Cyrus of Alexandria
Encyclopedia
Cyrus of Alexandria was a Melchite patriarch of the Egypt
ian see of Alexandria
in the seventh century, one of the authors of Monothelism and last Byzantine
prefect of Egypt; died about 641.
in Colchis
when the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius
, in the course of his Persian campaign of 626, consulted him about a plan for bringing the Monophysites (a Christological heresy) of Egypt back to the Church and to the support of the empire. The plan, suggested by Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople
, consisted of confessing the faith of Chalcedon
on the two natures of Christ, while practically nullifying it by the admission of one theandric will and operation, hen telèma kai mia energeia. Cyrus hesitated at first, but being assured by Sergius that this formula was opposed to neither the Fathers
nor to Chalcedon and was destined to achieve great results, he became a staunch supporter of it, and was, in return, raised by Heraclius to the then vacant see of Alexandria
in 630.
Once a patriarch, Cyrus set himself vigorously to effect the desired union. In a synod held at Alexandria, he proposed what is known as the plèrophoria or "Satisfactio", an agreement in nine articles, the seventh of which is a bold assertion of the Monothelite heresy. The Monophysites (Theodosians or Severians) welcomed the agreement but remarked that Chalcedon was coming to them, not they to Chalcedon.
The union thus effected was adroitly exploited, with a view to win over Pope Honorius I
to Monothelism. Cyrus attended another synod at Cyprus under Arkadios II
, at which he served as moderator and permitted Monothelite opponents to submit their case to the Emperor. When Cyrus received the Emperor's Monothelite response, the Ecthesis
, Cyrus signed it in 637. This compromise proved ineffective, and soon fell into discredit under the name of enôsis hydrobaphès, contemptuously called the "washy union".
When Caliph Umar the Great
's general, 'Amr ibn al-'As
known to the Romans
as Amru, threatened the Prefecture
of Egypt
, Cyrus was made prefect
and entrusted with the conduct of the war. Certain humiliating stipulations, to which he subscribed for the sake of peace, angered his imperial master so much that he was recalled and harshly accused of connivance with the Rashidun Caliphate
; however, he was soon restored to his former authority, owing to the impending siege of Alexandria
, but could not avert the fall of the great city in 640
and died shortly after.
, X, 1004; XI, 560, 562, 964).
The first letter is an acceptation of the Ecthesis; in the second Cyrus describes his perplexity between Pope Leo
and Sergius; the conversion of the Theodosians is narrated in the third.
The seventh article of the "Satisfactio" — the others are irrelevant — reads thus: "The one and same Christ, the Son, performs the works proper to God and to man by one theandric operation [] according to St. Dionysius".
Cyrus' chief opponents, St. Sophronius, died in 637 (Epistola synodica, Mansi, XI, 480), and St. Maximus
, died in 662 (Epistola ad Nicandrum; disputatio cum Pyrrho, P.G., XCI, 101, 345), reproached him for falsifying the then much-respected text of Dionysius and substituting for (new). They showed, moreover, the inanity of his claim to the support of the Fathers, and explained how the Divine and human natures of Christ, sometimes styled one, because they belong to the same person and work in perfect harmony, can no more by physically identified than the natures from which they proceed. Historians are not agreed as to how Cyrus came by this. Some think that he was, from the outset, a Monophysite at heart. Others, with more reason, hold that he was led to this belief by Sergius and Heraclius.
Cyrus was posthumously condemned as a heretic in the Lateran Council of 649 (Denzinger
, Enchiridion, 217, 219) and in 680 at the Third Œcumenical Council of Constantinople
(Denzinger, 238; Mansi, XI, 554).
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian see of Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria
The Patriarch of Alexandria is the Archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation of Pope , and did so earlier than that of the Bishop of Rome...
in the seventh century, one of the authors of Monothelism and last Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
prefect of Egypt; died about 641.
Biography
He had been since 620 Bishop of PhasisPhasis (town)
Phasis was an ancient and early medieval city on the eastern Black Sea coast, founded in the 7th/6th century BC as a colony of the Milesian Greeks at the mouth of the eponymous river in Colchis, near the modern-day port city of Poti, Georgia.-Etymology:...
in Colchis
Colchis
In ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgian state kingdom and region in Western Georgia, which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgian nation.The Kingdom of Colchis contributed significantly to the development of medieval Georgian...
when the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
, in the course of his Persian campaign of 626, consulted him about a plan for bringing the Monophysites (a Christological heresy) of Egypt back to the Church and to the support of the empire. The plan, suggested by Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
, consisted of confessing the faith of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
on the two natures of Christ, while practically nullifying it by the admission of one theandric will and operation, hen telèma kai mia energeia. Cyrus hesitated at first, but being assured by Sergius that this formula was opposed to neither the Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
nor to Chalcedon and was destined to achieve great results, he became a staunch supporter of it, and was, in return, raised by Heraclius to the then vacant see of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
in 630.
Once a patriarch, Cyrus set himself vigorously to effect the desired union. In a synod held at Alexandria, he proposed what is known as the plèrophoria or "Satisfactio", an agreement in nine articles, the seventh of which is a bold assertion of the Monothelite heresy. The Monophysites (Theodosians or Severians) welcomed the agreement but remarked that Chalcedon was coming to them, not they to Chalcedon.
The union thus effected was adroitly exploited, with a view to win over Pope Honorius I
Pope Honorius I
Pope Honorius I was pope from 625 to 638.Honorius, according to the Liber Pontificalis, came from Campania and was the son of the consul Petronius. He became pope on October 27, 625, two days after the death of his predecessor, Boniface V...
to Monothelism. Cyrus attended another synod at Cyprus under Arkadios II
Arkadios II
Archbishop Arkadios II was the head of the Church of Cyprus during the 630s. He was a supporter of the Monothelitism formula also propounded by Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople, Pope Honorius I, and Emperor Heraclius....
, at which he served as moderator and permitted Monothelite opponents to submit their case to the Emperor. When Cyrus received the Emperor's Monothelite response, the Ecthesis
Ecthesis
The Ecthesis is a letter published in 638 CE by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius which defined monotheletism as the official imperial form of Christianity.-Background:...
, Cyrus signed it in 637. This compromise proved ineffective, and soon fell into discredit under the name of enôsis hydrobaphès, contemptuously called the "washy union".
When Caliph Umar the Great
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
's general, 'Amr ibn al-'As
'Amr ibn al-'As
`Amr ibn al-`As was an Arab military commander who is most noted for leading the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640. A contemporary of Muhammad, and one of the Sahaba , who rose quickly through the Muslim hierarchy following his conversion to Islam in the year 8 AH...
known to the Romans
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
as Amru, threatened the Prefecture
Prefecture
A prefecture is an administrative jurisdiction or subdivision in any of various countries and within some international church structures, and in antiquity a Roman district governed by an appointed prefect.-Antiquity:...
of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Cyrus was made prefect
Prefect
Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
and entrusted with the conduct of the war. Certain humiliating stipulations, to which he subscribed for the sake of peace, angered his imperial master so much that he was recalled and harshly accused of connivance with the Rashidun Caliphate
Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate , comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632, Year 10 A.H.. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia...
; however, he was soon restored to his former authority, owing to the impending siege of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, but could not avert the fall of the great city in 640
640
Year 640 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Tulga succeeds his father Suinthila as king...
and died shortly after.
Writings
From Cyrus we have three letters to Sergius and the "Satisfactio", all preserved in the acts of the Roman Synod of the Lateran and of the Sixth Œcumenical Council (MansiGiovanni Domenico Mansi
Gian Domenico Mansi was an Italian theologian, scholar and historian, known for his massive works on the Church councils....
, X, 1004; XI, 560, 562, 964).
The first letter is an acceptation of the Ecthesis; in the second Cyrus describes his perplexity between Pope Leo
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
and Sergius; the conversion of the Theodosians is narrated in the third.
The seventh article of the "Satisfactio" — the others are irrelevant — reads thus: "The one and same Christ, the Son, performs the works proper to God and to man by one theandric operation [] according to St. Dionysius".
Cyrus' chief opponents, St. Sophronius, died in 637 (Epistola synodica, Mansi, XI, 480), and St. Maximus
Maximus the Confessor
Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius...
, died in 662 (Epistola ad Nicandrum; disputatio cum Pyrrho, P.G., XCI, 101, 345), reproached him for falsifying the then much-respected text of Dionysius and substituting for (new). They showed, moreover, the inanity of his claim to the support of the Fathers, and explained how the Divine and human natures of Christ, sometimes styled one, because they belong to the same person and work in perfect harmony, can no more by physically identified than the natures from which they proceed. Historians are not agreed as to how Cyrus came by this. Some think that he was, from the outset, a Monophysite at heart. Others, with more reason, hold that he was led to this belief by Sergius and Heraclius.
Cyrus was posthumously condemned as a heretic in the Lateran Council of 649 (Denzinger
Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger
Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger was a leading German Catholic theologian and author of the Enchiridion Symbolorum et Definitionum commonly referred to simply as "Denzinger".- Life of Denzinger :...
, Enchiridion, 217, 219) and in 680 at the Third Œcumenical Council of Constantinople
Third Council of Constantinople
The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and other Christian groups, met in 680/681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical and defined Jesus Christ as having two energies and two wills...
(Denzinger, 238; Mansi, XI, 554).