Page:Syrian Churches (Etheridge).djvu/153

Rh of which it is said he was a native. He commenced his labours at a time (about 550) when the interests of Monophysitism had been reduced to a very low ebb; and his ordination to the episcopal office was received, according to tradition, from the hands of certain bishops of his sect, then in prison by the force of the imperial edict. Having been authorised by them, he fulfilled the duties of a missionary prelate in various parts of Syria and Mesopotamia, in zealously preaching what he believed to be the truth, in the settlement of congregations, the ordination of presbyters and bishops, and the organization of a united ecclesiastical system.

Here, then, we are to draw a line of distinction between the Monophysites in general, and the Jacobite church in particular. The latter, as a specific communion, was consolidated in Syria and Mesopotamia; but the theological dogma of the one nature has been held in common with them by multitudes in the patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Ech-miazin.

The Jacobites have always protested against being considered followers of Eutyches. But while they profess to anathematize that heresiarch, they merely reject some minor opinions of his, and hold fast his great distinguishing error of the absorption of the humanity of our Saviour in his divine nature. They think, that, in the incarnation, from two natures there resulted one. In other words, they believe that the Redeemer does not possess two natures, but one, composed of two: ( duabus naturis, non duabus; id est, ex duabus in unum coalescentibus, non duabus remanentibus:) illustrating their dogma in this way,—"Glass is made of sand; but