- Henotikon
The Henotikon (the "act of union") was issued by
Byzantine emperor Zeno in482 , in an attempt to reconcile the differences between the supporters of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy and non-Chalcedonian Orthodoxy.In
482 theGreek Church of Alexandria passed to Peter III, who proved to be a Miaphysite, despite the condemnation of this christological opinion at theCouncil of Chalcedon . ThePatriarch of Constantinople , Acacius, devised an eirenic formula of unity called the "Henotikon", which Zeno promulgated without the approval of theBishop of Rome or of a Synod of bishops. By this act, Zeno hoped to placate the increasingly Miaphysitic provinces ofEgypt ,Palestine andSyria , which were under increasing attacks by the PersianSassanid dynasty .The items the "Henotikon" endorsed included:
*the condemnations ofEutyches andNestorius made at Chalcedon;
*an explicit approval of the twelve anathemas ofCyril of Alexandria ; and
*avoiding any statement whether Christ had one or two natures, in an attempt to appease both non-Chalcedonian and ChalcedonianOrthodox Christians .This act failed to satisfy either side. All church leaders took offense at the Emperor's open dictate of church policy, although the Patriarchs of
Antioch andAlexandria were pressured into subscribing to the "Henotikon". After two years of prevarication and temporializing by Acacius, Pope Felix III of Rome condemned the act and excommunicated Acacius (484 ), although this was largely ignored inConstantinople , even after the death of Acacius in489 .Zeno died in
491 . His successor Anastasius I was sympathetic to the Miaphysites, but he accepted the "Henotikon". However, Anastasius was unpopular because of hisMiaphysite beliefs, and Vitalian, a Chalcedonian general, attempted to overthrow him in514 . Anastasius then attempted to heal the schism with Pope Hormisdas of Rome, but this failed when Anastasius refused to recognize the excommunication of the now deceased Acacius. General Vitalian tried to overthrow the emperor for a second time, but he was defeated by loyal officers.The schism caused by the "Henotikon" was officially settled in
519 when EmperorJustin I recognized the excommunication of Acacius and reunited the churches. However, the Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem now embracedMiaphysitism (later to be known as theOriental Orthodox Churches). In spite of the fact that the churches of the East (later to be known as theEastern Orthodox Church ) and West (later to be known as theRoman Catholic Church ) were now reunited, in practise they were already diverging, and continued to separate further over the next 500 years.External links
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07218b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Henoticon]
*Edward Walford , translator, "The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius: A History of the Church from AD 431 to AD 594", 1846. Reprinted 2008. Evolution Publishing, ISBN 978-1-889758-88-6. [http://www.evolpub.com/CRE/CREseries.html#CRE5] -- contains a complete English translation of the Henotikon.
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