Theandric Acts

A term coined by Dionysius the Pseudo- Areopagite (fifth century) to denote the characteristic activity of the God-Man. Christ “did not perform divine acts as God nor human acts as man, but as the God-Man he manifested a kind of new theandric activity.” It was used by Monophysites and Monothelites (e.g., Severus* of Antioch) of the one nature and one will in Christ, substituting “one” for “new.” Cyrus of Alexandria was won over to the formula by Sergius of Constantinople, including it in the Act of Union (633) by which the Theodosian Monophysites of Egypt were reconciled with the church. Its Monothelite use was condemned by Martin I* (Lateran Council, 649), who permitted it only to designate the union in Christ of the two distinct operations. Maximus the Confessor* and John of Damascus* used it in an orthodox sense.