Abstract

The opponents of the Council of Chalcedon (451) were nicknamed as 'monophysites' or 'eutychians', implying that they follow the heresy of Eutyches. In fact they condemn the person and teaching of Eutyches. For them, the Christological expression of Cyril of Alexandria, «one incarnate nature of God the Word Incarnate», is the most suitable linguistic tool to refer to the perfect union of the divine and human natures in Christ, and to exclude any division, and to maintain single subjectivity in Christ. For them, Christ is perfectly man and God; but after the union the Incarnate Word is the subject of all actions in Christ. They never spoke of monophysis, but miaphysis in the Cyrillian sense. The dialogues between the Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians since 1960s have brought this fact into light.