Overview

"The Council of Chalcedon in 451 divided eastern Christianity, with those who were later called Syrian Orthodox among the Christians in the near eastern provinces who refused to accept the decisions of the council. These non-Chalcedonians (still better known under the misleading term Monophysites) separated from the church of the empire after Justin I attempted to enforce Chalcedon in the East in 518.Volker L. Menze historicizes the formation of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the first half of the sixth century. This volume covers the period from the accession of Justin to the second Council of Constantinople in 553. Menze begins with an exploration of imperial and papal policy from a non-Chalcedonian, eastern perspective, then discusses monks, monasteries and the complex issues surrounding non-Chalcedonian church life and sacraments. The volume concludes with a close look at the working of ""collective memory"" among the non-Chalcedonians and the construction of a Syrian Orthodox identity.This study is a histoire évènementielle of actual religious practice, especially concerning the Eucharist and the diptychs, and of ecclesiastical and imperial policy which modifies the traditional view of how emperors (and in the case of Theodora: empresses) ruled the late Roman/early Byzantine empire. By combining this detailed analysis of secular and ecclesiastical politics with a study of long-term strategies of memorialization, the book also focuses on deep structures of collective memory on which the tradition of the present Syrian Orthodox Church is founded."

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9780199534876

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...[an] admirable and important book...Menze's analysis of the convictions and anxieties of the Syrian Miaphysites remains a model of fair and sympathetic treatment. * Richard Price, Journal of Ecclesiastical History * This is an innovative, scholarly and thought-provoking work. * Pauline Allen, Jahrbuch fur Antike und Christentum * Volker Menze provides an excellent examination of the process by which a church is established and provides for itself the founding mythology of its earliest experiences...This is a well-written study that enables the reader to follow what could easily be a confusing melodrama or soap opera of ecclesiastical bickering...well worth the reading. * Stephen Morris, Journal of Early Christian Studies * ...Menze's monograph, bringing together new Syriac sources with an attention to a resurgent papacy and ambitious emperor, easily surpasses William H. C. Frend's The Rise of the Monophysite Movement (Cambridge, UK, 1972). * Philip Wood, The Catholic Historical Review * ...an original and important study...Menze has made a major contribution to our understanding of both the theological battles and the historical development of the sixth century. * Judith Herrin, American Historical Review *

<br> Menze has made a major contribution to our understanding of both the theological battles and the historical development of the sixth century. --American Historical Review<br>

<br> Menze has made a major contribution to our understanding of both the theological battles and the historical development of the sixth century. --American Historical Review<p><br>

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