eugyppius

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.