Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

justin i and justinian 821
was forced into exile. Chalcedonian bishops were put in the place of the
deposed except in Cilicia I, Phoenicia Maritima and Arabia, 27 and anti-
Chalcedonian monks were badly treated. Persecution followed. But even
within its own ranks the anti-Chalcedonian movement was experiencing
the problems which were to dog its history for the rest of the sixth century,
and to impede imperial attempts to enforce Chalcedonian orthodoxy on
opponents of the council of 451. These problems arose from theological
disputes among Monophysites, such as we see in Egypt between Severus
and Julian of Halicarnassus, who disagreed on the manner in which human
passions or emotions were attributed to Christ. For Julian the emphasis on
the unity of Christ was of primary importance, and the difference between
the two natures was secondary. Thus he asserted that to describe the body
of Christ as ‘corruptible’ ( phthartos), i.e. subject to human suffering, was to
call into question the unity of the body with the divinity. 28 Julian’s doctrine,
which was not always understood properly by his adversaries, attracted
opposition not only from anti-Chalcedonians like Severus, who himself
wrote several works against it, but also from Chalcedonians. However,
Julian’s ‘aphthartodocetism’, as it was dubbed by its enemies, continued to
exercise considerable influence, especially in the Alexandrian and
Armenian churches.
Justin’s nephew, the count Justinian, had been assuming increasing
importance in ecclesiastical politics, taking up the cause of the Scythian
monks, and advising pope Hormisdas that the Scythian theopaschite
formula could be interpreted as anti-Nestorian and orthodox, and so unite
Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonians. The count also attempted to have
Hormisdas review his demands concerning the removal of bishops’ names
from the diptychs. Hormisdas, however, conceived of using, not being
used by, imperial power to enforce orthodoxy as he saw it.
From April to August 527, when Justinian acted as co-regent with his
uncle, he passed legislation against heretics, Manichees and Samaritans. 29
This was a foretaste of the policies he was to pursue after becoming sole
regent on the death of Justin. Not only was he determined to end the split
between Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonians, but in edicts early in his
reign he enacted penalties against Nestorians, Eutychians, Apollinarians,
Montanists and others. 30 Pagans (‘Hellenes’) were the subject of a particularly
energetic and programmatic attack. In a law passed in the year 529 31
pagans are ordered to be baptized with their entire households, or run the
risk of being excluded from the state and stripped of all goods and possessions.
Pagan teachers are singled out and forbidden to teach, under threat
of dire penalty. The promulgation of this stringent legislation, which
27 Honigmann (1951) 25ff.
28 Draguet (1924); Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition ii.2 79–110. 29 CJ i.1.5.
30 CJ i.5.18. 31 CJ i.11.10.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008