REL 330 - History of Christianity
Course Notes
The Miaphysite (Monophysite) Churhes
The Council of Chalcedon (pronounced kal-SEE-don or KAL-seh-don) in AD 451 ruled that, after the incarnation, Jesus had two natures, human and divine. The Western Churches generally accepted the Chalcedonian formula, but the Churches in Egypt and the East generally rejected it. Although Westerners usually use the term Monophysite to describe them, the Eastern Churches prefer to be called Miaphysite.
The Miaphysite Churches of the East
Miaphysite (or Monophysite) Christians believe that Christ has only one "Nature". They hold the view that when Christ became incarnate as a human being He had only one "nature", either completely divine, or else a sort of composite synthesis of divine and human.
The Western Churches say that this implies that He no longer had a real "human nature" (which would further mean that He wasn't really human, so wasn't "one of us").
The Eastern Churches maintain that this is a misunderstanding (remember, the Eastern Church wrote and thought in Greek, the Western Church wrote and thought more and more in Latin, and the two were suspicious of one another)
Eutyches had taken an extreme view, that Christ had only a divine nature - not a human one, but most of the Eastern Church, and all of the Western Church, rejected this.
The Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) met to consider the controversy, and declared that the Monophysite view was heretical, and that Christ had both divine and human "natures" - but that He was "one person" (There was only one Jesus walking around the Holy Land, and only one Jesus on the Cross).
There were several reasons why the Eastern Churches did not agree with the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon - the Council had deposed the Egyptian patriarch, and had declared that the Bishop of Constantinople was second only to the Bishop of Rome, and took precedence over the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch.
Also, Leo, the Bishop of Rome, had meddled in things.
So the Eastern Churches were pre-disposed to reject Chalcedon.
Although the Western Churches have usually referred to this group as "Monophysite", they themselves prefer to be called "Miaphysite" or "non-Chalcedonian" ("mono-physite" means "only-nature" or "single-nature", "mia-physite" means "one-nature") "non-Chalcedonian" just means that they don't accept the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon.
Miaphysite Churches are still acrtive in today's world. They include the Armenian Orthodox Church, the Coptic Church (Egyptian), and the Mar Thoma Church of India.
There are Mar Thoma Christians living in Clovis, NM, and a Mar Thoma Church in Lubbock, TX.
Copyright © 2005 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
