ACEPHALI

Such bishops as were exempt from the discipline and jurisdiction of their ordinary bishop or patriarch. It was also the denomination of certain sects; 1. of those who, in the affair of the council of Ephesus, refused to follow either St. Cyril or John of Antioch; 2. of certain heretics in the fifth century, who, at first, followed Peter Mongus, but afterwards abandoned him, upon his subscribing to the council of Chalcedon, they themselves adhering to the Eutychian heresy; and, 3. of the followers of Severus of Antioch, and of all, in general, who held out against the council of Chalcedon.

(ἀ and κεφαλή), literally, those who have no chief. The term is applied to various classes of persons (see Biedermann, De Acephalis, Freiberg, 1751).

1. To those at the Council of Ephesus who refused to follow either St. Cyril or John of Antioch.

2. To certain heretics in the fifth century who denied, with Eutyches, the distinction of natures in Jesus Christ, and rejected the Council of Chalcedon. About the year 482 the Emperor Zeno endeavored to extinguish these religious dissensions by the publication of an edict of union, called Henoticon. The more moderate of both parties subscribed the decree, but the object was generally unsuccessful. The Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria was among those who signed the decree; which so greatly displeased many of his party that they separated from him, and were denominated Acephali, that is, without a head. SEE MONOPHYSITES and SEE HENOTICON. These Acephali were condemned in the synod of Constantinople, 536.

3. To bishops exempt from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of their patriarch.

4. To the Flagellants (q.v.).

Acephali (from ἀ and κεφαλή, those without a head or leader) is a term applied:—(1) To the bishops of the oecumenical council of Ephesus in 431, who refused to follow either St. Cyril or John of Antioch—the leaders of the two parties in the Nestorian controversy. (2) To a radical branch of Monophysites, who rejected not only the oecumenical council of Chalcedon in 451, but also the Henoticon of the emperor Zeno, issued in 482 to the Christians of Egypt, to unite the orthodox and the Monophysites. Peter Mongus, the Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria, subscribed this compromise [See Acacius (7)]; for this reason many of his party, especially among the monks, separated from him, and were called Acephali. They were condemned, under Justinian by a synod of Constantinople, 536, as schismatics, who sinned against the churches, the pope, and the emperor. Cf. Mansi, Conc. tom. viii. p. 891 sqq.; Harduin, Conc. tom. ii, 1203 sqq.; Walch, Ketzerhistorie, vol. vii.; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vol. ii. pp. 549, 744. (3) To the clerici vagi, i.e. clergymen belonging to no diocese (as in Isid. Hispal. de 0ffic. Eccl., the so-called Egbert’s Excerpts, 160, and repeatedly in Carlovingian Councils: see Du Cange) [D. C. A. art. VAGI Clerici]. (4) It is said to be used sometimes for αὐτοκέφαλοι. [D. C. A. art. Autocephali.]

[P.S.]

A term applied to the Eutychians who withdrew from Peter Mongus, the Monophysite Patriarch of Alexandria, in 482. With the apparent purpose of bringing the orthodox and heretics into unity, Peter Mongus and Acacius of Constantinople had elaborated a new creed in which they condemned expressly Nestorius and Eutyches, but at the same time affected to pass over the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon and rejected them hypocritically. This ambiguous formula, though approved by the Emperor Zeno and imposed by him in his edict of union, or Henoticon, could only satisfy the indifferent. The condemnation of Eutyches irritated the rigid Monophysites; the equivocal attitude taken towards the Council of Chalcedon appeared to them insufficient, and many of them, especially the monks, deserted Peter Mongus, preferring to be without a head (akephaloi), rather than remain in communion with him. Later, they joined the partisans of the Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch, Severus. The Deacon Liberatus (Breviarium, P.L., LVIII, 988) supposes the name Acephali (Headless) to have been given to those at the Council of Ephesus who followed neither Cyril of Alexandria nor John of Antioch.----------------------------------- LEONT. BYZANT., De Sectis, in P.G., LXXXII 1230; BARONlUS, Annales, an. 482; HEFELE, Hist. of Councils, II; BARDENHEWER in Kirchenlex. (Freiburg, 1882), I. JOHN J. A’BECKET The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York