eugyppius

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.