Monk Eutyches of Constantinople/Istanbul (AD 380-456)

Eutyches served as a leading monk in Constantinople, overseeing some three hundred other monks. As a strong opponent of the teaching of Nestorius, Eutyches overreacted and began to teach that Jesus Christ had only one divine nature. Constantinople’s bishop Flavian opposed Eutyches’ Monophysite teaching.

In 449, emperor Theodosius II convened an Ecumenical Church Coun- cil In Ephesus to examine Eutyches’ teaching. Led by bishop Dioscorus of Alexandria, the council declared Eutyches’ teaching was orthodox and condemned Constantinople’s bishop Flavian. However, after Theodosius II’s death, emperor Marcion and empress Pulcheria convened a new Ecumenical Church Council in Chalcedon in 451. This council declared the Ephesus council to be a “Gangster Council,” and it condemned Eutyches and sent him into exile, where he died in 456.