Monophysitism

Monophysitism is an idea about the nature of Jesus Christ - that Christ has only one nature, the divine one.

There are two main doctrines that can be called Monophysite (English pronunciation: /məˈnɒfəsɪt/):

Eutychianism

Eutychianism says that the human and divine natures of Christ were combined into one new single nature, and his human nature was "dissolved like a drop of honey in the sea".

Apollinarism

Apollinarism, or Apollinarianism, says that Christ had a human body and human "living principle" but that the Divine Logos had taken the place of the nous, or "thinking principle". That is analogous but not identical to what might be called a mind today.

Opposition

After Nestorianism, which was taught by Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople, was refused at the First Council of Ephesus, Eutyches, an archimandrite at Constantinople came up with new ideas. Monophysitism and Eutycheism were also refused at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Monophysitism is also rejected by the Oriental Orthodox Churches but was widely accepted in Syria, the Levant, and Egypt. That caused many tensions in the early days of the Byzantine Empire.

Later, Monothelitism was developed as an attempt to bridge the gap between the Monophysite and the Chalcedonian position, but it was also rejected by the members of the Chalcedonian synod though it had at times the support of the Byzantine emperors and one of the Popes of Rome, Honorius I. Some thought that Monothelitism was at one time held by the Maronites, but the Maronite community, for the most part, dispute that by stating that it has never been out of communion with the Catholic Church.

Miaphysitism, the christology of the Oriental Orthodox churches, is sometimes considered a variant of Monophysitism, but those churches view their theology as distinct from Monophysitism and anathematize Eutyches.