Kalchenko, E. S.
The Council of Chalcedon and the Events of Church His tory in the Second Half of the 5th Century in Chapters 87–88 of the Chronicle of John of Nikiu, in: Proslogion: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Social History and Culture, 2024. Vol. 7 (2). P. 63–77.
Evgenia Sergeevna Kalchenko, Research Assistant, Institute of History, Saint Petersburg State University (199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Mendeleevskaya liniya, 5); Junior Researcher, the State Hermitage Museum (190000, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Dvortsovaya emb., 34)
evg.kalchenko@mail.ru
Language: Russian
The Chronicle of John, bishop of Nikiu, is one of the few extensive sources of the early medieval period devoted largely to the history and culture of Egypt and com posed by an Egyptian author. A significant part of the narrative includes the themes related to the problems of theology and the history of the Christian Church. In par ticular, an important milestone in the history of Christianity in Egypt was connected with the Fourth Ecumenical Council convened in autumn, 451 in Chalcedon. This event and its results aggravated the ecclesiastical schism on the question of Christol ogy and eventually put the Сhurch of Egypt, at least the major part of it, in opposition to Constantinople. Subsequently, there appeared Coptic texts with anti-Chalcedonian polemics reflected in the Chronicle of John of Nikiu as well.
In this article the author analyses how John, a supporter of the Miaphysite doc trine, narrates about the Council of Chalcedon and the following events of Church history in the second half of the 5th century described in chapters 87–88. A number of episodes are compared with the evidence from the works of other historians, mainly Evagrius Scholasticus and (Pseudo-)Zachariah Rhetor, on the basis of which one can deduce how the Egyptian author presented his narrative. A significant part deals with Timothy II Aelurus, the patriarch of Alexandria, well-known for his anti-Chalcedo nian position. Some facts and details connected with his personality and not only appear in a similar way in the Chronicle of John and in the text by (Pseudo-)Zacha riah Rhetor. Thus, it is not improbable that the Egyptian bishop could have relied on the work of the latter who was close to him in spirit and theological convictions.
Keywords: John of Nikiu, the Council of Chalcedon, Miaphysitism, anti-Chalce donian polemics, Timothy Aelurus, Coptic Church, Christianity in Egypt
URL: http://proslogion.ru/72-kalchenko/
10.24412/2500-0926-2024-72-63-77
