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The Acacian Schism
VI Century
In 482, the Miaphysite patriarch of Alexandria, Peter the
Stammerer, and his nominally Orthodox counterpart in
Constantinople, Acacius, re-established communion on the basis
of an Act of Union (Henoticon)
promulgated under the authority of the Emperor Zeno. This
act, a vaguely-worded call to return to the alleged simplicity
of Nicæa, was meant to satisfy everyone, but it was
quickly rejected by Pope Felix III of Rome. The resulting schism
lasted 35 years, until the accession of Emperor Justin I in the
time of Pope Hormisdas. The Henoticon seems never
to have been popular, however; the Miaphysites treated it as
covert imperial approval while ignoring its lukewarm language,
and many Chalcedonians considered it a betrayal of the faith.
(The Emperor Anastasius, a self-taught theologian who
strongly supported the Henoticon, fired two patriarchs of
Constantinople for their lack of enthusiasm, and in 512 was nearly
overthrown in a Chalcedonian rebellion.) Secular historians
emphasise that all ecclesiastical parties, even those reaping
benefits, were alarmed by the explicit intrusions of Zeno
and later Anastasius into theology; the Acacian schism is
usually numbered among the milestones in the evolution of
papal authority.
---Norman Hugh Redington
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