Although the Council of Ephesus thus dispensed with one perceived threat to Christian orthodoxy, it gave rise to another. Cyril’s Christological statement, which was accepted by many Eastern Christians, came to be associated with a stance called monophysitism. This “one-nature” teaching, espoused by a 5th-century priest named Eutyches, a staunch opponent of Nestorius, emphasized Christ’s divine nature to such an extent that it apparently devalued, disparaged, and effectively negated Christ’s humanity (Eutyches compared the relationship between Christ’s humanity and his divinity to a single grain of sugar in the ocean). Cyril affirmed the equal presence of Christ’s humanity and divinity, and his Christology found wide acceptance among the Christians of Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, and Syria in particular.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo I (reigned 440–461) led a reaction against this purported monophysite doctrine that culminated in the Council of Chalcedon (451). The council issued a Christological formula affirming that Christ had two distinct natures that were neither commingled nor divided and that were equally present in one person. The Egyptian (Coptic) and Syrian Christians, soon joined by Ethiopian and Armenian Christians, rejected the Chalcedonian formula as a promotion of dyophysitism and upheld Cyril’s Christological formula from Ephesus. These “non-Chalcedonian” churches were subsequently regarded as monophysite heretics by the Roman and Eastern Orthodox churches. However, they consistently refuted the claim, declaring that Christ’s human and divine natures, while distinct, were equally present through the mystery of the Incarnation in a single person, a doctrine that later became known as miaphysitism.
During the next 250 years, the Byzantine emperors and patriarchs attempted to reconcile the non-Chalcedonians with the churches that had recognized Chalcedon. First, under the emperor Zeno (reigned 474–491), the Henotikon (union formula) offended Rome by suggesting that the criticism of Chalcedon might be justified. Then, under the emperor Justinian (reigned 527–565), the Chalcedonian definition was glossed by condemning the “Three Chapters,” which included the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret, and Ibas, all strong critics of St. Cyril of Alexandria’s theology and of the alleged monophysitism of the non-Chalcedonian churches. In Syria, Jacob Baradaeus, a bishop, responded to this by establishing a non-Chalcedonian episcopate. In the West he was perceived as having created a monophysite schism; the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, which arose from his efforts, is often pejoratively referred to as “Jacobite.” Finally, under the emperor Heraclius (reigned 610–641), the Chalcedonians invited the non-Chalcedonians to reunite under the formula that Christ had two natures but only one will (" class="md-crosslink">monothelitism), but this only created divisions among the Chalcedonians themselves.
From the 7th century until the mid-20th century, the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian churches, also known as Oriental Orthodox churches, remained out of contact. In the mid-20th century, under the influence of the ecumenical movement, the Oriental Orthodox churches began dialogue with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in hopes of finally resolving the schism that had emerged after the Council of Chalcedon. By the final third of the century, most of the ancient disputes had been resolved, and Oriental Orthodox Christians had come to be viewed by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches as Christians in good standing and no longer heretical. However, Chalcedon’s “two natures” formula continues to be rejected by the Oriental Orthodox churches: the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (erroneously and disparagingly referred to as “Syrian Jacobites”), the Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Syrian Church, and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Matt Stefon Liturgy and the arts after Constantine New forms of worship
Along with these developments in higher theology, various forms of religious devotion emerged, one of the more important of which was the “cult of the saints,” the public veneration of saints and its related shrines and rituals. Shrines were erected in honour of local holy men and women and those who had suffered for the faith. The saints were recognized as the special representatives of God and were thought to be vehicles for his miraculous power. The shrines became the focus of religious pilgrimage, and the relics of the saints were highly valued.
The veneration of martyrs and the growth of pilgrimages stimulated liturgical elaboration. Great centres (Jerusalem and Rome, in particular) became models for others, which encouraged regional standardization and cross-fertilization. Though the pattern of the eucharistic liturgy was settled by the 4th century, there were many variant forms, especially of the central prayer called by the Greeks anaphora (“offering”) and by the Latins canon (“prescribed form”). Liturgical prayers of St. Basil of Caesarea became widely influential in the East. Later, liturgies were ascribed to local saints: Jerusalem’s to St. James, Alexandria’s to St. Mark, and Constantinople’s to St. John Chrysostom. The spirit of Greek liturgies encouraged rich and imaginative prose. Latin style was restrained, with epigrammatic antitheses, and the Roman church changed from Greek to Latin about 370 ce. The canon of the Latin mass as used in the 6th century was already close to the form it has since retained.
Music also became elaborate, with antiphonal psalm chanting. Some reaction came from those who believed that the music was obscuring the words. Both St. Athanasius of Alexandria and St. Augustine defended music on the condition that the sense of the words remained primary in importance. The Latin theologians St. Ambrose of Milan, Prudentius, and Venantius Fortunatus provided Latin hymns of distinction. The ascription of the Roman chants (Gregorian) to Pope Gregory I the Great was first made in the 9th century. In the Greek East in the time of Justinian, Romanos Melodos created the kontakion, a long poetic homily.
The development of church architecture was stimulated by Constantine’s great buildings at Jerusalem and Rome, and his example as a church builder was emulated by his successors, most notably by Justinian in the 6th century. The exteriors of these churches remained simple, but inside they were richly ornamented with marble and mosaic, the decoration being arranged on a coherent plan to represent the angels and saints in heaven with whom the church on earth was joining for worship. An enormous number of churches built in and after the 4th century have been excavated. The outstanding buildings that survive largely intact, Hagia Sophia at Constantinople (now Istanbul) and San Vitale at Ravenna in Italy, belong to the age of Justinian.
Apse of the church of St. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, second half of the 6th century.SCALA/Art Resource, New York
The veneration of saints led to the production of a specific category of literature known as hagiography, which told the story of a saint’s life. Hagiography was not biography in the modern sense but was a work of religious devotion that portrayed the saint as a model of Christian virtue. If available, authentic tradition would be used, but hagiographers also drew from a stock of conventional tales about earlier saints that were generally intended to convey a moral lesson. Saints’ lives included accounts of the miracles performed by the saints in their lifetimes and at their shrines after their deaths. The lives of saints belong to the poetry of the Middle Ages but are important to the historian as documents of social and religious history. Historical and polemical writing
The first church historian was Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in the 4th century, who collected records up to the reign of Constantine. He wrote four historical works, including a life of Constantine and the Ecclesiastical History, his most important contribution. His history was translated and continued in Latin by Tyrannius Rufinus of Aquileia. The history of the church from Constantine to about 430 was continued by three Greek historians: Socrates Scholasticus, Sozomen, and Theodoret (whose works were adapted for the Latin world by Cassiodorus). Ecclesiastical history from 431 to 594 was chronicled by Evagrius Scholasticus. The consequences of Chalcedon as interpreted by non-Chalcedonian historians were recorded by Timothy Aelurus, Zacharias Scholasticus, and John of Nikiu.