Eutychianism, also known as Real Monophysitism, refers to a set of Christian

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

doctrines derived from the ideas of Eutyches of Constantinople (c. 380 – c. 456). Eutychianism is a

monophysite Monophysitism ( ) or monophysism ( ; from Greek , "solitary" and , "nature") is a Christological doctrine that states that there was only one nature—the divine—in the person of Jesus Christ, who was the incarnated Word. It is rejected as ...

understanding of how the human and divine relate within the person of

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, with Christ being ''in'' one nature and ''of'' two, with the humanity of Christ subsumed by the divinity. Eutychians were often labelled

Phantasiasts Phantasiasts (from Greek φαντασία, ''phantasia'', appearance, phantasm) was a label applied to several distinct Christian heresies by their opponents in late antiquity. The term appears in Greek and Syriac writings mainly to refer to extr ...

by their adversaries, who accused their

Christology In Christianity, Christology is a branch of Christian theology, theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would b ...

of reducing Jesus'

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...

to a phantasm.Sergey Minov
"Date and Provenance of the Syriac Cave of Treasures: A Reappraisal"
''Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies'' 20,1 (2017): 129–229, esp. at 141–145.

Overview

At various times, Eutyches taught that the human nature of Christ was overcome by the divine or that Christ had a human nature but it was unlike the rest of humanity. One formulation is that Eutychianism stressed the unity of Christ's nature to such an extent that Christ's divinity consumed his humanity as the ocean consumes a drop of vinegar. Eutyches maintained that Christ was ''of'' two natures but not ''in'' two natures: separate divine and human natures had united and blended in such a manner that although Jesus was ''

homoousion Homoousion ( ; , from , , "same" and , , "being" or "essence") is a Christian theological term, most notably used in the Nicene Creed for describing Jesus (God the Son) as "same in being" or "same in essence" with God the Father (). The same te ...

'' with the Father, he was not ''homoousion'' with the man. Eutychianism was rejected at the

Fourth Ecumenical Council The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

Chalcedon Chalcedon (; ; sometimes transliterated as ) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, Turkey. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the city of Ist ...

in 451 and the

statement of faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds: ...

known as the

Chalcedonian Creed The Chalcedonian Definition (also called the Chalcedonian Creed or the Definition of Chalcedon) is the declaration of the dyophysitism of Hypostatic union, Christ's nature, adopted at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. Chalcedon was an Early cen ...

. The reaction against Eutychianism also led to the schism with

Oriental Orthodoxy The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian tradition. Oriental Orthodoxy is ...

Historical background

As the Christian Church grew and developed, the complexity of its understanding of the

Triune God The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three d ...

and the

person of Christ In Christianity, Christology is a branch of Christian theology, theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would b ...

also grew and developed. It's important to understand the controversies of

regarding its parallel with the organisation of the church, as they are ideally united as one, the latter seen as the body of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

. In 325, the issue of how to reconcile the claims of

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...

with the assertion of the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth was largely settled at the

First Ecumenical Council The First Council of Nicaea ( ; ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. The Council of Nicaea met from May until the end of July 325. This ec ...

held at

Nicaea Nicaea (also spelled Nicæa or Nicea, ; ), also known as Nikaia (, Attic: , Koine: ), was an ancient Greek city in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. It was the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...

.Alister McGrath, ''Christian Theology: An Introduction'' (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1994) 281-282. Especially among the Greek-speaking Christians, attention turned to how to understand how the second person of the Trinity became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. The

Nicene Creed The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...

said that Jesus was "of one Being (''

ousia ''Ousia'' (; ) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, especially Aristotle, as a primary designation for philoso ...

'') with (God) the Father" and that he "was incarnate of the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

and the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and became truly human." However, neither the Nicene Creed nor the canons of the Council provided a detailed explanation of how God became human in the person of Jesus, leaving the door open for speculation. One such theory of how the human and divine interact in the person of Jesus was put forward by the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

Nestorius Nestorius of Constantinople (; ; ) was an early Christian prelate who served as Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 11 July 431. A Christian theologian from the Catechetical School of Antioch, several of his teachings in the fi ...

(c. 386–451). Nestorius, a student of the Antiochene school of theology, taught that in the incarnation two distinct '' hypostases'' ("substances" or, as Nestorius' critics such as

John Cassian John Cassian, also known as John the Ascetic and John Cassian the Roman (, ''Ioannes Cassianus'', or ''Ioannes Massiliensis''; Greek: Ίωάννης Κασσιανός ό Ερημίτης; – ), was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated ...

and

Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Alexandria (; or ⲡⲓ̀ⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲕⲓⲣⲓⲗⲗⲟⲥ; 376–444) was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He was enthroned when the city was at the height of its influence and power within the Roman Empire ...

employed the term, "persons") were conjoined in Jesus Christ: one human (the man) and one divine (the Word). Thus, Mary should not be considered the God-bearer (''

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' ( Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-beare ...

'') since she only contributed to and bore the human nature of Christ, making her the ''

Christotokos ''Christotokos'' (Greek: , English: ''Christ-bearer'') is a Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus, used historically by non-Ephesian (or " Nestorian") Church of the East. Its literal English translations also include ''the one who gives bir ...

''.For more info, see

and

Nestorianism Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinary, doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian t ...

. In 431, Nestorius and his teachings were condemned by the

Third Ecumenical Council The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church t ...

, held in

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

, which defined the

Church of the East The Church of the East ( ) or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church, the Chaldean Church or the Nestorian Church, is one of three major branches o ...

. The Council of Ephesus did not answer the question of how the human and divine interrelated in the person of Christ. It seemingly rejected any attempted answer that stressed the duality of Christ's natures to the expense of his unity as a single ''hypostasis'' (understood to mean "person").

Eutyches and Chalcedon

In response to Eutychianism, the Council adopted

dyophysitism Dyophysitism (; from Ancient Greek, Greek δύο ''dyo'', "two" and φύσις ''physis'', "nature") is the Christology, Christological position that Jesus Christ is in two distinct, inseparable natures: God in Christianity, divine and human natur ...

, which clearly distinguished between person and nature, by stating that Christ is one person in two natures but emphasized that the natures are "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation".

Miaphysites Miaphysitism () is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one nature (''physis'', ). It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It differs from the Dyophysitism of the ...

rejected that definition as verging on

and instead adhered to the wording of

, the chief opponent of Nestorianism, who had spoken of the "one (''mia'') nature of the Word of God incarnate" ( ''mia physis tou theou logou sesarkōmenē'').John McGuckin (2004), ''Saint Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy'', p140 et al The distinction of the stance was that the incarnate Christ has one nature, but it is still of both a divine character and a human character and retains all the characteristics of both, with no mingling, confusion or change of either nature. Miaphysites condemned Eutychianism.

References

{{Authority control Christology Oriental Orthodox theology Heresy in ancient Christianity Nature of Jesus Christ