Monothelitism

From the Greek monos, “one,” and thelema, “will.” A seventh-century christological teaching advocated by Sergius of Constantinople, Cyrus of Alexandria, and others. It presented the Person of Christ as having one divine will under which his human will was subsumed. Monothelitism was consistent with the Chalcedonian Definition concerning the two natures of the Person of Christ. But monothelitism upset the balance between Christ's divinity and his humanity by upholding only one independent divine will. It was declared heretical at the Sixth Ecumenical Council (III Constantinople) in 680-681, which held ” . . .there are two natures unconfusedly, unchangeably, undividedly, and two natural wills and two natural operations. . . .” See Chalcedonian Definition; see Ecumenical Councils; see Christology.