HENOTIKON

HENOTIKON. Issued in 482 by the Emperor Zeno, the Henotikon was the first in a long series of vain imperial attempts at “damage control” following the Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon (q.v.) in 451. The reaction to that Council by the local monophysite churches of Egypt, Syria, etc. (qq.v.) threatened-successfully, as it turned out-the unity of the imperial Church and hence the stability of the Empire. The text of the Henotikon affirmed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (q.v.), the Twelve Anathemas of Cyril of Alexandria (q.v.), and the decrees of the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus (431), but avoided the number of natures (q.v.) of Christ and forbade further discussion of Chalcedon. Though achieving a temporary success in the East, the decree failed to achieve its purpose, and precipitated a schism (q.v.) with the papacy (q.v.) that lasted almost forty years (to 519): the “Acacian Schism,” named for the Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople, who had authored the document.