Monotheletism

   The doctrine of Christ's single will (thelema) proposed by Pope Honorius I (625-638) as an alternative to Monoenergism (q.v.). Patriarch Sergios of Constantinople (qq.v.) supported it, as did Herakleios (q.v.), who enshrined it in an imperial edict, the Ekthesis (q.v.). Behind this doctrinal compromise was an effort to unite Monophysites (q.v.), particularly in eastern provinces newly conquered from the Persians (q.v.), and adherents of the Council of Chalcedon (q.v.). The compromise formula failed to do this, and, in any case, by the time the Ekthesis was issued in 838, the Monophysite provinces were mostly wrested from Byzantium (q.v.), for the Arabs (q.v.) had conquered Syria and Palestine (qq.v.) and were poised to conquer Egypt (q.v.). In an effort to mollify Christians in North Africa (q.v.), Constans II (q.v.) issued an edict (Typos) in 648 that ordered the Ekthesis removed from Hagia Sophia (q.v.) and forbade any discussion of divine wills and divine energies. Pope Martin I (q.v.) condemned both the Ekthesis and the Typos, and was himself removed by Constans II. Monotheletism and Monoenergism were subsequently condemned at the Sixth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople (q.v.) in 680-681. The council affirmed that just as Christ had two natures, Christ also had two wills and two energies.