Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

600 21b. syria, palestine and mesopotamia
supporters of the Monophysites. Adherents to the Monophysite creed
were subject to bouts of persecution but, despite rumours that
Monophysite monks had betrayed Amida to the Persians in 503, it would
be wrong to see the movement as anti-imperial or in any way ‘nationalist’
or separatist: the Monophysites simply wanted to be part of a Christian
empire which was, in their sense, orthodox. 38
The balance of power between the communities in the patriarchate of
Antioch reflected political changes in Constantinople as well as local
opinion. From 451 to 518 the key issue was the control of the office of
patriarch itself, for the patriarch alone had power to consecrate new
bishops and so change the complexion of the hierarchy. Until his death in
488, the key figure among the Monophysites of Antioch was Peter the
Fuller, who was patriarch no less than three times, interrupted by two
periods of exile. At this stage, much of the population of the city itself
seems to have had Monophysite sympathies, and the unfortunate
Chalcedonian patriarch Stephen was stabbed to death by his own clergy,
using sharpened reed pens, in 479. 39
In 482 the Henotikon of Zeno provided a framework within which the
two parties could agree to differ, and some of the violence went out of the
dispute. This tolerant policy was continued by Anastasius. In 512, however,
Severus became patriarch of Antioch and succeeded in winning over the
emperor Anastasius to a more militantly Monophysite position, while
Philoxenus of Hierapolis won Euphratensis for the cause. From 512 to 518
the Monophysites were supreme in Antioch, though opponents remained
in Syria II and among the monks of Phoenicia II, who went so far as to
write to Rome seeking support. The accession in 518 of Justin I, a westerner
seeking reconciliation with Rome, led to a violent reversal of policy.
The hierarchy was swiftly changed: Severus was obliged to retire to
Monophysite Alexandria and the new patriarch Paul, called ‘the Jew’, began
active persecution of the Monophysites, until removed by the emperor for
his excesses. Monophysite bishops were replaced and Monophysite monks
expelled from their monasteries to find even more austere retreats in the
mountains and deserts.
The years 531 to 536 saw a relaxation of persecution because of the
pro-Monophysite actions of the empress Theodora but, as Justinian
sought to win over the implacably Chalcedonian church of Rome, after
536 the persecution was started up with renewed intensity. This seems
finally to have convinced Severus, still the spiritual leader of the
Monophysites, to accede to the demands of militants like John of Tella
38 On which see Meyendorff, Imperial Unity 251–4; the loyalty of Monophysite communities to the
empire in the late sixth century is noted by Whitby (Maurice 213–15). Ghassānids: Shahı - d (1995).
39 Malalas p. 381 Bonn.
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