THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITYbe acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, without change, without
division, without separation’, thus rejecting both the Nestorian position and
that of Eutyches. However, it was not uniformly accepted in the east, and led
eventually to division between the eastern and western churches, and to fur-
ther divisions in the east which persist to the present day. Recent scholarship,
including the translation of the entire voluminous documentary record, has
made it possible to appreciate the quite extraordinary amount of effort and
procedural complexity that went into these proceedings, as well as the elaborate
legal and documentary basis on which church business was now conducted.
The council also issued rulings (canons) on many practical issues of church
order and discipline, including marriages contracted by dedicated virgins, and
especially on the authority of bishops, also laying down that the bishops in
each province should hold formal meetings twice a year. Importantly, it also
continued the previous approach of the Council of Constantinople (381) in
enhancing the status of the see of Constantinople, now affi rming its equal
privileges with Rome and giving it jurisdiction over the dioceses of Pontus,
Asia and Thrace, a move which Pope Leo soon attempted to annul in a letter
to the Empress Pulcheria.
The fi fth-century west had been absorbed with its own doctrinal controver-
sies, particularly in connection with the teachings of the British monk Pelagius
on free will, against which Augustine fought a long battle. In North Africa
another great set-piece council held at Carthage in 411, also leaving exten-
sive documentary records, again condemned the local schism of Donatism
and enforced catholic orthodoxy with strong coercive measures, of which
Augustine approved as being necessary for the faith.^35 In the east the Emper-
ors Leo, Zeno and Anastasius continued to wrestle with opposition to the
Council of Chalcedon. Its opponents’ cause was fought by a series of forceful
leaders with exotic names – Timothy Aelurus (‘the Cat’) in Alexandria, Peter
the Fuller in Antioch and Peter Mongus.^36 The so-called Henotikon (‘Uni-
fi er’) of 482, the name given to a letter from the Emperor Zeno to the rebel-
lious church of Egypt, attempted to smooth over the disagreements about
Chalcedon but instead antagonized Rome, which promptly excommunicated
Zeno’s advisers, Acacius, the patriarch of Constantinople, and Peter Mongus,
the patriarch of Alexandria. There were also differences of view in Constanti-
nople, and since Basiliscus, who had briefl y usurped the throne during Zeno’s
reign (475–76), had supported the anti-Chalcedonians, Zeno’s letter had
political as well as religious aims. His successor Anastasius (491–518) at fi rst
tried to pursue a middle line, but later openly supported the anti-Chalcedoni-
ans, deposing a moderate, Flavian, from the see of Antioch and replacing him
with Severus (512).^37 Religious disputes were frequently the starting-point or
accompaniment of the violent riots which were a common feature of eastern
city life from now on. In 493, statues of Anastasius and his wife were dragged
through the streets of Constantinople, and also in Anastasius’ reign there
were serious disturbances after the emperor proposed a non-Chalcedonian
addition to the words of the liturgy: