CONTROVERSIAL ACACIUS (471)

Patriarch (471-489) of Constantinople and controversial Byzantine theologian. His attempt to impose the Henotikon (Edict of Union), a doctrinally ambiguous compromise formula for resolving the Christological or nature of Christ dispute, occasioned a schism that, although later settled, proved germinal to the permanent break in 1054.


In 475 Acacius had repudiated the usurper emperor Basiliscus heretical Monophysite (One Nature) statement declaring that Christ comprised a single, divine nature subsuming his humanity. This view contradicted the orthodox decision of the general Council of Chalcedon (451) affirming the two-nature doctrine of Christ, integrally human and divine. For this defense of orthodoxy, Pope Simplicius appointed Acacius papal legate in the East with the power of deposition.


Seeking greater autonomy for the Eastern Orthodox Church and supremacy of Constantinople over the Byzantine world, Acacius drew up the Henotikon, incorporating the decisions of the general Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381). Although recognizing Christ´s divinity, the Henotikon omitted Chalcedon´s distinction of Christ´s human and divine essences. Supported by the emperor Zeno and Peter Mongus, the Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria, Acacius sought to obtain the assent of all Byzantine Christian communities to his conciliatory Henotikon. He had neglected to consult Rome, however, and was deposed by Pope Felix III in an excommunication, reaffirmed and broadened in 485 to embrace all of Acacius accomplices, including a substantial part of the Byzantine hierarchy. Acacius died unreconciled, having struck mention of the bishop of Rome from the prayers of the Orthodox liturgy.


The condemnation by Pope Felix precipitated the Acacian Schism, which though resolved in 519, nevertheless established Byzantine autonomy and fostered an alienation that culminated in the definitive schism of 1054. Acacius is credited with other writings, including a synodal document sent to the Monophysite patriarch of Antioch, Peter the Fuller, opposing the retention of a phrase ("The Son, who was crucified for us"), in a liturgical prayer that implied a physical humanity in Christ.