The Post-Chalcedonian Church: A non-Chalcedonian Perspective

Volker Menze - Princeton University

The quarrels over the decisions of the council of Chalcedon (451 CE) throughout the next two centuries transformed and finally divided the late antique church into several autonomous churches. But first - despite all divisions - both opponents and defenders of the Council perceived only one ÒorthodoxÓ (and still late antique) church. However, the situation was vastly different for each side. Whereas Chalcedonian Christians enjoyed imperial support the split had more severe consequences for non-Chalcedonian Christians. As many of their bishops were expelled, as they were deprived of a number of their churches, and as the Holy Places in the Holy Land came under Chalcedonian control, they had to redefine their church under radically different conditions.

At the heart of the redefinition was an emphasis on the church sacraments Ð especially the Eucharist. My talk will explore the importance and the conception of the Eucharist in non-Chalcedonian communities at this time. I argue that the conditions after 451 forced non-Chalcedonians to create a flexible church framework which could take care of the faithful laity even over long distances in regions where no non-Chalcedonian priests were available.

My focus is on the crucial areas of Syria and Palestine Ð both regions in which the two parties had numerous followers and which became ideological battlegrounds over orthodoxy. However, since both parties used hagiography in their propaganda and claimed church tradition for their side, only the sacraments provided by a non-Chalcedonian priest could ultimately delineate a non-Chalcedonian identity. On a social level the Eucharist created a visible line of separation and resistance against the Chalcedonians.

There can be no doubt that the Eucharist was the separation line. Deliberately taking the ÒhereticalÓ Eucharist was considered a severe sin. This sacrament represented the visible experience of eating Christ, and thereby the consumption of the ÒorthodoxÓ Eucharist granted future salvation to the communicant.Ê

In the eyes of the non-Chalcedonians, however, it created even more. The non-Chalcedonian Eucharist community was the church. Buildings were of secondary importance in the establishment of a church. According to non-Chalcedonian texts, the Holy Spirit had left church buildings and even the Holy Places as soon as the Chalcedonian heretics took over. Their emphasis on the Eucharist was underlined by numerous miracles which illustrated that the Holy Spirit was on the side of the Non-Chalcedonians. As only non-Chalcedonian priests could provide the ÒorthodoxÓ Eucharist, the provision of non-Chalcedonian priests was crucial for the establishment of a new church and the administration of the sacraments.

Our sources give us two different models of Eucharist communities. Peter the Iberian, briefly bishop of Maiuma in Southern Palestine (451-2 CE), wandered around in Egypt and Palestine and functioned for the faithful non-Chalcedonian laity there as the church which could provide the sacraments. He had his own altar, had his Eucharistic bread baked in local bakeries, and did not need a church building. Where he appeared he proved to be a threat for the territorial integrity of the Chalcedonian bishops.

However, non-Chalcedonian Eucharist communities worked over even longer distances. The correspondence of Severus, the non-Chalcedonian patriarch of Antioch (512-518 CE), proves that the Eucharist could be sent to the faithful laity. They could store it at home, and were allowed to supply themselves with their own hands whenever they wanted.

This practice shows how non-Chalcedonian Christians adjusted to the conditions created by the Chalcedonians. They began to establish independent Eucharist communities which separated the sacrament from the ritual in church. These could operate in addition to or against the local church structure. Their flexible framework enabled the non-Chalcedonians to survive until a new non-Chalcedonian church hierarchy was established under Jacob Baradaeus in the 540Õs.