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THE LESSER EASTERN CHURCHES

tumults, riots, bloodshed. So Theodosius went to Constantinople to ask for help. Here he was warmly welcomed by the Empress Theodora, who was herself a Monophysite (p. 200). But, although he belonged to the more moderate (and less logical) party, he would not accept Chalcedon. The Government of Justinian insisted on this; so he was kept near the capital in exile. Meanwhile, in Egypt the two factions, his and that of Gainas, tore each other. In 539, Justinian, by the advice of the Papal legate, sent a monk Paul to be Patriarch of Alexandria. Paul (539-541) was a Catholic, the first since John Talaia (p. 194). As a Melkite he had all the natives against him. Theodosius wrote letters to them exhorting them to resist the usurper and to remain faithful to himself. Paul fell foul of the Government, and perhaps became himself a heretic.[1] He was deposed and banished; Zoilus (542-550) was made (Melkite) Patriarch in his place. The quarrel of the Three Chapters (pp. 202-205) now begins. Zoilus had signed their condemnation. Then he retracted and was deposed. Apollinaris (550-568) was intruded in his place. During the reign of the Melkite Apollinaris his Coptic rival Theodosius died (567). Apollinaris thought the schism was over, and gave a banquet in his delight.[2] On the contrary, from now the rival lines of Coptic and Melkite Patriarchs are established; they were destined to last to our own day.

For a time there were two Monophysite claimants; the followers of Theodosius and Gainas each had a successor to their Patriarch. When Gainas died the two parties agreed to elect one Patriarch for both. They chose Dorotheus. But he went over to the Gainites altogether,[3] so the Theodosians withdrew their obedience from him and chose one John, who soon disappeared. Then they chose Peter. The Gainites now become a small further schism, which eventually died out.[4] The claimant of the Theodosians, Peter III (567-570), was consecrated by the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch (Paul I, c. 549-578). He and his

  1. So Lequien: Or. Christ. ii. 435.
  2. Severus of Al-Ushmunain, p. [206].
  3. It will be remembered that there was a theological difference between the two parties. The Gainites were the Aphthartolatrai, the Theodosians Phthartolatrai (p. 207).
  4. They had a bishop as late as 700 (Or. Christ. ii. 454).