THE NEW MONOPHYSITES
By Father Seraphim Johnson
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The Monophysite heresy was the reason for the Fourth and Fifth Ecumenical Councils. Today there are few who remember it, and perhaps even fewer who appreciate its importance, but it has suddenly become a topic of great urgency for all Orthodox Christians. The Monophysites taught that our Lord Jesus Christ had only one nature that of God. They reacted against the Nestorians, who taught that our Lord was fundamentally a very special, very good man to whom God somehow united Himself. However, both of these ideas destroy our salvation, as the Fathers of the Church very clearly perceived. If the Nestorians are right, then our Lord accomplished our salvation through His own human abilities. But if that is so, then any person potentially could have done the same thing. Furthermore, any person could potentially become another Christ. This is the same doctrine that we find in modern New Age teaching the idea that each one of us is potentially a god, if only we know it and develop our godhood. Obviously, that is the same temptation that Satan offered our first parents in Eden: the opportunity to become gods.
The Monophysites' error is perhaps a little more subtle to understand, but if they are right, our Lord did nothing at all for us in His incarnation, death, and resurrection. Because of the Fall, human beings are unable to obey God: there is something broken in our nature which makes it impossible for us to meet our Creator's demand for holiness in His creatures. This disobedience can only be corrected by human obedience, and that is impossible for us to do. Out of His love for us, the Lord took on our human nature and, through His divine nature which could obey the Father fully. He made it possible for human nature to be restored to its proper relationship of obedience to God. It was His Divine nature which made obedience possible, and it was that obedience which restored our human nature which He bore from the damage of the Fall; we share in this restored human nature by being united to our Lord in Holy Baptism. Only if our Lord had both Divine and human natures could He overcome the results of the Fall and restore us to what God made us to be originally. If He was only God, as the Monophysites teach, then He could do nothing for us; we are still in our sins and His life was meaningless [for us]. Furthermore, Monophysites can easily come to see our Lord Jesus Christ as just another example of what Hinduism calls an avatar, i.e. a "god" which appears on earth in human form. There is nothing unique about the Incarnation of our Lord in this case, and the process of merging Christianity with pagan religions is free to develop. Although the Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (in Chalcedon) condemned the Monophysite teaching as far back as the fifth century, a number of churches continue to exist down to the present time which refuse to accept this Council and which still teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is only God. These include the Coptic Church in Egypt, the Ethiopian Church, the Syriac Church, and the Armenian Church.
Until recently Monophysite teaching had little or no effect on Orthodoxy, but in recent years the growing theological haziness resulting from the Ecumenical Movement has also affected the relationship between the Orthodox and Monophysite Churches. Talks at the World Council of Churches center in Chambesy, Switzerland have led to some serious compromises of Orthodoxy, but the most dramatic and painful event occurred in 1991 in Syria. The Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch (Ignatius IV) and the Monophysite Syriac "Patriarch" of the same see (Ignatius I) concluded a formal agreement which is stunning in its statements. [1] Among others, it includes the following points: The "holy fathers" of the two churches will receive "complete and mutual respect." Of course, this includes a number of Monophysite teachers and leaders who were anathematized by name by the Fourth and subsequent Ecumenical Councils but who now will be treated as the equals of the Orthodox Fathers.
Concelebrations will occur in all Mysteries between the two churches, with the right to preside going in most cases to the clergyman who represents the larger group at the service. Otherwise, the clergy of the two groups may alternate serving for the members of both groups.
Representatives from each church will participate in ordinations of the other.
By this agreement the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch has entered essentially into a full and complete union with the Monophysite Syriac Church. Each body will for the moment retain its own hierarchy, ritual, and customs; but they are one in their "mysteries" and in their shared doctrine and "heritage." In their defense, perhaps the Antiochian Orthodox will claim that the Monophysite Syriac Church no longer holds its false teaching, and therefore it has become acceptable to Orthodoxy. But on May 6, 1992 the Syriac Patriarch Ignatius I gave a speech at the University of Athens, in which he said of our Lord Jesus Christ, "We cannot say that there are two natures, two hypostases, but that He is full and full (sic) God." [2] From this it is clear that the Monophysite Syriac Church has not changed its teaching and somehow become orthodox.
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For over one thousand years the definition of an Orthodox Church has been that at a minimum that body must accept the decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. And now we find that the Patriarchate of Antioch acknowledges as "fathers" those who were anathematized by the last four Ecumenical Councils and that it dares to enter into full communionin the Mysteries with those who reject the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Ecumenical Councils, thereby bringingitself directly under the condemnations pronounced by the Holy Fathers of those Councils. There can be only one conclusion from this: the Patriarchate of Antioch is no longer an Orthodox Church, but rather a Monophysite body . For a long time the Orthodox Church has been torn by disagreement about how much, if any, ecumenical activity is legitimate. Some Orthodox have tried to argue that the canonsagainst prayer with heretics do not apply to modern Protestant and Roman Catholic bodies, so that relations with them do not come under the condemnations of the Holy Fathers and the Councils. But now the time for pretense is over: thanks to Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch, we no longer have to debate whether the ecumenical Orthodox Churches have departed from Orthodoxy. He has unflinchingly brought his church under the condemnation of the Fourth through Seventh Ecumenical Councils, thereby removing all doubt about whether his patriarchate is still Orthodox. It no longer is entitled to bear the name Orthodox, and any other Orthodox Church which remains in communion with it by that fact also ceases to be Orthodox and falls under the condemnationsof the Ecumenical Councils.
How tragic it is for the many unsuspecting heterodox Christians who are attempting to flee from the blatant denial of the most basic Christian doctrines in Protestantism and Roman Catholicism by entering the Antiochian Orthodox Church and its Evangelical Orthodox Mission, thinking that they are becoming Orthodox Christians when they join that body, when in fact they are not Orthodox at all, but rather practical Monophysites under the condemnation of the Ecumenical Councils of the Orthodox Church. And how tragic it is to think of all the faithful in the so-called "canonical"Orthodox Churches which remain in communionwith the Patriarch of Antioch and which are also brought under the anathema of the Holy Fathers. We can only pray that God will somehow open their eyes and bring them back to Orthodoxy, and that He will strengthenus to remain firm in the Orthodox Faith, no matter how many others fall away into apostasy.[1] The full text of this agreement appeared in The WORD , an official publication of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in America, for April 1992.
[2] Orthodoxos Parateretes , No. 40 (102), July-August 1992, p. 63. The words "full and full God" are given in English in this source; the rest of the quotation is my translation from Greek.
Good article
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