Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States
www.suscopts.org
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I heard a Greek orthodox priest saying that the Coptic Church is monophysite and heretic. What does Your Grace think about this?

I would like to clarify the reason why some of the Greek Orthodox priests wrongfully accuse our Coptic church as monophysite and heretic. The Coptic Orthodox Church is one of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The churches, which are considered Oriental Orthodox Churches, are: Coptic, Armenian, Syrian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, and the Malankara Indian Churches. The common bond within these churches is their non-acceptance of the Council of Chalcedon of 451 AD.  

The Chalcedonian Churches (which accept the stipulations of the Council of Chalcedon) are mainly the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches.

The Chalcedonian Council was a very "political" council held in the City of Chalcedon in Asia Minor and dealt with the Heresy of Eutyches, an archimandrite of a large monastery at Constantinople. This archimandrites' opposition to Nestorianism led to the heresy of confounding the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ, denying that the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ was like ours aclaiming that it melted into or became part of His Divinity. The Coptic Church was misunderstood at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. The Coptic Church was accused of following the teaching of Eutyches, who believed in Monophysitism (single nature).

The Coptic Church refuses and rejects the teaching of Eutyches and believes that our Lord Jesus Christ is perfect in His divinity and perfect in His humanity; yet His divinity parted not from His humanity for a single moment nor a twinkle of an eye. So, our church believes in Miaphysism (one nature) and it is clear that the council of Chalcedon was not held to discuss a dogmatic creed but for political reasons. Pope Leo of Rome wanted to declare himself as the supreme over all the churches of the world including the church of Alexandria. Perhaps the Council of Chalcedon understood the Church correctly, but they wanted to exile the Church, to isolate it and to abolish the Egyptian, independent Pope, who maintained that Church and State should be separate. Despite all this, the Coptic Church has remained very strict and steadfast in its faith. Whether it was a conspiracy from the Western Churches to exile the Coptic Church as a punishment for its refusal to be politically influenced, or whether it was just misunderstanding, the Coptic Church has always felt a mandate to reconcile semantic differences between all Christian Churches. Today, dialogues are taking place between the Oriental and the Eastern Orthodox churches to get into full unity and communion together since actually the faith is the same.
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