Alexander Schmemann

3. The Age Of The Ecumenical Councils (50 pages)

From Schmemann's A History of the Orthodox Church

Page 12

The Monophysite Heresy.

Nestorianism had been overcome rather easily. It had been defended only by the leaders of the school of Antioch, who feared the extremes of Alexandrianism more than they sympathized with Nestorius. As for the mass of Christians, they had long been more aware of the divinity of Christ than of His humanity, and they experienced the mystery of the Incarnation more as a manifestation of God than as a free and complete union of man with Him — a union in which God and man remained distinct. The condemnation of Nestorius, therefore, only accelerated the process which had been perceptible from the very start of the Christological dispute, and led to the formulation of the most significant — and in its consequences for the Church — tragic heresy of the time: Monophysitism.

We already know that in his dispute with Nestorius Cyril had used a doubtful definition of Christ as “One nature of God the Word Incarnate.” To Cyril this did not mean a merging of God and man, but only the real fact of their union in one Person or personality. He was thus able to recognize and accept the truth of the Antiochenes and their defense of the complete man in Christ. For many of his followers, however, this seemed a dethronement of Christ, a humiliation of God. They interpreted any distinction of two natures in Christ (so essential for a correct understanding of the Gospel) as a subversion of all Christianity and a denial of that “deification” of man or ultimate oneness with God, which was the final goal of salvation. “God became man so that man could become deified,” says St. Athanasius. Particularly in monastic experience of the struggle against “nature,” against human weakness and sinfulness, it was psychologically very simple to overstep the line dividing struggle for the true nature of man from struggle against man, and end with a denial of the essential goodness of human nature. “Deification,” or becoming one with God, began to be seen as the destruction within oneself of everything that is human, which was regarded as low and unworthy, “a bad smell that soon would pass away.” In such a context, a theological emphasis on the manhood of Christ became incomprehensible. Did not the whole joy of Christianity and the whole justification of intense ascetic feats lie in the fact that Christ was not man, and that each of us has the possibility of overcoming our humanity? Such were the psychological presuppositions of Monophysitism.

As soon as Cyril died, in 444, an open rebellion broke out against the agreement of 433, under the slogan of return to an emphasis on Christ’s “one nature” (mia physis). The signal was raised in Constantinople by one of the generally recognized authorities of Eastern monasticism, the archimandrite Eutyches. He affirmed that the humanity assumed by Christ differed from ours. It was, therefore, irreverent to compare Christ with men, even in respect to his humanity. Everything “Eastern”· seemed detestable to Eutyches; he conducted an immense correspondence, had influence at court, and tried in every way to expose the Antiochene heresy, especially that of its main representative, Theodoret of Cyrrhus. Alarm naturally spread throughout the East. Theodoret presented accusations against Eutyches, but the court was now openly opposed to the Antiochenes. New persecutions of the Easterners began. By imperial decree, the twelve anathemas of Cyril, which he himself had silently bypassed in the agreement of 433, were proclaimed a rule of faith. Cyril’s successor, Dioscurus, systematically prepared for the triumph of Alexandria and “Alexandrianism” in its extreme form.

 

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