Lecture 23: The Rise of Islam and the Threat of Iconoclasm
monophysitism, the teaching that emphasized the divine in Christ to
the virtual elimination of the human.• The emperor Heraclius (610–641) met with monophysite leaders in
an effort to construct a compromise understanding of Christ.
o They declared that although there were two natures in Christ
(as Chalcedon had defined), there was but a “single energy”
(mia energeia). This proposal was popular with many,
including Cyrus of Alexandria, but was rejected by Sophronius
of Jerusalem.o Pope Honorius was consulted in 634; he responded with the
idea of “one will” (monon thelema), from which the term
monotheletism derives.o The patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius, then composed
a work called the Ecthesis, advancing the monotheletism
understanding of Christ: Only the divine volition was active
in Christ. The implication is that any real human obedience of
Jesus directed toward God is eliminated.o A dogmatic edict in support of this understanding was issued
by the emperor Heraclius in 638 and was confirmed by two
synods in Constantinople in 638 and 639.• The declaration was staunchly opposed by three successive popes,
who held to the Chalcedonian understanding of Christ: two natures
in one person, with the implication that Christ as human had a real
human will. But the major opponent to the monothelite variation
of monophysitism was the theologian Maximus the Confessor
(580–662).
o An imperial secretary under Heraclius, Maximus abandoned
the court and became a monk in 614. In the Persian invasion of
626, he fled to Africa, ending in Carthage.