The Gaianites were a Julianist faction within the Egyptian miaphysite church between the sixth and ninth centuries.Theresia Hainthaler, "The Struggle between Chalcedonians and Anti-Chalcedonians", in ''Christ in Christian Tradition, Volume 2: From the Council of Chalcedona (451) to Gregory the Great (590–604), Part 4: The Church in Alexandria, with Nubia and Ethiopia after 451'' (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), pp. 36–52, at 45–52.

History

By the time of the death of Patriarch

Timothy IV of Alexandria Timothy is a masculine name. It comes from the Greek name ( Timόtheos) meaning "honouring God", "in God's honour", or "honoured by God". Timothy (and its variations) is a common name in several countries. People Given name * Timothy (given na ...

in 535, Julianism (Aphthartodocetism) had become the dominant theology of

Egyptian monasticism Coptic monasticism was a movement in the Coptic Orthodox Church to create a holy, separate class of person from layman Christians. It is said to be the original form of monasticism. as Anthony the Great became the first one to be called "monk" () ...

, of the rural Christian population and of the lower classes in the city of

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

itself. In 535, the Julianists elected as patriarch the archdeacon Gaianus, while their rivals the Severans elected the deacon

Theodosius Theodosius ( Latinized from the Greek "Θεοδόσιος", Theodosios, "given by god") is a given name. It may take the form Teodósio, Teodosie, Teodosije etc. Theodosia is a feminine version of the name. Emperors of ancient Rome and Byzantium ...

with the support of the Empress

Theodora Theodora may refer to: * Theodora (given name), a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift" Historical figures known as Theodora Byzantine empresses * Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church * Theodo ...

. While the Severans are considered the "imperial" faction, the Gaianites are seen as representing the "Coptic national spirit". After a little over three months in office, Gaianus was exiled by the Roman authorities. In the rioting that followed, 3 000 Alexandrians died. Theodosius was installed with Roman military help, but went into voluntary exile a little over a year later. The Gaianites were the strongest party in the city when in 564 or 565 they elected a successor to Gaianus, a certain Elpidius. He was arrested on the orders of the Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

in 565 and died at

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

en route to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. He was succeeded by Dorotheus, who headed the Gaianite church until 580. The reign of

Justin II Justin II (; ; died 5 October 578) was Eastern Roman emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the niece of Justinian's wife Theodora. Justin II inherited a greatly enlarged but overextended empir ...

(568–578), however, was a period of declining influence for the Gaianites, who until then had been the dominant faction within the Egyptian miaphysite movement, a position they eventually ceded to the Severans. According to

Theophanes of Byzantium Theophanes of Byzantium (; fl. 6th century) was a Byzantine historian. He wrote, in ten books, the history of the Eastern Empire during the Persian war under Justin II, beginning from the second year of Justin (567), in which the truce made by J ...

, between 570 and 573 the Gaianites recognized the Theodosian patriarch John IV. In 581, they again reunited with the Theodosian party. The anti-miaphysite patriarch Eulogius I of Alexandria, elected in 581, wrote a treatise ''Contra Theodosianos et Gaianitas'' ("Against the Theodosians and Gaianites"). The Gaianites are mentioned as a sect into the ninth century. Patriarch

Sophronius of Jerusalem Sophronius (; ; c. 560 – March 11, 638), called Sophronius the Sophist, was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the city known as Aelia Capitolina and then Jerusalem from 634 until his death. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and ...

(634–638) distinguishes between them and the Julianists in his ''Narratio miraculorum sancti Cyri et Iohanni'' ("Narration of the Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John"). Around the same time there were also Gaianites 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 ...

where previously there had been a Julianist bishop in the mid-sixth century. Late in the seventh century,

Anastasius of Sinai Anastasius Sinaita (; died after 700), also called Anastasius of Sinai or Anastasius the Sinaite, was a Greek writer, priest and abbot of Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai. Life What little is known about his life is gathered from his o ...

still regarded the Gaianites as an important sect in his ''Viae dux'' ("Guide to the Path"). According to the ''

History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria The ''History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria'' is a major historical work of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It is the only continuous narrative on the history of the Non-Chalcedonian Alexandrian Patriarchate. It is written in Coptic ...

'', around 695 there was a Gaianite patriarch named Theodore who dispatched a Gaianite bishop to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. According to the ''History of the Patriarchs'', the Severan patriarch Alexander II (704–729) brought the Gaianites back into union and even subjected the 170-year-old Gaianite monastic community of Wadi Habib to his authority. There were still some holdouts, however. Patriarch

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

, in his inaugural sermon in 819, pronounced the

anathema The word anathema has two main meanings. One is to describe that something or someone is being hated or avoided. The other refers to a formal excommunication by a Christian denomination, church. These meanings come from the New Testament, where a ...

on Gaianites and

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 ...

Beliefs

Like all Julianists, the Gaianites were aphthartodocetes, that is, they denied the corruptibility of the physical body 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 ...

. In the early eighth century,

Timothy of Constantinople Timothy of Constantinople (Greek language, Greek: Τιμόθεος; fl. c. 600/700) was a Chalcedonian Christian Heresiology, heresiologist and presbyter of the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. He wrote a treatise in Medieval Greek, Gree ...

described three factions among the Gaianites: those who held that Jesus' body was incorruptible from the moment of the

hypostatic union Hypostatic union (from the Greek: ''hypóstasis'', 'person, subsistence') is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one hypostasis, or individual perso ...

, those who held that his body was corruptible in itself but was preserved from any corruption by the

Logos ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

and those who held that body of Jesus was not only incorruptible but uncreated. These last were called Actistites. In the treatise '' De sectis'', the Gaianites are the preeminent heretical group. As miaphysites, they believe that there is only one nature in Christ, so that the body can be no more corruptible than the Logos after their union. Although he suffered, it was unlike our suffering in that it was wholly voluntary, the laws of nature having no power over him.

Patriarchs

* Gaianus (535) *Elpidius (d. 565) *Dorotheus (565/573–580) *Theodore (c. 695)

References

{{reflist Oriental Orthodox theology Christianity in the Byzantine Empire Christian denominations established in the 6th century Christian terminology Nature of Jesus Christ