What is monothelitism in the Bible?
Monothelitism or monotheletism (from Greek μονοθελητισμός "doctrine of one will") is a particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus. The Christological doctrine formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629. Specifically, monothelitism is the view that Jesus Christ has two natures but only one will.
Why was Monothelitism rejected?
In spite of strong imperial support, those attempts failed, and monothelitism was consequently rejected and denounced as heresy in 680–681, at the Council of Constantinople, the sixth ecumenical council. [2] [3] [4] The ongoing debates about the nature of Christ caused controversy within the Church for centuries.
What is the relationship between Monothelitism and monoenergism?
Historically, monothelitism was closely related to monoenergism, a theological doctrine that holds Jesus Christ as having only one energy. Both doctrines were at the center of Christological disputes during the 7th century. [1]
What is the Monothelite heresy?
Definition. A heresy that began in the seventh century out of an attempt to conciliate the Monophysites. The latter confused the idea of personality with the undivided activity of a single will, claiming that there was a kind of divine-human operation in Christ. The Monothelites recognized the orthodox doctrine of Christ's two natures but taught...
Who proposed monothelitism?
In Armenia in 622, Heraclius first suggested to the head of the Severian Monophysites that the divine and human natures in Christ, while quite distinct in his one person, had but one will (thelēma) and one operation (energeia).
When was monothelitism created?
A 7th-century Christological heresy that originated in an attempt to return the Monophysites to orthodox doctrine by means of formulas that stated that in Christ there was only one operation, energeia, proceeding from a unique will, monon thelēma.
Who is the founder of monophysitism?
Tritheists, a group of sixth-century Monophysites said to have been founded by a Monophysite named John Ascunages of Antioch. Their principal writer was John Philoponus, who taught that the common nature of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is an abstraction of their distinct individual natures.
Who started Patripassianism?
Patripassianism is attested as early as the 2nd century; theologians such as Praxeas speak of God as unipersonal. Patripassianism was referred to as a belief ascribed to those following Sabellianism, after a chief proponent, Sabellius, especially by the chief opponent Tertullian, who also opposed Praexas.
Does Jesus have 2 natures?
…that Christ's person has two natures: divine and human.
What is the meaning of monothelitism?
Definition of Monothelitism : the theological doctrine that in Christ there is but one will though two natures —opposed to Dyothelitism.
What is Nestorian theology?
Nestorianism is the Christian doctrine that Jesus existed as two persons, the man Jesus and the divine Son of God, or Logos, rather than as a unified person. This doctrine is identified with Nestorius (386–451), patriarch of Constantinople.
Who ended monophysitism?
Emperor Justin INeither side was satisfied; the extreme Monophysites refused to accept the intended compromise, and the pope excommunicated the East for abrogating the Council of Chalcedon. The schism ended in 519 when Emperor Justin I enforced the definition of faith of Chalcedon.
When was monophysite founded?
MONOPHYSITISM , meaning "one nature" and referring to the person of Jesus Christ, is the name given to the rift that gradually developed in Eastern Christendom after the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
What is the meaning of Patripassianism?
Definition of Patripassianism : the doctrine that in the sufferings of Jesus Christ God the Father also suffered — compare sabellianism.
What is the meaning of Perichoresis?
Definition of perichoresis : a doctrine of the reciprocal inherence of the human and divine natures of Christ in each other also : circumincession.
What is the heresy of Adoptionism?
Adoptionism was declared heresy at the end of the 3rd century and was rejected by the Synods of Antioch and the First Council of Nicaea, which defined the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and identified the man Jesus with the eternally begotten Son or Word of God in the Nicene Creed.
What did Marcionism teach?
Marcion preached that the benevolent God of the Gospel who sent Jesus Christ into the world as the savior was the true Supreme Being, different and opposed to the malevolent Demiurge or creator god, identified with the Hebrew God of the Old Testament.
What did pelagius teach?
Pelagianism, also called Pelagian heresy, a 5th-century Christian heresy taught by Pelagius and his followers that stressed the essential goodness of human nature and the freedom of the human will.
Is Miaphysitism a heresy?
This position—called miaphysitism, or single-nature doctrine—was interpreted by the Roman and Greek churches as a heresy called monophysitism, the belief that Christ had only one nature, which was divine.
Why is nestorianism a heresy?
Nestorianism was condemned as heresy at the Council of Ephesus (431). The Armenian Church rejected the Council of Chalcedon (451) because they believed Chalcedonian Definition was too similar to Nestorianism. The Persian Nestorian Church, on the other hand, supported the spread of Nestorianism in Persarmenia.
What is the background of monotheism?
The background to the Monothelite development is furnished by Severian monophysitism, which employed the terminology of St. cyril of alexandria concerning the one nature in Christ to express the oneness of His Person. As a result, an expression such as one will and one operation in Christ had come into theological usage, although errors such as apollinarianism had been condemned for denying that Christ had a human soul and maintaining that He had only one divine will. severus of antioch (512 – 518) had insisted that since Christ was a unity, the divine and human natures were so coordinated that one could speak of but one will and one action.
What is the name of the heresy that originated in an attempt to return the Monophysites to orthodox?
MONOTHELITISM. A 7th-century Christological heresy that originated in an attempt to return the Monophysites to orthodox doctrine by means of formulas that stated that in Christ there was only one operation, energeia, proceeding from a unique will, monon thelēma. The history of Monothelitism covers a period of 60 years ending with its condemnation ...
What is the doctrine of Heraclius?
The doctrine expressed in the Ecthesis of Heraclius stressed the one will in Christ in a sense of the act of the will ; but it was interpreted generally to mean a suppression or fusion of the human will in Christ, and as a consequence it was condemned by Pope john iv (640 – 642) in a Roman synod.
What happened to the Typos?
In reprisal both the pope and St. Maximus were seized, taken to Constantinople, tortured, and exiled. Only after the assassination of Emperor Constans II in 668 did the Typos become a dead letter. Later Emperor Constantine IV (668 – 685) authorized the convocation of the Council of Constantinople III (680 – 681) by Pope Agatho.
Who was the monk who protested monoenergism?
sophronius of jerusalem, while still a monk in Alexandria, protested the monoenergism doctrine to Sergius of Constantinople; and the latter suggested that instead of speaking of two operations in Christ, the Fathers and Councils had spoken rather of the one sole Person operating in the divine and human actions of the Word Incarnate. In 634 Sergius wrote in this sense to Pope HONORIUS I (625 – 638), and his doctrinal explanation ( psēphos ) served as a basis for the Ecthesis published by Heraclius in 638. The doctrine of one will in Christ, though not explicitly asserted, is implicit in this document.
Who was the patriarch of Jerusalem in 634?
In 634 Sophronius, now patriarch of Jerusalem, sent the pope his Epistula Synodica, in which he clearly distinguished the operations of the two natures and spoke of theandric acts as intermediary between operations proceeding from the human nature alone and operations proceeding from the divine nature alone.
Who wrote the Ecthesis?
In 634 Sergius wrote in this sense to Pope HONORIUS I (625 – 638), and his doctrinal explanation ( psēphos ) served as a basis for the Ecthesis published by Heraclius in 638. The doctrine of one will in Christ, though not explicitly asserted, is implicit in this document.
Where did monothelitism begin?
Monothelitism is a teaching which began in Armenia and Syria in A.D. 633 and had considerable support during the 7th century A.D. before being officially condemned at the Third Council of Constantinople in favor of dyotheletism.
Who was the first to advocate the monothelite position?
The monothelite position was promulgated by Sergius I of Constantinople and spread under Pope Honorius I. The doctrine of the hypostatic union states that the two natures of Christ (His deity and humanity) are united in one Person. This is often referred to as the Chalcedon Creed.
What was the monothelite teaching?
The monothelite teaching emerged as essentially a compromise position. The miaphysitists could agree that Jesus possessed two natures if He only possessed one will, and some Chalcedonians could agree that Jesus had one will if He had two natures.
What were the Monothelites trying to resolve?
The Monothelites were attempting to resolve the question of the unity of Christ’s person on the basis of the firmly established doctrine of the two natures, divine and human, in the person of Christ.
Who was the monk who criticised monothelitism?
The monothelite and iconoclastic controversies produced herculean theological endeavours: the criticism of monothelitism by the monk St. Maximus the Confessor (580–662) was based upon subtle and very careful considerations of the implications of Chalcedon. The great opponents of iconoclasm, John of Damascus and Theodore Studites, also…
Who suggested that the divine and human natures in Christ had one will?
In Armenia in 622, Heraclius first suggested to the head of the Severian Monophysites that the divine and human natures in Christ, while quite distinct in his one person, had but one will ( thelēma) and one operation ( energeia ).
Who was the patriarch of Constantinople?
Sergius, patriarch of Constantinople, was a strong upholder of the doctrine and was the emperor’s adviser on the question. In 638 Heraclius issued the Ekthesis (“Statement of Faith”), which formulated the position.
Who were the successors of Heraclius?
Byzantine Empire: The successors of Heraclius: Islam and the Bulgars
Where did the Monothelite controversy originate?
When the Emperor Heraclius in the course of the war which he began about 619, came to Theodosiopolis (Erzeroum) in Armenia (about 622), a Monophysite named Paul, a leader of the Acephali, made a speech before him in favour of his heresy. The emperor refuted him with theological arguments, and incidentally made use of the expression "one operation" of Christ. Later on (about 626) he inquired of Cyrus, Bishop of Phasis and metropolitan of the Lazi, whether his words were correct. Cyrus was uncertain, and by the emperor's order wrote to Sergius the Patriarch of Constantinople, whom Heraclius greatly trusted, for advice. Sergius in reply sent him a letter said to have been written by Mennas of Constantinople to Pope Vigilius and approved by the latter, in which several authorities were cited for one operation and one will. This letter was afterwards declared to be a forgery and was admitted to be such at the Sixth General Council. Nothing more occurred, according to Sergius, until in June, 631, Cyrus was promoted by the emperor to the See of Alexandria. The whole of Egypt was then Monophysite, and it was constantly threatened by the Saracens. Heraclius was doubtless very anxious to unite all to the Catholic Church, for the country was greatly weakened by the dissensions of the heretics among themselves, and by their bitterness against the official religion. Former emperors had made efforts for reunion, but in the fifth century the Henoticon of Zeno had been condemned by the popes yet had not satisfied all the heretics, and in the sixth century the condemnation of the Three Chapters had nearly caused a schism between East and West without in the least placating the Monophysites. Cyrus was for the moment more successful. Imagining, no doubt, as all Catholics imagined, that Monophysitism involved the assertion that the human nature of Christ was a nonentity after the Union, he was delighted at the acceptance by the Monophysites of a series of nine Capitula, in which the Chalcedonian "in two natures" is asserted, the "one composite hypostasis", and physike kai kath hypostasin enosis, together with the adverbs asygchytos, atreptos, analloiotos. St. Cyril, the great doctor of the Monophysites, is cited; and all is satisfactory until in the seventh proposition our Lord is spoken of as "working His Divine and His human works by one theandric operation, according to the divine Dionysius". This famous expression of the Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is taken by modern critics to show that he wrote under Monophysite influences. But Cyrus believed it to be an orthodox expression, used by Mennas, and approved by Pope Vigilius. He was triumphant therefore at the reunion to the Church of a large number of Theodosian Monophysites, so that, as Sergius phrases it, all the people of Alexandria and nearly all Egypt, the Thebaid, and Libya had become of one voice, and whereas formerly they would not hear even the name of St. Leo and of the Council of Chalcedon, now they acclaimed them with a loud voice in the holy mysteries. But the Monophysites saw more clearly, and Anastasius of Mount Sinai tells us that they boasted "they had not communicated with Chalcedon, but Chalcedon with them, by acknowledging one nature of Christ through one operation".
Who assumed that his Catholic opponents would uphold two operations?
The writings of Severus of Antioch assumed that his Catholic opponents would uphold two operations, and an obscure monk in the sixth century, Eustathius (De duabus naturis, P.G., LXXXVI, 909) accepts the expression.
Who read Cyrus's heretical documents?
The heretical documents read were part of a letter of Theodore of Pharan, the seventh proposition of Cyrus, the letter of Sergius to Cyrus, excerpts from the synods held by Sergius and Pyrrhus (who had now repented of his repentance), and the approval of the Ecthesis by Cyrus.
Who were the main opponents of monothelitism?
Although the main opponents of Monothelitism – St. Sophronius of Jerusalem and St. Maximus the Confessor – were Greek, four of the Eastern patriarchates fell into the heresy, leaving only the Western patriarchate of Rome to uphold the Orthodox faith. So St. Maximus fled to Carthage and then to Rome, where Pope St. Martin convened a Council in the Lateran in 649 that anathematized Monothelitism. In the second session of the Council a special libellus was composed by the eastern monks living in Rome. [5] And so, with the East sunk in heresy and overrun first by the Persians and then, more permanently, by the Muslims, the West became briefly the savior both of Orthodoxy and Romanity.
What was the Monothelite heresy?
The Monothelite heresy embraced by Heraclius was an attempt at a compromise between the Orthodox doctrine proclaimed at Chalcedon in 451, which declared that Christ is one Person in two natures, human and Divine, and the anti-Chalcedonian heresy of the Monophysites, who taught that Christ has had only one , Divine nature since His resurrection. Since the Greek-speaking provinces of the empire were mainly Orthodox, and the Syriac- and Coptic-speaking provinces – Monophysite, the Byzantine emperors, beginning with Heraclius (610-641), had a clear political motive in trying to find a compromise theological formula. That compromise was Monothelitism; it declared that while Christ has two natures, He has only one will.
What happened to Heraclius' reign?
The last ten years of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius’ reign, until his death in 641, were miserable and tragic: disgraced by personal scandal and his embracing of the heresy of Monothelitism, he saw all his conquests reversed; vast areas of the East – Egypt, Syria, Palestine – were lost to the Muslim Arabs.
When was the Western confession of faith confirmed?
This Western confession of faith was confirmed by the Eastern Churches at the Sixth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 681 , at which St. Agatho’s epistle played an important part.
Did the non-Chalcedonian Christians welcome Muslims?
However, according to Fr. John Meyendorff, “Recent research does not condone the view that Non-Chalcedonian Copts welcomed Muslims as liberators from the Roman rule: even then, and in spite of Chalcedonian persecutions, there was widespread loyalty to the Christian empire. It appears, therefore, that it is only under Persian or Arab, and later Turkish rule, when intellectual contacts with Greek theology were lost and every connection with Byzantium was viewed with suspicion by the new masters, that the Non-Chalcedonian Christians communities of the Middle East became close-knit national churches. As long as they were part of the Roman oikoumene, Syrians and Copts remained basically loyal to it ideologically, even if they had, in their majority, rejected Chalcedonian orthodoxy and suffered persecution. In their minds, their struggle was not in the name of national particularism – since neither their culture, nor their language, nor their liturgical traditions were challenged by the empire – but against that which their spiritual leaders (often Greek-speaking) saw as a betrayal of the true faith. Egypt, in particular – the cradle of the anti-Chalcedonian dissidence – was not, Peter Brown remarks, a national enclave within the Empire, but a microcosm of Mediterranean civilization, as moulded by Rome…” [1]
Did Heraclius lose the Eastern Provinces?
Not only did Heraclius lose the eastern provinces, but also the loyalty of most of the local populations, Semitic, Coptic and Armenian, whose religious differences with Greco-Roman Orthodoxy were compounded, according to some, by anti-Roman nationalist feeling.
