Monoenergism

   The doctrine of Christ's single energy (energeia), i.e., active force, proposed by Patriarch Sergios of Constantinople (qq.v.) as an attempt to reconcile the Monophysites (q.v.) of the eastern provinces (newly conquered from the Persians by Herakleios [qq.v.]) with those who adhered to the Orthodoxy of the Council of Chalcedon (qq.v.). Patriarch Kyros of Alexandria (qq.v.) was supportive, but the monk Sophronios (q.v.), who became Patriarch of Jerusalem (q.v.) in 634, argued against the compromise doctrine. Sergios agreed to drop all discussion of one or two energies in favor of a compromise doctrine that Pope Honorius I (625-638) proposed, namely, that Christ had a single will (thelema). Thus, Monotheletism (q.v.) was born, supported by Herakleios's edict of 838, the Ekthesis (q.v.). Monoenergism and Monotheletism were condemned at the Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (q.v.), which met in 680-681 to affirm that Christ had two natures (divine and human), with two corresponding wills and energies.