The first home of Monophysism was Egypt; and the Monophysites always maintained that they were merely upholding the teaching of St. Cyril of Alexandria against Nestorius. If they admitted a "founder" at all, they claimed Cyril as the founder of their school.[1] The phrase quoted by Cyril, "one nature incarnate of the Word of God," became their watchword.[2] Then, when Cyril made peace with John of Antioch (p. 74), some of his partisans accused him of compromising with Nestorianism. These are the first Monophysites. Cyril died in 444, just before the Monophysite quarrel broke out. He was succeeded by his archdeacon Dioscor,[3] who had accompanied him to Ephesus. As Patriarch of Alexandria, Dioscor becomes the real head of the Monophysite party. During Cyril's lifetime he had enjoyed a good reputation; but from the moment he became Patriarch and leader of the Monophysites he is represented as a typical ecclesiastical villain. Although he owed everything to Cyril, he began his reign by despoiling and persecuting Cyril's heirs. He exacted so much money from the people that his pastoral visitations became a terror throughout Egypt; people fled before him and hid their property, as they would before a hostile army. He maltreated all the clergy ordained by his predecessor. He led a notoriously immoral life, and was accompanied everywhere by a mistress named Pansophia.[4] It is true that these are accusations made by his enemies, so that they should be received with a certain amount of caution. On the other hand, there seems to be unanimous contemporary authority describing him as a deplorable person from every point of view. And there is no doubt at all that he was a heresiarch and quite unscrupulous in fighting for his heresy.
Meanwhile, there was still an "Eastern" party in Syria, disciples of the Antiochene school, inheritors of the ideas of Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia (pp. 59–60), the friends of John of Antioch. These are not Nestorians—at
- ↑ Really, of course, they said that they were defending the teaching of the gospels (as defended by Cyril)—which is the attitude of all heretics.
- ↑ They quoted "the Word was made flesh" too constantly, understanding this as meaning identity of nature.
- ↑ Διόσκορος, Dioscorus.
- ↑ See the accusations against Dioscor made by his clergy at the Third session of Chalcedon. Hefele-Leclercq: Histoire des Conciles, ii. (2), 691, 699.
