sprang from political movements, so did political movements spring from the heresy. The Monophysites became a powerful and dangerous faction. They had their own leaders in politics; the question of conciliating the Monophysites comes up continually, in the usurpations and rivalries around the Imperial throne there are pretenders—claimants who come forward avowedly as champions of Monophysism, who are backed by all Monophysites, while the Chalcedonians fight against them.
The first scene of Monophysite agitation was naturally Egypt. Egypt heard of the humiliation of its hero Dioscor with fury. Already at Chalcedon thirteen Egyptian bishops refused to sign the decrees.[1] After the Council the party in Egypt which accepted it[2] elected one Proterius, formerly a priest of Alexandria,[3] who accepted Chalcedon, to succeed Dioscor. We have already seen that Dioscor was banished to Gangra in Paphlagonia, and died there in 454. Before he died, the Egyptian Monophysites send a deputation to assure him of their unswerving fidelity to him and to his Robber-Synod. The Emperor, on the other hand, published a new decree (July 28, 452) threatening dire penalties against all who do not acknowledge Proterius. So we have already clearly the two parties in Egypt. The "Imperial" party, the Greek garrison, officials, governors—in short, the foreign ruling class—obey the Emperor, accept Chalcedon and acknowledge Proterius. This party acquires a name which was to become famous in Egypt and Syria, which is still used, though now in a different sense. They are the "Imperialists," in Greek βασιλικοί.[4] In Syria the Emperor (βασιλεύς) is always malkâ, in Arabic almalik. From this comes the form Melkite,[5] meaning exactly
- ↑ Their excuse was ingenious. They said that their Patriarch was deposed; no other had yet been appointed. Therefore they had no chief and could not do anything. Mansi, vii. 482.
- ↑ That is the Court party, the Greek official class. Liberatus calls them the "nobiles civitatis" (Breviarium Histories Nestorianorum et Eutychianorum, written between 560 and 566, cap. 14; P.L. lxviii. 1016). These are the first "Melkites."
- ↑ Liberatus calls him Archpriest (ib.); Eutychius of Alexandria (933–940; Contextio gemmarum, P.G. cxi. 1054) says he was Archdeacon.
- ↑ So Timothy Salophakiolos, Proterius' successor, is called βασιλικός by Evagrius (Hist. Eccl. ii. 11; P.G. lxxxvi. 2533).
- ↑ Μελκίτης, with a Greek ending. The Syriac form is malkâyâ, Arabic malakīyu.
