly established.

In Syria, where ecclesiastical organisation is less cleanly vertical, there are a lot of Monophysites but there are plenty of Chalcedonians too.

You'll remember from prior thred, that the rapid fall of Egypt in particular is often put down, by historians, to Monophysite dissatisfaction with the Empire and Heraclius's persecution.

There's the idea the Monophysites opted into Arab rule. Jones points out that our best sources take a different view of the matter. They ascribe the loss of Egypt to the defeatism of Cyrus, Chalcedonian patriarch of Alexandria ...

... and to the dynastic disputes that distracted the government after Heraclius's death. They also report that Egyptians did not welcome Arab rule and were in fact terrified of it. For what it's worth.

John of Nikiu, one near-contemporary chronicler, sees the Arab conquest as a judgment of God upon Heraclius for persecuting the orthodox Monophysites. A very typical ancient-world attitude.

In the long-run, however, it's true that Monophysites persist under Arab rule in Syria. In Asia Minor, which remains under eastern Roman control, they are gradually eliminated by relentless Chalcedonian imperial pressure.