Anastasius of Sinai and the fate of the Chalcedonian Church under the Umayyad Caliphate

Thesis

This thesis examines for the first time the fate of the eastern Roman imperial church in Egypt after its severance from Constantinople in 642 during the Arab-Muslim conquests of the Middle East and North Africa through the lens of its principal witness, the monk, polemicist, and raconteur Anastasius of Sinai (d. after 701 CE). The ecclesiastical history of the Roman Near East after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 is often presented as a battle between the imperial center at Constantinople, for whom Chalcedon served as the official doctrinal policy of the Roman state, and the eastern provinces, which dissented from Chalcedon but which the state nevertheless imposed upon them, often by force. Consequently, the Arab-Muslim conquests are viewed as the rupture that enabled these regions to liberate themselves from the confessional constraints of the empire and fully embrace their true religious identity. I argue against conventional scholarly narratives that the imperial church remained a vital force in the region throughout the sixth century and seventh centuries until the 680s, and that the loss of eastern Roman political hegemony in the Levant did not immediately result in a triumphant confessional reversal. Unique features of Egypt’s ecclesiastical structure, the Roman empire’s own doctrinal politics, and the emergence of a new ruling dynasty in the caliphate slowly coalesced over the second half of the seventh century and reached a tipping point in 685, which reversed the Chalcedonians’ dominance of Egypt’s institutional church. Against standard views, I argue for an Egyptian context for Anastasius’s writings, and explore their relevance for ecclesial and social history in this period. As our sole named Chalcedonian author whose works have survived from this period, Anastasius’s corpus plays a crucial role in comprehending these critical changes, which reflect the emergence of a specifically Islamicate Christianity more broadly.

Authors: Ulishney, PS

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-x5d1mgomd
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Islamicate Christianity; Melkite Christianity; Byzantine Christianity; Christian-Muslim Relations; Christians in the Caliphate; Anastasius of Sinai; ecclesiastical history; religious history
• Subjects: Religious history; Church history