The Chalcedonian Definition was written amid controversy between the
Western and
Eastern churches over the meaning of the
Incarnation. The Western church readily accepted the creed, but some Eastern churches did not. Political disturbances prevented the
Armenian bishops from attending. Even though
Chalcedon reaffirmed the Third Council's condemnation of
Nestorius, the
Non-Chalcedonians always suspected that the Chalcedonian Definition tended towards Nestorianism. This was in part because of the restoration of a number of bishops deposed at the
Second Council of Ephesus, bishops who had previously indicated what appeared to be support of Nestorian positions. The
Coptic Church of Alexandria dissented, holding to
Cyril of Alexandria's preferred formula for the oneness of Christ's nature in the
incarnation of God the Word as "out of two natures". Cyril's language is not consistent and he may have countenanced the view that it is possible to contemplate in theory two natures after the incarnation, but the Church of Alexandria felt that the Definition should have stated that Christ be acknowledged "out of two natures" rather than "in two natures". The definition defines that Christ is "acknowledged in two natures", which "come together into one person and one
hypostasis". The formal definition of "two natures" in Christ was understood by the critics of the council at the time, and is understood by many historians and theologians today, to side with Western and Antiochene
Christology and to diverge from the teaching of
Cyril of Alexandria, who always stressed that Christ is "one". Modern analysis of the sources of the creed and the acts of the council show that the bishops considered Cyril the great authority and that even the language of "two natures" derives from him. This
miaphysite position, historically characterised by Chalcedonian followers as "
monophysitism", though this is denied by the dissenters, formed the basis for the distinction of the
Coptic,
Ethiopian,
Syriac and
Armenian Apostolic churches. ==References==