The Fourth Ecumenical Council, held at Chalcedon in 451, began a period of extraordinary social and political crisis across the Eastern Mediterranean. In Palestine, as elsewhere, the centuries that followed were characterised by internecine conflict between local Christians, persisting until the collapse of Roman authority in the region during the reign of the emperor Heraclius. Since Edward Gibbon, historians have struggled to contextualise this debate, ostensibly an argument between proponents of rival, but also substantially identical, Christologies. This thesis considers what role socio-economic factors may have played in shaping contemporary accounts of the Council's fraught reception. It asks whether this may have distorted our understanding of a defining Late Antique debate. Chalcedon's reforms had wide-reaching consequences, not only for the Empire's official Christological policy, but for the broader structure of the 'Church economy,' the systems through which Christian institutions were financed and maintained, referred to at length in the Council's disciplinary canons. Its rulings held particular significance for Palestine in its status as the Christian 'Holy Land.' Here I explore this facet of Chalcedon's legacy, whilst considering how the language of doctrinal controversy generated by the Council served to frame episodes of material competition between rival communities of clerics and monks. The thesis offers a new reading of the texts produced by key actors in these confrontations, many of which have been historically neglected. It follows in the wake of recent attempts to analyse other religious conflicts of this period in light of contemporary social or political conditions, or through reference to 'networks' of influence and patronage. I apply this methodology to the study of the Palestinian partisans in the antagonism which followed Chalcedon, whilst also drawing upon the archaeologically-grounded study of material culture which has influenced so many other areas of early medieval history.

"(Originally) written ... as a thesis for the degree of B. Litt. in the University of Oxford." / Includes bibliographical references.

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Le but de cette recherche est double: a) essayer de soustraire le schisme de l’Église arménienne de la fin du VIe siècle (591) à une vision uniquement ‘arménienne’, c’est-à-dire périphérique et isolée par rapport aux affaires contemporains de l’Empire Romain; b) identifier les orientations et l’évolution de la politique ecclésiastique de Maurice (582-602), qui - comme montre le cas, à notre avis paradigmatique, de l’Arménie - a pris soin de l’organisation administrative et de la définition théologique de l’Église impériale, tout en assurant, d’une manière plus générale, la défense et la gestion des territoires de l’Empire. On a donc d’abord donné un aperçu de la situation de l'Empire Romain à la fin de l’antiquité tardive et souligné comment il a évolué - en particulier après Justinien – à l’intérieur, et par rapport aux peuples extérieurs avec lesquels il avait des relations diplomatiques, militaires ou de commerciales, c’est-à-dire avec les peuples germaniques, les nomades de la steppe, les Arabes et les Ethiopiens, les Chinois; ainsi que les populations caucasiennes, mais surtout le grand rival Sassanide. Puis, on a décrit les grandes lignes de la stratégie romaine le long des frontières: pendant l’antiquité tardive, elle vise, par une sage et habile diplomatie, à attirer dans l’orbite des Romains les gens aux frontières, et à les associer à la cour impériale par l'octroi de titres de grand prestige, comme patricius ou kouropalatēs. Dans ce sens, on a constaté le rôle diplomatique joué, en particulier en Orient, par les commerçants et la haute hiérarchie ecclésiastique. Ensuite, on a décrit les deux événements qui illustrent le mieux la politique ecclésiastique romaine à la fin du VIe siècle et annoncent le schisme arménien: les unions du 572 d’abord et de 591 ensuite entre l’Église Impériale et l’Église (perse-)arménienne. Dans les deux cas on a cherché à mettre en évidence les raisons christologiques (c’est-à-dire de l’orthodoxie de Chalcédoine), mais aussi politiques, militaires, stratégiques et commerciales qui déterminé les choix des Romains et des Arméniens. On a aussi prêté une attention particulière au rôle des Perses, surtout pour l'union de 591. Celle-ci a été créée après les accords entre l’Empire romain et l’État persan, et suivie par l'alliance qui permit à Khosro II, presque ‘fils adoptif’ de l'empereur Maurice, de regagner le trône qui avait été volé par l’usurpateur Bahrām Chubīn. Enfin, on a mis en évidence que cette politique ecclésiastique de Maurice est dictée par des raisons idéologiques. Entre aussi en ligne de compte la nécessité de gérer la difficile unité de l’Empire autour de la Méditerranée , unité qui avait été rétablie seulement sous Justinien. L’expansion considérable des zones frontalières, la crise économique et démographique et les événements de l’empire persan ont rendu cette réalisation difficile, de sorte que, paradoxalement, c’est bien Maurice qui donne à son État, de manière de plus en plus évidente, les traits d’un Empire de moins en moins ‘romain’ et de plus en plus ‘byzantin’.

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In this thesis, we focus on the Story of Euphemia and the Goth, a hybrid literary text written in the second half of the fifth century. Since there is no holistic work on the Story, we undertook the task of examining the text itself, as a systematic examination of the Syriac and the Greek versions of the text itself, as well as the last English translation of the Story, by Francis Burkitt in 1913. We focused on the philological features of the Story and tried to interpret them historically using the standard historical-critical method. By focusing on the philological elements of the Story, we aimed to connect the information with the historical context of the period that the Story allegedly describes (late 4th c.) and the period in which it was written (late 5th c.). Our contextual analysis, which is based on philological features, can be divided into three main aspects. The first aspect examines the historical, military and legal elements of the Story. The second focuses on two Syriac terms: the parmûnârâ' and the fixed expression bnay ḥi're'. More precisely, we attempt tried to recreate the profile of the author of the Story by examining the term parmûnârâ,' and we examined the term bnay ḥi're' both contextually and intertextually, arguing that the term designated people of higher social strata if not the nobility. In addition, we also focus on the socio-political conditions of the fifth century, arguing that the term bnay ḥi're' should not be interpreted simply as f r e e but rather as n o b l e, and we support this thesis with internal evidence from the Story, external evidence taken from the larger literary milieu, as well as the works of philologists and orientalists over the last three centuries. The third aspect of our contextual analysis is related to a philological element that had been overlooked by modern scholarship: the fact that the author of the Story calls Euphemia and Sophia qadîšṯâ', i.e. Saints. Focusing on the text, we examine the validity of this hagiographical feature by examining the Syriac liturgical works of the anti-Chalcedonian Syriac Orthodox Church, i.e. the Syriac menologia, edited by François Nau in 1912. Our discoveries prove the attestation of the Story. The two protagonists of the Story were venerated as Saints by the Syriac-speaking Miaphysites. Through this research, we also discovered that the two protagonists were revered as Saints on the same day that the Chalcedonians celebrated the so-called miracle of the relics of Saint Euphemia of Chalcedon. We argue, therefore, that the Story comes from a Miaphysite milieu. These three aspects form the explanatory framework through which, in the future, we aim to develop a holistic interpretation of the literary themes of the Story as well as the historical context that led to its composition.

This study endeavors to set Christian writing about Islam from the period of the Islamic expansion in the broader context of Christian theological development in Late Antiquity. To this end, this study traces elements of continuity in Christian thought from the Christological debates of the fifth and sixth century, particularly from the Council of Chalcedon in 451and the resulting emergence of the communities of Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonian Monophysites as the dominant strands of Christianity in the Near East at the rise of Islam. In order to understand how Christians began to integrate the Islamic expansion into their thinking, this study focuses particularly on Christian writings about Islam and the descriptions of Muslims in Christian writings from the rise of lslam, through the seventh and early eighth centuries, up to the Abbasid revolution in 750. It also considers the contemporary descriptions of Christians in the Qur'an, in order to illustrate that these descriptions have both a different starting point and a different focus, suggesting that both Christian discussions about Muslims and Muslim discussions about Christians were internal discussions, taking place within each tradition, and do not represent true inter-religious dialogue. In this way, this study attempts to illustrate how the rise of lslam, the emergence of the caliphate and the resulting separation of the Near Eastern churches from the Christian hierarchy in Rome and Constantinople influenced Christian identity in the Near East. The writings of the seventh century, and the Christian identity they preserve, emerge as a hybrid, integrating elements of the competing, pre-Islamic concerns of doctrinal purity versus church unity, but also attempting to address, in a variety of ways, the initial fear over Muslim victory and the eventual acceptance of Muslim rule as the new status quo in the Near East.

The emperor Justinian's religious policy has sometimes been characterized as haphazard or incoherent. This dissertation examines religious policy in the Roman Empire from the accession of the emperor Justin to the inception of the Three Chapters controversy in the mid 540's AD. It considers the resolution of the Acacian Schism, Justinian's apparent ambivalence with regard to the Theopaschite formula, the attempt to court the anti-Chalcedonians in Constantinople in the period leading up to the Council of 536, and the relationship between the genesis of the Three Chapters and Second Origenist controversies. Even during these seemingly disparate episodes, this dissertation argues that it is possible to account for the apparent incoherence of this period. To do so, we create an account which includes and appreciates the embeddedness of imperial policy within a social context with two key features. First, we must bear in mind the shifting interests and information available to the individual agents through and over whom the emperor hoped to project influence. Second, we must identify the shifting and hardening symbolic and social boundaries established through the interactions of these same, competing agents. These form the basis for in- and out-group categorization. The individual interests of individual people—whether Justinian, Vitalian, Dioscorus, Leontius, Eusebius, Theodore Askidas, or Pelagius—within complex networks must always be accounted for to give a complete picture. When this social context is accounted for, Justinian's approach appears as that of a rational actor, having incomplete information, with consistent policy goals, working within inconsistent constraints to achieve those goals.

Michael Servetus (1508 - 1553) and Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 - 1772) are both considered heretics. They share many concepts about the nature of God, especially their rejection of orthodox Nicene and Chalcedonian theology. This thesis explores their respective theologies relating to the Trinity and Christology, with speculation of what sources they may have had in common. While attention is paid to Ignatius, Irenaeus and Tertullian, particular attention is paid to Tertullian, whose work Adversus Praxean lays the foundation of Servetus' ideas and has much in common with Swedenborg's theology. In light of their similarity to Tertullian, the question is asked if Servetus and Swedenborg would have been called heretics prior to Nicaea. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Church History)

Michael Servetus (1508 - 1553) and Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 - 1772) are both considered heretics. They share many concepts about the nature of God, especially their rejection of orthodox Nicene and Chalcedonian theology. This thesis explores their respective theologies relating to the Trinity and Christology, with speculation of what sources they may have had in common. While attention is paid to Ignatius, Irenaeus and Tertullian, particular attention is paid to Tertullian, whose work Adversus Praxean lays the foundation of Servetus' ideas and has much in common with Swedenborg's theology. In light of their similarity to Tertullian, the question is asked if Servetus and Swedenborg would have been called heretics prior to Nicaea. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Church History)