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Council of Chalcedon

The Council of Chalcedon (451) defined Christ’s two natures and deposed Dioscorus of Alexandria, becoming a decisive turning point in Coptic relations with Rome and Constantinople and shaping centuries of ecclesiastical, political, and cultural history.

Also known as: Chalcedon, Council of · Council of Chalcedon (451)

Published 10/1/2026Updated 8 revisionsPage history

In brief

The Council of Chalcedon was an imperial church council held in 451 that defined Christ as one person in two natures and deposed Dioscorus of Alexandria. Rejected by the Coptic Church as ecumenical, it became a central turning point in the separation of Coptic Christians from Rome and Constantinople.

Overview

The Council of Chalcedon met in sixteen sessions from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon, across the Bosporus from Constantinople. Convoked by Emperor Marcian, it addressed the controversy following the acquittal of Eutyches and the Second Council of Ephesus in 449. Its doctrinal definition and condemnation of Dioscorus of Alexandria and Eutyches alienated the great majority of Coptic Christians.1

Chalcedon was the fourth ecumenical council, although the Copts rejected its ecumenical standing.12

Background and proceedings

Before the division, Alexandria had been a leading center of Christian learning through its Catechetical School of Alexandria, whose most famous church father was Origen.35 Chalcedon took place against the background of Egyptian episcopal leadership against Arianism and Nestorianism, especially Cyril’s prominence at Ephesus in 431, which led Western and Byzantine churchmen to describe the Alexandrian patriarchs as “Pharaohs of the Church.”36 Rivalry over ecclesiastical rank also predated Chalcedon: Constantinople’s promotion by canon 3 of the council of 381 had encountered opposition from both Alexandria and Rome because it lacked an apostolic justification.37

Emperor Theodosius II supported the decisions of Ephesus II and refused to summon another council despite opposition from Pope Leo I. After Theodosius died in 450, Pulcheria and Marcian sought to restore relations between Constantinople and Rome, creating the conditions for a new council.34

The first session took place in the Church of Saint Euphemia. In the emperor’s absence, nineteen imperial commissioners, headed by the patrician Anatolius, directed the proceedings.5

Among the Egyptian participants was Athanasius, bishop of Abusir Bana, who had also attended the Council of Ephesus in 449.16

Unlike several earlier councils, Chalcedon has no known attendance by chorepiscopi, the episcopal assistants associated with pastoral care in rural districts.38 Testimony at the council also preserves evidence about Egyptian institutions: a priest who alleged persecution by Dioscorus reported finding refuge within the asylum precinct associated with the Monastery of the Metanoia at Canopus and the archiepiscopal church.39

Christological definition

Disagreement centered partly on whether Christ should be described as “out of two natures” or “in two natures.” A draft produced under Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople on 22 October emphasized the unity of Christ’s person and used “out of two natures.” Although acceptable to most bishops, it met opposition from the Roman legates and imperial commissioners; a revised definition was promulgated by Marcian on 25 October.6

The accepted definition described Christ as “in two Natures, unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably,” preserving the properties of each nature within one person and hypostasis. Leo’s Tome was accepted as orthodox, with the bishops affirming that Cyril and Leo taught alike.78

Cyril’s affirmation that the union of natures was according to hypostasis was not condemned at Chalcedon and was reaffirmed in Anathema 5 of the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.17

Dioscorus and ecclesiastical decisions

Dioscorus was excommunicated and deposed. One supplied account explicitly identifies ecclesiastical indiscipline, rather than doctrinal heresy, as the formal ground; another emphasizes his defense of Alexandrian teaching against recognition of two natures after the Incarnation. He maintained that his position followed Athanasius, Gregory, and Cyril.79

Dioscorus was subsequently exiled to Gangra. His deposition and exile became enduring grievances among the Copts, who honored him as a saint.2

Canon 28 accorded Constantinople, as “New Rome,” equal status with Rome apart from Rome’s primacy of honor. The Roman legates opposed the canon, and Leo subsequently refused to accept it. The council also recognized Jerusalem’s patriarchal dignity over three Palestinian provinces, returning Phoenicia I, Phoenicia II, and Arabia to Antioch.10

The Jerusalem settlement was negotiated by Juvenal of Jerusalem and Maximus of Antioch, reversing territorial concessions Dioscorus had made at Ephesus II and ending Jerusalem’s long struggle for recognition as a patriarchal see.40 Canon 28 confirmed the earlier Constantinopolitan canon of 381 and received the signatures of 183 bishops at the council’s final session.41 The council’s account connects it with canon 9, which gave Constantinople appellate jurisdiction in ecclesiastical lawsuits involving churches in Asia Minor, including Pontus and Thrace.42 The bishops of patriarchal sees, including Rome and Constantinople, were designated archbishops at Chalcedon.43

The council admitted devout women aged forty to the diaconate.18 Its rules also required clerical ordination to be attached to a definite church office or title and to coincide with installation.19 Canon 9 recognized provincial synods as bodies of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, while canon 17 stipulated that ecclesiastical organization should adapt to public administrative organization.20

The provision for women contrasted with the law attributed by Sozomen to Theodosius I, which had required women entering the diaconate to be over sixty.44 A later Egyptian example of ordination to a particular office appears in the correspondence of Abraham of Hermonthis around 600: Coptic ostracon 36 petitions for Isaac’s ordination to the Church of Saint Mary in Piohe because the church needed him, with local clergy guaranteeing his proper fulfillment of the office.45

On 7 February 452 Marcian issued an edict to the people of Constantinople requiring adherence to Chalcedon’s decision and prohibiting further discussion of religious matters.46 The council strengthened both Constantinople’s position against Alexandria and, to a lesser extent, Rome, and the guiding role of the emperor and his lay representatives in church affairs.47

Reception and Coptic significance

Acceptance was not uniform even among the Egyptian delegation: four of the seventeen bishops accompanying Dioscorus supported the council’s definition and participated in the consecration of Proterius as his successor. Opposition elsewhere included serious riots in Alexandria and Jerusalem, while Proterius failed to gain support in Egypt.11

The election of Timothy II Aelurus as a rival to Proterius divided the Alexandrian see into Coptic and Greek patriarchal successions, the latter becoming known as Melchite, or royalist.21 At the Enaton, monks led by Longinus supported Dioscorus, received a statement of his faith, and organized resistance to Marcian and his representative; Longinus also played a decisive role in Timothy II’s election.22

The Enaton subsequently sheltered persecuted anti-Chalcedonians from Syria and Palestine, including Thomas of Harkel, and received visitors such as Zacharias Scholasticus and John of Ephesus; Severus of Antioch stayed there after his deposition in 518, and his relics were later returned for burial in a mausoleum.48

The resulting separation can be understood either as a rupture in 451 or as a gradual Coptic alienation from Rome and Constantinople following Dioscorus’s deposition and acceptance of Leo’s Tome.1213

The intensity of conflict also varied over time: the account of Athanasius II, patriarch from 488 to 494, cites the History of the Patriarchs as describing a reign without disorder or persecution and suggests that the immediate confusion caused by Chalcedon had subsided.49

Later imperial attempts at reconciliation did not overcome the division. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 failed to bridge the gulf, and Cyrus’s mission to Egypt in 631 included an effort to impose Chalcedonian obedience on the Coptic community.1415

Later disputes and reconciliation efforts

Zeno’s Henoticon of 482 sought to bridge the doctrinal division, but its acceptance by Peter III Mongus displeased some anti-Chalcedonian monks and clergy.23 Divergent attitudes toward Chalcedon and relations with Alexandria also lay behind the Acacian Schism, which interrupted communion between Rome and Constantinople from 484 to 519.24

Before his rapprochement with Peter Mongus, Acacius of Constantinople had maintained communion with Peter’s Chalcedonian rival, Timothy Salofaciolus, and had denounced Peter’s consecration as having taken place at night before his predecessor’s burial.50 During negotiations in 515, Pope Hormisdas demanded unequivocal acceptance of Chalcedon and denunciation of Dioscorus, Timothy Aelurus, Peter Mongus, and Acacius, whereas Emperor Anastasius offered to accept Chalcedon as a disciplinary synod consistent with Nicaea but refused to sacrifice Acacius’s memory.51 Anastasius also offered to recall recently exiled bishops and reprimand Egyptian denunciations of Leo and Chalcedon, while maintaining the anathemas against Nestorius and Eutyches.52

In Palestine, monks led by Saint Saba resisted the deposition of Patriarch Elias in 516 and prevented his successor John from denouncing Chalcedon, proclaiming “Four Councils even as Four Gospels.”53 In late 517, 207 leading monks of Syria Secunda, headed by Alexander of the monastery of Maro, appealed to Hormisdas against Severus of Antioch and his opposition to Leo and Chalcedon.54 Justin I’s accession in July 518 brought a reversal of imperial policy, accompanied by popular demands during the Eucharist for Chalcedon’s proclamation, Severus’s deposition, and reconciliation with Rome.55

Under Justinian, Abraham of Farshut was summoned to Constantinople between 535 and 548 and refused the emperor’s demand that he accept Chalcedon or lose his position as archimandrite of Pbow.25 The doctrine later brought to Egypt by Cyrus emphasized Christ’s one energy and one will; the Life of Samu’il of Qalamun anachronistically calls this teaching the Tome of Leo.26

Abraham traveled with four brethren under an imperial order for his compulsory removal, and Theodora’s intervention on his behalf failed to change Justinian’s determination.56 Stephen of Hnes’s Panegyric on Apollo describes Pbow becoming Chalcedonian and Abraham’s expulsion, after which Apollo also left the monastery.57

The council of 553 pursued reconciliation by condemning the “Three Chapters,” works associated with Theodorus of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Ibas of Edessa, as tainted with Nestorianism, thereby seeking to modify Chalcedon’s effect without openly undermining its authority.58 The search for such an interpretation of Chalcedon and Leo’s Tome had intensified after Severus’s death in 538, but the resulting council also humiliated Pope Vigilius and further strained relations between Eastern and Western churches.59

Cyrus’s appointment combined the offices of Byzantine patriarch of Alexandria, civil viceroy, and military commander, enabling him to enforce religious policy through both ecclesiastical and secular authority during his tenure of 631–642.60 Samu’il of Qalamun was expelled from Scetis by Cyrus’s agent, while Heraclius’s desire for unity was connected with the recent recovery of Egypt from Persian occupation.61

Historians have proposed that the migration of the Nine Saints to Ethiopia was connected with the disturbances surrounding Chalcedon, although the exact date and reason for their arrival remain unknown.27

The proposed connection includes the hypothesis that non-Chalcedonian monks sought to protect the Ethiopian church against Chalcedonian teaching, considered alongside rivalry in Nubia between an emperor supporting Chalcedonians and Empress Theodora supporting their opponents.62 Some traditions describe a collective journey through the monastery of Apa Pachomius in Egypt, although separate arrivals at different times are plausible; one of the saints, Pantalewon, was asked to pray for King Kaleb’s Arabian campaign in 527.63

Opposition to Chalcedon remained explicit in later Coptic patriarchal teaching: Mark II, patriarch from 799 to 819, expressed it in his inaugural homily and sent a synodical letter to Cyriacus of Antioch defining his faith and emphasizing the unity of their churches.64

Coptic opposition to Nestorianism did not entail acceptance of Eutychianism, whose basic elements the Copts also rejected.28 A joint Roman Catholic–Coptic Christological statement signed at the Anba Bishoi Monastery on 12 February 1988 affirmed that Christ is perfect in divinity and humanity and that his humanity is one with his divinity.29

Diversity among opponents and wider church traditions

Opposition to Chalcedon did not produce complete theological agreement among its opponents, as illustrated by the controversy between Julian of Halicarnassus and Severus of Antioch.65 After deposition from his see for opposing Chalcedon, Julian fled to Alexandria and taught that Christ’s body was incorruptible from the moment of union rather than only from the Resurrection, understanding Christ as consubstantial with Adam before the Fall rather than humanity in its fallen condition.66 His followers were called Julianists or Aphthartodocetae, referring to incorruptibility, and were also labeled Phantasiastae by opponents who thought the teaching endangered the reality of Christ’s body.67 Severus refuted Julian, who wrote four works against him, fragments of which survive in Syriac and Greek alongside recovered letters.68

Non-Chalcedonian Christianity consolidated in the sixth century into the Coptic and Ethiopian churches, the Syrian Jacobites, and the Armenians, sharing adherence to the pre-Chalcedonian Fathers while rejecting the council’s definition.69 Earlier Armenian participation in Egyptian desert monasticism was distinct from institutional church relations that developed after Ephesus and especially Chalcedon, and early Armenian knowledge of Alexandrian tradition came through Cappadocia and Constantinople.70 Chalcedon also serves as a boundary in Ethiopian sainthood: the Ethiopian church recognizes most saints of the universal church before 451 and the Coptic saints known through the Synaxarion, their acts, or other sources.71

Relations with Rome and the medieval West

The post-Chalcedonian breach contrasted with an earlier history of Roman recognition of Alexandrian synods, including Cyril’s synod against Nestorius in 430, and frequent cooperation between Alexandria and Rome against Constantinople.72 Reciprocal accusations of heresy after Chalcedon resulted in estrangement that obstructed cooperation between Copts and Western crusaders, while crusaders treated Copts as a heretical enemy to be excluded from the holy places.73

Unsuccessful reunion negotiations occurred under Cyril III, whose patriarchate lasted from 1235–1243, and the union associated with the Council of Florence in 1442, although accepted by John XI, gained no support among the Coptic people.74 Later Roman approaches often understood reunion as unconditional submission to papal authority, exemplified by Sixtus V’s letter of 20 April 1590 urging Gabriel VIII to bring his flock into obedience to the Roman pontiff.75

Literary and cultural legacy

The Panegyric on Macarius of Tkow, attributed to Pseudo-Dioscorus and composed no earlier than the second quarter of the sixth century, portrays Macarius as dying for refusing to subscribe to Chalcedon’s decrees and Leo’s Tome.30 This work is a hagiographical romance shaped by anti-Chalcedonian polemics, and Macarius’s opposition and possible violent death cannot be corroborated outside Egyptian orthodox tradition.31

The Panegyric appears to draw on episodes from Pseudo-Theopistus’s Life of Dioscorus and, according to its internal evidence, was composed in Greek in or near Alexandria; it survives in Sahidic and Bohairic translations and in Arabic manuscripts.76 Its narrative setting presents Dioscorus addressing monks visiting him in exile at Gangra, and its recollections portray Macarius as a poor, Coptic-speaking bishop who requires an interpreter when speaking with the patriarch.77 When Theopistus disparages Macarius’s inability to speak Greek, Dioscorus rebukes him and demands an apology, making linguistic difference part of the work’s account of solidarity.78

Macarius’s links with Shenute and the Pachomian abbot Paphnutius connect him to major Coptic-speaking monastic traditions, while his association with Dioscorus connects these traditions to the Greek-speaking Alexandrian patriarchate.79 The work therefore creates a united Coptic- and Greek-speaking Egyptian front against Chalcedon, although it remains uncertain whether the author intended to create such unity or merely reflected and strengthened an existing sixth-century alignment.80 The relics of a bishop Macarius venerated at Dayr Anba Maqar may be those of Macarius of Tkow, though the identification is uncertain; the presence there of the relics of the three Macarii is first attested in Mawhub ibn Mansur’s late-eleventh-century list.81

Coptic hagiography about John of Lycopolis likewise linked him to Chalcedon, anachronistically depicting Marcian consulting a holy man who had already been dead for more than half a century.32

The surviving evidence comprises roughly thirty damaged leaves from at least four Sahidic codices of the White Monastery, preserving both lives and an encomium that extend John’s story to Chalcedon.82 Supporters of Shenute and Dioscorus may have exploited John’s prophetic reputation, and there is a probable connection between the encomium and Synaxarion notices for 21 Hatur and the corresponding Ethiopian date, 21 Hedar.83

Other traditions also gave the council a symbolic role: the legend of Hilaria, daughter of Zeno, represents religious division through the contrasting fortunes of the emperor’s daughters and connects Hilaria’s death on 21 Tubah with the Dormition feast and resistance to Chalcedon at Jerusalem.84 A parallel legend of Sophia of Jerusalem survives in Arabic, while the Hilaria story is preserved completely in a Coptic manuscript dated 848 and in other fragments, with no probable Greek original.85 The Life of John Colobos uses fiercely anti-Chalcedonian language in its account of Clysma, whereas the expansion of the cult of Athanasius the martyr there was connected with Justinian’s Chalcedonian policy and Ethiopian diplomacy.86

The cultural effects of the crisis were especially evident in the sixth century, when suspicion of Greek as a vehicle of imperial religious teaching encouraged the development of a distinct Egyptian historical and spiritual culture.33 The precise effects on Coptic chant remain uncertain, but there are indications of distance from Byzantine influence alongside continued contact with Syrian church music and study by Coptic monks at the music school of Saint Sabas near the Dead Sea.34

More specifically, the literary account connects the cultural change with events following Theodosius I’s exile from Alexandria, while warning that the transformation of attitudes toward Greek was gradual rather than an immediate linguistic rupture in 451.87 The musical account cites the History of the Patriarchs on popular rejoicing when Isaac, patriarch from 686 to 689, restored Coptic liturgies previously prohibited under Melchite domination, and on monks of Dayr Anba Maqar greeting an exiled patriarch with traditional sacred songs.88

Art and political institutions after Chalcedon

The period from the mid-fifth to the late seventh century was associated with a vigorous assertion of Egyptian artistic identity and increasing distance from Byzantine power, while religious isolation and political subordination constrained artistic resources and protection.89 Cultural self-assertion and material vulnerability offer contrasting emphases rather than a single account of the council’s artistic consequences.90

Not every Christian image can be explained as a product of the Chalcedonian controversy: debates over the Galaktotrophousa, the image of the nursing Virgin, are qualified by a marble vessel dated 364–378 bearing the motif, which establishes that it predates the council and need not have originated in Egypt.91

The Melchite church increasingly assumed functions of effective government in Alexandria after Chalcedon, illustrated by the civil and legal powers exercised by John the Almoner and Cyrus with Heraclius’s approval.92 In the wider administration, continuing religious tensions formed part of the setting for Justinian’s Edict XIII, usually dated 538–539, which sought to restore administrative order, secure tax revenue, and ensure grain shipments to Constantinople by strengthening officials who combined civil and military authority.93

Questions

Frequently asked questions

When and where did the Council of Chalcedon meet?
It met in sixteen sessions from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon, across the Bosporus from Constantinople, after being summoned by Emperor Marcian.
Why did Coptic Christians reject Chalcedon?
Coptic opposition centered on the council’s Christological formulation, its acceptance of Leo’s Tome, and the deposition of Dioscorus, whom Copts regarded as a defender of Cyril’s teaching.
Did rejection of Chalcedon mean acceptance of Eutyches’s teaching?
No. The Coptic Encyclopedia explicitly states that Copts rejected the basic elements of Eutychianism as well as Nestorianism.
What did canon 28 establish?
It accorded Constantinople, as New Rome, equal status with Rome apart from Rome’s primacy of honor. The Roman legates opposed it, and Leo refused to accept it.
Were there later attempts to overcome the division?
Yes. These included Zeno’s Henoticon, the council of 553, medieval reunion negotiations, and modern dialogue, including a joint Roman Catholic–Coptic Christological statement signed in 1988.

References

Sources

  1. 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 476)
    CHALCEDON, COUNCIL OF, fourth ecumenical council, held at Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus, opposite Constantinople. Convoked by Emperor Marcian (450-457) to deal with the situation caused by the acquittal of EUTYCHES and the Second (judicial) Council of EPHESUS in 449, it met in sixteen sessions from 8 October to 1 November 451. Its decisions, in particular regarding promulgation of the Christological definition of faith and its condemnation of Patriarch DIOSCORUS I of Alexandria as well as of Eutyches, alienated the great majority of Coptic Christians and mark a crucial turning
  2. 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 2)
    The theological background of this problem is complex, but the differences between the Copts and their Western peers at this meeting, which the Copts ultimately considered to be out of the ecumenical movement, led to an irreparable breach between the two sets of delegations. Whereas the Copts clung firmly to the union of the two natures of God, the Western delegation swung toward the idea of dyophysitism. The Copts became alienated from the West as totally heretical, while the Western delegation was condemned by the Copts as equally heretical. The Coptic sources and the history of subsequent p
  3. 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 476)
    Theodosius, however, was well pleased with the proceedings at Ephesus and refused to convoke a new council.
  4. 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 225)
    On 28 July 450, however, Theodosius died as the result of a hunting accident. Everything changed overnight. The new ruler, Pulcheria, and the elderly Thracian officer Marcian, whom she married on 25 August, were intent on restoring relations between Constantinople and Rome. In the ensuing months Leo was brought round to the idea of a new council, and Anatolius was weaned from his dependence on Dioscorus.
  5. 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 477)
    The first session took place in the Church of Saint Euphemia. The conduct of the proceedings rested with imperial commissioners when the emperor was not present. There were nineteen of these laymen, headed by the patrician Anatolius.
  6. 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 480)
    Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople began a series of consultations aimed at bridging the cleavages of opinion over Christological doctrine, and on 22 October he produced a draft statement. Unfortunately, this extremely important statement has not survived. It is clear, however, that it included a series of statements emphasizing the unity of Christ's person, the definition that He was "out of two natures," and the statement that the Virgin was Theotokos (Mother of God). These assertions proved too much for the legates and the commissioners, but they were acceptable to the great majority of
  7. 7.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 798)
    Dioscorus was excommunicated and deposed—not, however, for doctrinal heresy but for ecclesiastical indiscipline. The Definition of Chalcedon was accepted, a statement of faith declaring that Jesus Christ was "made known to us in two Natures, unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably: the difference of the natures being in no way removed because of the Union, but rather the properties of each nature being preserved and concurring into one Prosopon and one Hypostasis. . . ."
  8. 8.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 226)
    The Tome was accepted as orthodox. Leo's formulation that "two natures are united without change, without division and without confusion in Christ" found its place in the final Christological definition; but his legates failed to prevent the council from agreeing with Canon 28, which placed Constantinople on a par with the Roman see except for the "primacy of honor" reserved to the latter. Also, the Tome was accepted only because the bishops, in their willingness to please the emperors and their readiness to rid themselves of Dioscorus, were prepared to affirm with acclamation that "Cyril and
  9. 9.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 606)
    In self-defense, Dioscorus reiterated that the reason for Flavian's condemnation was his assertion of the two natures after the Incarnation. Quotations were made from the Fathers Athanasius, Gregory, and Cyril, to the effect that after the Incarnation there were not two natures, but the incarnate nature of the Logos. He said that if he were to be expelled, the Fathers would be expelled too. He claimed not to deviate from their doctrine, but to defend it.
  10. 10.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 482)
    Juvenal of Jerusalem was given the dignity of a patriarch with three Palestinian provinces. Three others—Phoenicia I and II and Arabia—granted to him by Dioscorus at Ephesus II, at the expense of Antioch, were handed back to Antioch. The compromise was hammered out by Juvenal and Maximus of Antioch, and ended the long struggle by Jerusalem for recognition as a patriarchal see. More important was the twenty-eighth canon of the council, agreed upon at its final session despite the opposition of the papal legates. This confirmed canon 3 of the Council of Constantinople (381), which had accorded t
  11. 11.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 799)
    The arrogant behavior of Dioscorus had created a rift among the seventeen Egyptian bishops who accompanied him to Chalcedon. While the majority stood by their archbishop out of fear and loyalty, four sided with the majority at the council, accepted the Christological definition, and took part in the consecration of the archpriest Proterius as successor of Dioscorus. From Chalcedon to the Henoticon of Zeno (451-482) Although the Definition of Chalcedon was well received in Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, and throughout the European provinces of the empire, there was deep disquiet elsewhere. Cler
  12. 12.The Coptic Encyclopedia — Introduction — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 67)
    Until the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451, when the Coptic church broke away from the rest of Christianity over the issue of monophysitism, Alexandria, with its famed Catechetical School, was a leading center of Christian learning.
  13. 13.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 483)
    For the Copts, however, the deposition of Dioscorus and acceptance of the Tome of Leo would entail their gradual alienation from the religion of Rome and Constantinople alike.
  14. 14.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 683)
    CONSTANTINOPLE, SECOND COUNCIL OF, known as the fifth general council and convoked by Emperor Justinian I in May 553. It was presided over by Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople, and attended by 165 bishops, nearly all from the eastern and Greek-speaking provinces of Justinian's empire. The main object of the council was to modify (without appearing to do so) the decisions and authority of the Council of CHALCEDON by condemning the "Three Chapters" consisting of works by THEODORUS OF MOPSUESTIA, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Ibas of Edessa, on the ground that they were tainted with Nestorianism.
  15. 15.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 50)
    CYRUS AL-MUQAWQAS, Byzantine bishop of Phasis in the region of the Caucasus until 631, when Emperor Heraclius decided to assign him the more important diocese of Egypt, with the express command to curb the obstinate Coptic community and bring its members to Chalcedonian obedience.
  16. 16.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 96)
    the attendance of Bishop Athanasius at the Council of EPHESUS in 449 and the Council of CHALCEDON in 451
  17. 17.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 656)
    Cyril's affirmation that the union of natures was kath' hypostasin was not condemned. It was reaffirmed at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 (Anathema 5).
  18. 18.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 535)
    devout women of forty were admitted by the Council of CHALCEDON (451).
  19. 19.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 354)
    Since the Council of CHALCEDON (451), ordinations may be only for a definite church office or title, and therefore only at the same time as the installation.
  20. 20.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 723)
    canon 9 of the Council of CHALCEDON (451) recognize and recommend the institution of provincial synods as bodies of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. That the ecclesiastical status of communities was directly linked to their political or administrative status is clearly shown by canon 17 of the Council of Chalcedon, specifying that the ecclesiastical "order" has to adapt itself to the public one.
  21. 21.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 578)
    The Egyptian Christians elected a native rival, TIMOTHY II AELURUS (458-480). Consequently, the hitherto united see of Saint Mark was split between two lines of patriarchal succession: the Coptic and the Greek, later called Melchite (or royalist)
  22. 22.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 717)
    The monks there rallied around the energetic hegumenos Longinus, and took the side of DIOSCORUS, Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria, whom the council had deposed. He sent them a statement of his faith, and Longinus on the spot roused resistance against the emperor Marcian and his representative. The same Longinus played a decisive role in the election of Dioscorus' "Coptic" successor, TIMOTHY II AELURUS.
  23. 23.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 620)
    the HENOTICON, which was Zeno's formula, devised in 482, to bridge the gap between monophysitism and the Orthodox profession of Chalcedon. Peter's acceptance of Zeno's doctrine displeased the extremist monophysites among the Coptic monks and clergy.
  24. 24.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 108)
    ACACIAN SCHISM, rupture of communion between Rome and Constantinople in the period 484-519. Behind the dispute between the two sees lay issues concerning the relations of both with Alexandria and diverging attitudes toward the Council of CHALCEDON.
  25. 25.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 35)
    some time after 535 ordering him to bring Abraham manu militari to Constantinople. Since the empress THEODORA, who took an active part in the protection of the Monophysites, died in 548, Abraham's stay in Constantinople is located between these two dates. Abraham set off with four brethren. "If only," says the narrator, "he had not taken them with him." This regret seems to indicate that Abraham's companions were not of the same opinion as he. When they arrived at court, Justinian summoned them and confronted Abraham with an alternative: either he would adopt the faith as expounded at the Coun
  26. 26.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 149)
    It laid stress on the "one energy" and the "one will" of Christ. Heraclius was not the first emperor since the Council of CHALCEDON to try to reconcile the dissident Egyptians to official doctrine and, having driven the Persians out of Egypt only two years before, he must have been acutely aware of the need for unity within the empire. But Cyrus, who had been invested with civil and ecclesiastical authority, was not particularly subtle in his methods of winning the Egyptians over. He sent his rather brutal agent to Scetis with the new doctrine (referred to anachronistically in the Life of Samu
  27. 27.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 96)
    The exact date and reason for their going to Ethiopia from the Hellenistic world, including Egypt and Syria, are not known. The Ethiopian ruler at that time was Al’ameda, son of Sa’aldobba, who was succeeded by Tazena, father of Kaleb. When Kaleb, the Ethiopian king, set out to campaign in Arabia in 527 to rescue the Christians there from the persecution of their Jewish ruler, he solicited the prayer of Abba Pantalewon, one of the Nine Saints. Historians propose that the arrival of the Nine Saints in Ethiopia was related to the schism and disturbance in the universal church over the nature of
  28. 28.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 207)
    The Copts energetically protested against the basic elements of Eutychianism, as they refused the doctrines of Nestorianism.
  29. 29.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 207)
    the statement on Christology drawn up by the Roman Catholic church and the Coptic church which was signed at the Anba Bishoi Monastery near Cairo on 12 February 1988, "We believe that our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, is perfect in His divinity and perfect in His humanity, that His humanity is One with His divinity,
  30. 30.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 346)
    The chief source for his life is the Panegyric on Macarius, Bishop of Tkow by Pseudo-Dioscorus of Alexandria. This work cannot have been composed earlier than the second quarter of the sixth century. It appears to be based on episodes dealing with Macarius drawn from the Life of Dioscorus by Pseudo-Theopistus of Alexandria, which the author of the Panegyric amplified and to which he added other traditional stories. Internal evidence indicates that the Panegyric was composed in Greek in or around Alexandria. It survives in Sahidic and Bohairic translations, and several unedited manuscripts of A
  31. 31.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 348)
    That he existed at all and was bishop of Tkow, fought against paganism in his diocese, supported Dioscorus' stand against the Council of Chalcedon, and, perhaps, met a violent end because of his beliefs, are all possibilities, but they cannot be corroborated from sources outside the pool of Egyptian orthodox tradition. The Panegyric can be best characterized as a hagiographical romance situated in a context of anti-Chalcedonian polemics.
  32. 32.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 30)
    Mockery has been made of chronology to the point of making John, who had been dead for more than half a century, into a contemporary of the emperor Marcianus (450-457) who is supposed to have consulted John to this end
  33. 33.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 261)
    This crisis also produced cultural effects, but they were not felt until the beginning of the sixth century, when the events following the exile of Theodosius I from Alexandria put an end to hopes not only for a reconciliation between the patriarchates but also for developing a normal ecclesiastical life in Egypt, maintaining beliefs and hierarchy different from those officially approved by the imperial (pro-Chalcedonian) crown. This is probably the moment when Greek began to be perceived as the language of the oppressors and the patristic Greek ("international") culture was looked upon with s
  34. 34.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 98)
    What exactly happened regarding music is unknown. However, there is some indication that the Copts kept their music distinct and apart from Byzantine influence. Despite their self-imposed separation from Byzantium and Rome, the Copts continued to maintain contact with the Syrian church and its music. During the fifth and sixth centuries, there was a flourishing music school at the Syrian Monastery of Saint Sabas near the Dead Sea where Coptic monks came to study.
  35. 35.The Coptic Encyclopedia — Introduction — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 67)
    Alexandria, with its famed Catechetical School, was a leading center of Christian learning. Origen was the most famous church father to come out of that school
  36. 36.The Coptic Encyclopedia — Introduction — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 61)
    Between those two dates, the Coptic bishops championed the cause of orthodoxy against emerging heresies such as Arianism and Nestorianism. The leading role of Saint Cyril the Great at the Council of Ephesus in 431 was so overwhelming that the Western and Byzantine divines called the Coptic patriarchs Pharaohs of the Church.
  37. 37.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 681)
    Canon 3 had, however, provided no apostolic justification for the promotion of the see of Constantinople, a fact that was to unite Alexandria and Rome in opposition to it.
  38. 38.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 498)
    None are known to have attended the Council of CHALCEDON (451).
  39. 39.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 627)
    the signal privilege of asylum, guaranteed by the monastery itself and by the archiepiscopal church ... This information is drawn from the testimony of a priest at the Council of CHALCEDON (451), who declared that he found refuge there against the persecutions of the archbishop DIOSCORUS
  40. 40.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 482)
    Three others—Phoenicia I and II and Arabia—granted to him by Dioscorus at Ephesus II, at the expense of Antioch, were handed back to Antioch. The compromise was hammered out by Juvenal and Maximus of Antioch, and ended the long struggle by Jerusalem for recognition as a patriarchal see.
  41. 41.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 482)
    the twenty-eighth canon of the council, agreed upon at its final session ... This confirmed canon 3 of the Council of Constantinople (381) ... 183 bishops signed the canon.
  42. 42.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 482)
    canon 9 of Chalcedon ... gave appellate jurisdiction to Constantinople over ecclesiastical lawsuits involving the churches in Asia Minor, including Pontus and Thrace.
  43. 43.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 491)
    the bishops of patriarchal sees, for example, Rome and Constantinople, were designated archbishops at the Council of CHALCEDON (451).
  44. 44.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 535)
    Sozomen also informs us that the emperor Theodosius (379-395) ... issued a law, enacting that women should not be admitted to the diaconate, unless they were upwards of sixty years of age
  45. 45.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 354)
    the correspondence of bishop ABRAHAM of Hermonthis in the period around 600 ... In Coptic ostracon 36 the bishop is to ordain Isaac as priest at the Church of Saint Mary in Piohe "because the place needs him." At the same time the petitioners ... offer security that the ordinand will fulfill his office correctly.
  46. 46.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 482)
    On 7 February 452 ... Marcian addressed an imperial edict to the people of Constantinople: "All therefore shall be bound to hold to the decision of the sacred council of Chalcedon and indulge no further doubts." Discussion of matters of religion was prohibited
  47. 47.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 482)
    a vindication of the position of the see of Constantinople against Alexandria and, to a lesser extent, Rome ... the council consolidated the role of the emperor and his lay representatives in the guidance of the church
  48. 48.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 717)
    persecuted "Monophysites," notably Syro-Palestinians, took refuge or established themselves at the Enaton ... Thomas of Harkel ... Zacharias Scholasticus or John of Ephesus ... Severus after his deposition from the archiepiscopal see of Antioch in 518 ... his relics were returned to the Enaton and were buried there in a mausoleum.
  49. 49.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 734)
    ATHANASIUS II ... (488-494) ... in his days there was no disorder or persecution in the holy church ... Apparently the confusion created by the Council of CHALCEDON (451) during the reign of DIOSCORUS I had subsided by his time.
  50. 50.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 108)
    maintained communion with Timothy II's rival, Timothy Salafaciolus ... he had "accepted consecration at dead of night while the body of his predecessor was still unburied"
  51. 51.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 114)
    the schism could be ended only by the unequivocal acceptance of Chalcedon and the denunciation of Dioscorus, Timothy "the Cat," and Peter Mongus and their abettor, Acacius ... Chalcedon could be accepted as a disciplinary synod, not conflicting with Nicaea ... Acacius, however, he would not sacrifice
  52. 52.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 114)
    he would recall bishops who had recently been exiled. He also was prepared to reprimand the Egyptians for their continuous denunciation of Leo and Chalcedon, and NESTORIUS and EUTYCHES would remain under anathema.
  53. 53.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 115)
    On 1 September 516 ... deposed the patriarch Elias ... supported by the majority of the monks led by Saint Saba ... His successor, John (516-524), was forcibly prevented from denouncing Chalcedon, and the monks raised the cry, "Four Councils even as Four Gospels."
  54. 54.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 116)
    Near the end of 517, 207 leading monks of the province, led by Alexander, presbyter and archimandrite of the great monastery of Maro ... sent a letter to Pope Hormisdas. In it they attacked Severus, accusing him of daily denouncing "the holy synod of Chalcedon" and "our blessed father Leo"
  55. 55.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 116)
    JUSTIN I ... on 9 July ushered in a complete change of imperial policy ... the solemn Eucharist was disturbed by popular outcries, which demanded the proclamation of the Council of Chalcedon ... the deposition of Severus ... reconciliation with Rome.
  56. 56.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 35)
    ordering him to bring Abraham manu militari to Constantinople ... Abraham set off with four brethren ... Theodora tried to intercede with Justinian, who remained inflexible.
  57. 57.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 315)
    The monastery of Pbow became Chalcedonian, and its abbot, ABRAHAM OF FARSHUT, was expelled. Apollo, too, left
  58. 58.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 683)
    The main object of the council was to modify (without appearing to do so) the decisions and authority of the Council of CHALCEDON by condemning the "Three Chapters" consisting of works by THEODORUS OF MOPSUESTIA, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Ibas of Edessa, on the ground that they were tainted with Nestorianism.
  59. 59.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 683)
    the humiliation of Pope Vigilius (537-555) and a serious distancing of Eastern and Western ecclesiastical relations ... The genesis of the council goes back to 538 with the death of SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH ... Search was immediately initiated for an interpretation of the Tome ... and the decisions of Chalcedon
  60. 60.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 50)
    besides being Byzantine patriarch of Alexandria, he was made civil viceroy of Egypt and military commander of the imperial forces in the country ... throughout his tenure (631-642)
  61. 61.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 149)
    he was expelled by order of the agent (magistrianus) of Cyrus ... having driven the Persians out of Egypt only two years before, he must have been acutely aware of the need for unity within the empire.
  62. 62.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 96)
    the struggle for Nubia ... between the Chalcedonians, led by the emperor of the East, and the non-Chalcedonians, led by his empress, THEODORA. The assumption is that it was non-Chalcedonian monks who rushed to Ethiopia to protect the local church
  63. 63.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 96)
    in 527 ... he solicited the prayer of Abba Pantalewon ... some of the sources insist that these monks arrived at Ethiopia as a group via the monastery of Apa Pachomius in Egypt, it is plausible that at least some of them came separately at different times.
  64. 64.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 450)
    MARK II ... (799-819) ... Beginning with his inauguration homily ... his knowledge of Coptic orthodoxy in opposition to the Council of CHALCEDON ... a synodical epistle to Patriarch Cyriacus of Antioch, defining his Coptic Orthodox faith, and stressing the unity between their churches.
  65. 65.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 72)
    Julian was refuted by other opponents of Chalcedon, notably the moderate Monophysite SEVERUS, patriarch of Antioch
  66. 66.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 72)
    Julian was deposed from his see in Halicarnassus ... and fled to Alexandria ... the body of Christ "was free of corruption from the moment of union" rather than from the Resurrection only ... homoousios (consubstantial) with Adam before the Fall
  67. 67.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 72)
    Julianists, or Aphthartodocetae (supporters of the doctrine of incorruptibility, aphtharsia, of the body of Christ), or Phantasiastae (supporters of the teaching of a merely phenomenal body of Christ)
  68. 68.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 72)
    against whom Julian wrote four works. A large series of fragments of these in Syriac and Greek have survived. Some of his letters also have been recovered.
  69. 69.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 559)
    by the sixth century monophysitism had consolidated itself into three great churches: (1) the Coptic ... and the Ethiopian branches ... (2) the Syrian Jacobites; and (3) the Armenians. All of these churches accept the doctrine of the church fathers prior to the Council of Chalcedon while rejecting the definition of that council.
  70. 70.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 591)
    The Coptic-Armenian relationship of the desert life is somewhat different from that of the established church ... after the Council of Ephesus and, more particularly, after the Council of Chalcedon, relations were established ... Armenians could know the Alexandrian tradition only through their contacts with Cappadocian Christianity and with Constantinople
  71. 71.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 93)
    recognizes most of the saints of the Universal Church before the Council of CHALCEDON (451) and all the saints of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, about whom it has knowledge through the SYNAXARION, accounts of their acts ... or through other means.
  72. 72.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 720)
    Quite often both churches formed an alliance against New Rome (Constantinople) and its patriarch. The early synods of Alexandria were recognized by Rome ... CYRIL I against NESTORIUS (430).
  73. 73.The Coptic Encyclopedia — Introduction — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 67)
    at the time of the Crusades, when the Copts were treated as an enemy, a heretical sect to be driven from the holy places along with the Arabs.
  74. 73.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 2)
    The Copts became alienated from the West as totally heretical, while the Western delegation was condemned by the Copts as equally heretical ... the Crusaders from the West against Islam could not envisage any possibility of a united front with the Eastern Christians
  75. 74.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 720)
    unsuccessful negotiations for reunion were attempted under the Coptic pope CYRIL III (1235-1243). The reunion of the Copts with Rome during the Council of Florence in 1442 and its acceptance by the Coptic pope JOHN XI (1427-1452) found no support among the Coptic people.
  76. 75.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 720)
    the union as the full and unconditional subjection to the pope and the Holy Roman Apostolic See ... on 20 April 1590, Pope Sixtus V wrote to the Coptic Pope GABRIEL VIII ... bring his flock to obedience and subjection to the Roman pontiff
  77. 76.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 346)
    based on episodes dealing with Macarius drawn from the Life of Dioscorus by Pseudo-Theopistus of Alexandria ... composed in Greek in or around Alexandria. It survives in Sahidic and Bohairic translations, and several unedited manuscripts of Arabic versions are extant.
  78. 77.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 346)
    a discourse delivered by DIOSCORUS I ... to a group of monks who have come to visit him in exile at Gangra ... Macarius is portrayed as a self-effacing man who is poor ... speaks and understands only Coptic. Dioscorus must converse with him through an interpreter.
  79. 78.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 346)
    When Dioscorus' companion, Theopistus, makes a disparaging remark about the inability of Macarius to speak Greek ... Dioscorus reprimands him and threatens to censure him unless he begs Macarius' pardon.
  80. 79.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 349)
    established by the vision of Abbot Shenute ... associated with Paphnutius, a Pachomian abbot ... linked to the sources of the two most important traditions of Coptic-speaking Egypt ... links Macarius to the Greek-speaking patriarch of Alexandria, Dioscorus
  81. 80.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 349)
    the work welds these two elements, Coptic and Greek-speaking Egyptian Christianity, into a united front ... Whether the work was composed to foster such ethnic unity, or whether it merely reflects and fortifies what was already the case in sixth-century Egypt, is uncertain
  82. 81.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 348)
    The relics of Saint Macarius the bishop, still venerated at DAYR ANBA MAQAR ... are probably meant to be those of Macarius of Tkow, but this is uncertain ... first attested in a list made by Mawhub ibn Mansur near the end of the eleventh century.
  83. 82.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 30)
    at least four Sahidic codices from the White Monastery ... only thirty or so damaged leaves survive ... a life or series of lives ... on to John's role at the time of the COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON ... an Encomium ... also ending with the Council of Chalcedon
  84. 83.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 30)
    This Encomium can probably be found again in part ... for 21 Hatur and in its Ethiopic version for 21 Hedar ... exploited by overzealous disciples of the archimandrite SHENUTE ... as well as by partisans of the deposed patriarch, DIOSCORUS
  85. 84.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 576)
    one of his daughters is ill, the one who continues to apply the COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON ... The other has fled to the monastery ... the day of Hilaria's death, 21 Tubah, is the Feast of the DORMITION OF THE VIRGIN, a symbol of the resistance at Jerusalem to the Council of Chalcedon.
  86. 85.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 576)
    SOPHIA OF JERUSALEM ... entirely parallel ... preserved only in Arabic ... Only the text for 848 is complete. A Greek original is not probable; moreover, the legend does not exist in Greek.
  87. 86.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 743)
    the expansion of the cult of Saint Athanasius was strictly linked with Justinian's Chalcedonian policy ... within the framework of an alliance with Ethiopia ... In the Life of JOHN COLOBOS ... "until there took place the Devil's Synod at Chalcedon"
  88. 87.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 261)
    the events following the exile of Theodosius I from Alexandria ... we must not think that the question of language became a central problem all at once. The change was probably quite a slow process
  89. 88.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 98)
    the people rejoicing when Patriarch ISAAC (686-689 ... ) had the liturgies restored ... prohibited due to Melchite (Byzantine) domination ... the monks going forth from their monastery, DAYR ANBA MAQAR, singing their traditional sacred songs to greet the patriarch
  90. 89.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 78)
    the oppressed condition into which the Copts were plunged ... together with the separation of the Copts from the Christian world since the time of the Council of CHALCEDON (451), deprived them of every means of defense or of resort to outside protection.
  91. 89.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 666)
    Mastery (Mid-Fifth to Late Seventh Century) ... it profited from a sense of Egyptian self-consciousness ... affirmed its own traits with a great vigor that also affected the domain of art ... accentuating even more its distance from the occupying Byzantine power
  92. 90.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 78)
    the quality of their works could not reach the heights normally fostered by an environment of luxury or at least by a free environment.
  93. 90.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 666)
    from a national point of view, it profited from a sense of Egyptian self-consciousness ... the church affirmed its own traits with a great vigor that also affected the domain of art.
  94. 91.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 526)
    A marble krater (jar) from the eastern part of the Roman empire, dating from 364-378 and bearing a representation of this motif ... shows ... that the Galaktotrophousa need not necessarily be Egyptian in origin and also that it cannot be the fruit of theological discussions about Chalcedon
  95. 92.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 231)
    the Melchite church had in the course of time, since the Council of CHALCEDON, largely superseded the state as the instrument of effective government in the capital ... the civil and legal powers assumed, clearly with the approval of Heraclius, by both John "the Almoner" ... and ... Cyrus the Muqawqas.
  96. 93.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 809)
    religious conflicts ... With Edict XIII (538/539 or, less probably, 553/554 ... ), Justinian intended to put an end to the administrative chaos ... to secure the tax income and the grain supply ... the duces were now invested with both civil and military authority

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