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'''Dioscorus I of Alexandria''' was the [[Patriarch of Alexandria]] [[444 AD]]– [[451 AD]]/[[Pope of Alexandria|the 25th Pope of Alexandria]] [[444 AD]]–[[454 AD]]/[[457 AD]] (by different traditions respectively)
'''Dioscorus I''' (died c. [[454]]/[[457]]). in Asia Minor, [[September 11 Sept.]], 454.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05019a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia]</ref>
==Controversy==
'''Dioscorus I of Alexandria''' is considered a [[saint]] by the [[Coptic Christianity|Coptic]], [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac]], and other [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] churches. He is considered a [[heretic ]] by the Orthodox Church, though some commentators like Anatolius and [[John S. Romanides]] think that Dioscorus was not deposed at Chalcedon (451) because of the faith, but for his grave administrative errors at the Robber Council of Ephesus (449), which included restoring [[Eutyches]] the heretic and the attack on Flavian, and because he (Dioscorus) had excommunicated Pope [[Leo the Great|Leo of Rome]], and also because at Chalcedon he refused to appear in front of the Council although he was summoned to it three times.[http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.06.en.orthodox_and_oriental_orthodox_consultation.htm]
His character and stance are subject to contravention between the [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] churches on one side and the [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] and [[Catholic]] churches on the other.
The [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] churches are generally accused by other churches of accepting the [[Eutyches|Eutychian doctrine]] of [[Monophysitism]]— this is denied by these churches as they consider Eutyches a heretic as the other churches but to have redemed himself by retreving this herecy in the Ephsus second council <ref>Story of the Coptic church by [[Iris Habib elmasry]] Volume I</ref>but figures large in the differences between those churches and most other populous Christian churches, as well as in the civil strife and friction of the era and afterwards within the [[Eastern Roman Empire]].
Hence, in the mess typical of [[schism]]s, according to mainstream Christian sects, he was merely a [[Patriarch of Alexandria]] turned [[heretic]], who in a pre-emptive power-play characteristic of meglomania attempted to excommunicate many other influential bishops in opposition to his belief in Monophysitism, including Pope Leo I. <!-- ref:see [[ Second Council of Ephesus ]], the historical documentation is rather telling. --->
He was subsequently [[excommunicated]] by the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Pope]] [[Leo I]], most likely in very early [[450 AD]] during the aftermath of the controversial [[Second Council of Ephesus]], which he was charged by the Emperor to precide over with the concurrence of Pope Leo I.
It was supposed to be the fourth [[ecumenical council]] and can only be discribed as {{Wdy|Byzantine}} in effect and bizarre in it's rubber stamping character wherein giants of the orthodox sects were slain in abstentia by excomunication and which findings were all subsequently negated and annulled by Pope [[Leo I]] as well as the succeeding [[ecumenical council]] in [[451 AD]], the [[Council of Chalcedon]] (Widely accepted as the fourth ecumenical council, by most mainstream Christian sects. In contrast, the eastern sects listed above accept the [[Second Council of Ephesus]] as canonical, and ''don't accept'' the council of Chalcedon, nor the [[Chalcedonian Creed]].)
In recent research it was suggested that both Leo and Dioscoros are Orthodox because they agree with St.[[Cyril of Alexandria]], especially with his Twelve Chapters, even though both had been considered heretical by the other side <ref>[http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.06.en.orthodox_and_oriental_orthodox_consultation.htm ORTHODOX AND ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CONSULTATION]</ref>.
In May 1973 After fifteen centuries, H.H. Pope [[Shenouda III of Alexandria]] visited H.H. [[Pope Paul VI]] of Rome and declared a common faith in the nature of Christ, the issue which caused the schism of the church in the [[Council of Chalcedon]] <ref>[http://www.coptic.net/articles/MonophysitismReconsidered.txt Coptic. net Monophysitism Reconsidered]</ref> . Although, this is disputed, due to the fact that the main leaders of the Non-Chalcedonian schism specifically condemned St. Cyril's agreements with St. John of Antioch. For example, Timothy Ailouros (Dioscorus disciple and sucessor, wrote: "Cyril... having excellently articulated the wise proclamation of Orthodoxy, showed himself to be fickle and is to be censured for teaching contrary doctrine: after previously proposing that we should speak of one nature of God the Word, he destroyed the dogma that he had formulated and is caught professing two Natures of Christ" <ref>Timothy Ailouros, "Epistles to Kalonymos," Patrologia Graeca, Vol LXXXVI, Col. 276; quoted in The Non Chalcedonian Heretics, p. 13. See also[http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/mono_history.aspx "The History of the Persistant Monophysite Rejection of St. Cyril of Alexandria's Teaching on the Two Natures of Christ"]</ref>
A similar declaration was reached between the [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] churches and the [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] churches in the 1990s. In the summer of 2001, the Coptic Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of Alexandria agreed to mutually recognize baptisms performed in each other's churches <ref>[http://orthodoxwiki.org/Church_of_Alexandria_(Coptic)#Council_of_Chalcedon Orthodox wiki]</ref>.
==[[Second Council of Ephesus]]==
Then Emperor Theodosius II convened the [[Second Council of Ephesus]] (called the "Robber Synod") in [[449]] and asked Dioscorus to exercise supreme authority over it as president. Eutyches was rehabilitated because he offered to repent and also because Leo, Bishop of Rome wrote to [[Flavian]] saying that he should be kind to him, and to accept him if he repented.
==[[Council of Chalcedon]]==
Then on [[July 28]], [[450]], Emperor [[Theodosius II|Theodosius]] died and his sister [[Pulcheria the Empress|Pulcheria]] and her consort [[Marcian]] were declared emperors. Pulcheria supported Rome against Alexandria. She gathered signatures for the "Tome" of Leo to be introduced as the basic paper for a new council to be held at [[Chalcedon]]. At the same time, she decided not to let Rome hold supreme authority in the church. She refused Leo's demand to hold the council in Italy, but insisted that it would be held in the East. Although the [[council of Chalcedon]] is believed to have condemned Eutyches, the man with whom it really dealt was Dioscorus, for Eutyches was already in North Syria, where he had been exiled before the council met.
During the council, Dioscorus explained why the Orthodox faith should adopt the formula "One incarnate nature of God the Word". On hearing "one nature", some bishops in the council shouted, "Eutyches says these things also." Here Dioscorus clarified the Alexandrian view, saying, "We do not speak of confusion, neither of division, nor of change." Dioscorus tried to make his position clear: that he did not accept "two natures after the union", but he had no objection to "''From'' two natures after the union."