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Monophysitism
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Monophysitism, which means"belief in one nature", is a heresy that developed in the 5th century as a reaction against Nestorianism which ... developed in the same century. Monophysitism is a doctrine that in the person of Jesus there was but a single nature which was divine nature. This doctrine was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon (451). For invalidating Chalcedon, the East was put under excommunication by the pope until 519. In Syria, Egypt, and Armenia, monophysitism dominated, and a permanent schism set in by 600, resulting in the creation of the Jacobite, Coptic, and Armenian Churches. It continued to be followed as a doctrine in the northern part of the Antiochene Patriarchate (West Syrian), by nearly the entire Church of Alexandria (and later of Ethiopia), by Armenia, and, in the 16th century, by a portion of the St. Thomas Christians in India.
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Monophysitism is the doctrine that Jesus Christ had only one nature, rather than two - divine and human. This belief is sometimes known as Eutychianism, after Eutyches, a mid - 5th - century archimandrite of a Constantinople monastery. Eutyches taught that in Jesus Christ the humanity was absorbed by the divinity, "dissolved like a drop of honey in the sea." Eutyches fought against the Nestorian doctrine that the two natures of Christ represented two distinct persons. His doctrine was condemned as heretical... at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
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Next to Nestorianism, Monophysitism produced the greatest schism that the Eastern Church had suffered. Strictly speaking, the Monophysites were those who did not accept the doctrine of the two natures (divine and human) in the one person of Jesus as it was formulated by the council of Chalcedon (451). They took for their watchword "the one nature of the incarnate Word of God", because the Monophysites believed that this terminology was the most natural and proper way to guard against Nestorian formulations. The question of the terminology is of vital importance in this matter, because there was no clearly defined theological language and terminology at the time. Thus, it seems that the dispute between monophysites and Chalcedonian orthodoxy was mainly one of the terms: to Monophysites, terms "nature" and "person" synonymous, and to those maintained the two natures of Christ, the terms "nature" and "essence."
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Monophysitism was popular in Palestine, Egypt, and Antioch. The fourth church council Chalcedon declared this belief to be heresy in 451. Descendents of the groups declared heretical still exist today: they are the Oriental Orthodox churches, who accept the first three church councils but not the fourth Their biblical canons are ... different from the Roman Catholic Church. These churches, who are in ecumenical dialogue concerning the split of the church, prefer to be called "non-Chalcedonian." The Oriental Orthodox churches include:
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A more moderate Monophysitism was put forward by Severus (c. 465 - 538), patriarch of Antioch. It was less rigid and in many ways differed only nominally from the doctrines of the Council of Chalcedon. Nonetheless, all Monophysites rejected the dogmatic formulas of Chalcedon, and efforts to reach an acceptable compromise failed. By the 6th century Monophysitism had a strong institutional basis in three churches: the Armenian Church, the Coptic Church, and the Jacobite Church, all of which remain nominally Monophysite today.
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Eutyches and Monophysitism were condemned by the Council of Chalcedon. But Monophysitism continued to flourish, if Eutychianism waned. For Monophysitism and Eutychianism are not equivalent terms. There were, and are, many Monophysites who condemn Eutyches. In fact, the majority would.
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Monophysitism