| Preface | vi |
| Abbreviations | xvii |
| A Christological Nile Expedition From the Delta to Lake Tana (451-639/642) | 1 |
| Part 1 | Alexandrian-Greek Christology | |
| Section 1 | The Christology of the Patriarchs | |
| Chapter 1 | Timothy Aelurus: the foundation of Alexandrian-Greek Christology in the rejection of Chalcedon | 7 |
| 1. | The secret patriarch of Alexandria | 9 |
| 2. | A christological battle on two fronts | 16 |
| (a) | On the truth of the incarnation of Christ | 18 |
| (b) | The polemic against the 'Nestorianism' of Leo I's Tome to Flavian and of the Council of Chalcedon | 24 |
| (aa) | The different concept of nature | 25 |
| (bb) | A questionable argument for the divinity of the incarnate One | 26 |
| 3. | The Christology of Timothy and its aporias | 27 |
| (a) | Appeal to tradition | 27 |
| (b) | The aporia of the mia-physis formula | 31 |
| Chapter 2 | The struggle between Chalcedonians and Anti-Chalcedonians | 36 |
| 1. | The peaceful Chalcedonian, Timothy 'Wobble-Cap' | 36 |
| 2. | Peter Mongus, anti-Chalcedonian patriarch 'by Henoticon's grace' | 38 |
| 3. | The successors of Peter Mongus | 40 |
| 4. | Timothy IV (III), Patriarch of Alexandria at the time of the controversy between Julian and Severus | 42 |
| 5. | Gaianus and the Gaianites | 45 |
| On the doctrine of the Gaianites | 48 |
| Chapter 3 | Theodosius, Patriarch of Alexandria, spiritual heir of Severus of Antioch | 53 |
| 1. | Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum | 53 |
| 2. | 'Causa multiplicis certaminis' | 54 |
| 3. | The basic traits of Theodosian Christology | 55 |
| (a) | His authorities | 55 |
| (b) | His confession of faith | 56 |
| (c) | His heresiology | 56 |
| (d) | Connections with Severan terminology | 57 |
| (e) | The one energeia | 58 |
| Chapter 4 | The development of two hierarchies | 60 |
| I. | The Chalcedonian hierarchy: the Melkites | 60 |
| 1. | The Melkite patriarchs of 538-580 | 60 |
| 2. | Eulogius, a neo-Chalcedonian theologian of mediation? | 65 |
| II. | The anti-Chalcedonian hierarchy: the Copts | 71 |
| 1. | The Coptic hierarchy after 575 | 71 |
| 2. | Damian, head of the 'Monophysite' world | 75 |
| 3. | Benjamin, Coptic patriarch and leader under Persian, Byzantine and Islamic rule | 81 |
| Summary | 87 |
| Section 2 | The Christology of the Scholars | |
| Chapter 1 | The poet Nonnus of Panopolis and his fellow countrymen | 89 |
| 1. | Cyrus of Panopolis | 90 |
| 2. | Pamprepius | 91 |
| 3. | Nonnus of Panopolis | 92 |
| (a) | Preliminary questions | 92 |
| (b) | The christological standpoint of Nonnus's paraphrase of John | 95 |
| (aa) | General characterization | 95 |
| (bb) | The christological statement of Nonnus's paraphrase of John | 96 |
| 4. | Dioscorus of Aphrodito | 100 |
| Chapter 2 | Two Alexandrian exegetes | 101 |
| 1. | The presbyter Ammonius | 101 |
| 2. | The deacon Olympiodore | 105 |
| Chapter 3 | John Philoponus, philosopher and theologian in Alexandria | 107 |
| I. | The man and his work | 107 |
| II. | The Christology of John Philoponus | 112 |
| 1. | The basic traits of Philoponian Christology in the polemic Tmemata | 113 |
| 2. | The Diaetetes and its conceptuality | 118 |
| (a) | The manner of the union | 120 |
| (b) | The number 'two' | 123 |
| (c) | On the intellectual division | 126 |
| (d) | On the picture of Christ of John Philoponus | 127 |
| 3. | The letter to Justinian | 130 |
| III. | John Philoponus and tritheism | 131 |
| The anti-tritheistic initiative of Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople | 135 |
| IV. | John Philoponus and his teaching on the resurrection | 138 |
| The resurrection teaching of Patriarch Eutychius | 141 |
| V. | Final evaluation | 142 |
| Chapter 4 | 'Cosmas Indicopleustes' | 147 |
| 1. | On the Christology of the Topographia Christiana | 151 |
| (a) | A christological rereading of the Old Testament | 152 |
| (b) | An optimistic anthropology | 153 |
| (c) | The eschatological viewpoint | 154 |
| 2. | A brief synthesis of the Christology of the Topographia Christiana | 155 |
| (a) | The question of 'Nestorianism' | 155 |
| (b) | The trinitarian-christological credo of Cosmas and its orthodoxy | 158 |
| (c) | Cosmas and tradition | 161 |
| Part 2 | The 'Province of Coptic Christology' | |
| Chapter 1 | Shenoute as the founder of Coptic Christology | 167 |
| I. | A new source for Shenoute's Christology and for Coptic theology in general | 169 |
| 1. | The Nag Hammadi tractates and the monastic movement in Upper Egypt (Thebaid) | 170 |
| 2. | Special indications of Shenoute as the author of the new exhortation | 173 |
| (a) | A call for help from Patriarch Dioscorus (444-451/454) to Shenoute | 174 |
| (b) | Shenoute and Nestorius in Upper Egypt | 176 |
| (c) | The Annals of Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria as background description | 179 |
| II. | Shenoute's exhortation as a mirror of the faith situation of the Coptic church between 431 and 451 | 180 |
| 1. | The spread of superstition | 181 |
| 2. | The threat to the Nicene faith in God and Christ | 181 |
| (a) | Angel Christology and the creatureliness of the Son | 182 |
| (b) | The two seraphim of Is 6,2 | 182 |
| (c) | Injury to the Nicene and Nicene-Constantinopolitan faith | 183 |
| (d) | The dispute over prayer to Jesus | 184 |
| Shenoute as witness to prayer to Jesus | 187 |
| 3. | Gnostic-Origenistic infiltration of 'apocryphal' origin | 189 |
| (a) | Double creation | 190 |
| (b) | 'Large' and 'small' history | 193 |
| (aa) | The 'gospel of Jesus the Son of God, generated by the angels' (generazione degli angeli) | 193 |
| (bb) | The denial of the 'small history' of Jesus on earth | 194 |
| (cc) | The Pascha in heaven and on earth | 196 |
| (dd) | Human beings in this 'large' and 'small' history: Origenism | 197 |
| Marcion or Mani? | 200 |
| (c) | Christology and understanding of the Eucharist in dissolution | 203 |
| 4. | Shenoute and Nestorius | 207 |
| (a) | Shenoute's own report | 207 |
| (b) | Shenoute's quotations from Nestorius | 208 |
| (c) | Shenoute and Nestorius in legend | 212 |
| Summary | 213 |
| III. | A second christological catechesis of Shenoute | 214 |
| IV. | Sodalis Dei et Christi amicus. A closing report on Shenoute's Christology | 217 |
| (a) | A biblical Christocentrism | 217 |
| (b) | A salvation-economic theology of the one history of creation and salvation | 221 |
| (c) | A kerygmatic theology | 221 |
| (d) | A pre-Chalcedonian Christology in service to the patriarch Dioscorus | 222 |
| Excursus: On the wider Coptic-christological context of Shenoute's exhortation | 223 |
| (a) | Anthropomorphism against Origenism in the 'Life of Aphu' | 223 |
| (b) | Coptic Origenists against anthropomorphism | 225 |
| (c) | 'Agathonicus' between Christian Gnostics and Patriarch Theophilus/Shenoute | 227 |
| Chapter 2 | In the light and shadow of the master: Archimandrite Besa (d. after 474) | 229 |
| Chapter 3 | On Christology in the liturgical prayer of the Coptic church | 235 |
| 1. | The three leading anaphoras of the Egyptian liturgy | 237 |
| (a) | The liturgy of Mark (Cyril) | 237 |
| (b) | The liturgy of Basil | 238 |
| (c) | The liturgy of Gregory | 239 |
| 2. | The christological peculiarities of the three Egyptian eucharistic prayers | 240 |
| (a) | The addressing of Christ in the Gregory anaphora and in the other eucharistic prayers | 240 |
| (b) | Epiclesis | 247 |
| 3. | Christological elements in some other Coptic anaphoras | 249 |
| 4. | Christological peculiarities in the lectionaries | 250 |
| 5. | The Book of Psalmody | 252 |
| 6. | The Coptic synaxarion | 256 |
| Part 3 | The 'Cross of Christ' Over Nubia | |
| Chapter 1 | The silent 'eremite mission' in pre-Chalcedonian Nubia | 263 |
| Chapter 2 | The 'official' evangelization of Nubia in the sixth century | 267 |
| 1. | The missionary expedition of the priest Julian (542-548) | 267 |
| 2. | The missionary expedition of Bishop Longinus (566-580) | 271 |
| (a) | The mission of 569-575 | 271 |
| (b) | The evangelization of the Alodaeans | 272 |
| 3. | The Chalcedonian mission in the Middle Kingdom | 273 |
| Chapter 3 | The further history of Christian Nubia | 277 |
| Chapter 4 | In search of Nubian faith in Christ | 279 |
| 1. | The iconographic testimony | 280 |
| 2. | The liturgical testimony | 285 |
| 3. | Veneration of the cross in Nubia | 286 |
| Part 4 | Christ in a New Messianic Kingdom Faith in Christ in Ethiopia | |
| Chapter 1 | The introduction of Christianity | 295 |
| Chapter 2 | The mission of the 'nine saints' | 302 |
| Chapter 3 | Axum as the first Christian kingdom of non-Chalcedonian confession and its crusade into southern Arabia | 305 |
| 1. | The new source situation | 308 |
| (a) | The writings of Bishop Simeon of Beth-Arsam | 309 |
| (b) | The Martyrium Arethae | 310 |
| 2. | The events | 312 |
| (a) | The Conference of Ramla (520/521) | 312 |
| (b) | Actions of Bishop Simeon of Beth-Arsam | 316 |
| (c) | The crusade of King Kaleb | 316 |
| 3. | The confession of Christ of the martyrs of Himyar | 319 |
| (a) | Christocentrism | 320 |
| (b) | Yusuf's demand on the Christians | 321 |
| (c) | The confession of the martyrs | 321 |
| Chapter 4 | The religious-cultural background of Ethiopian Christian faith | 324 |
| 1. | Jewish influences | 324 |
| (a) | The Ethiopian church and its liturgical apparatus | 325 |
| (b) | The liturgical cycle of feasts | 325 |
| (c) | Circumcision and other observances | 327 |
| (d) | The Jewish Targum in the Ethiopian Tergum | 328 |
| The Falashas | 329 |
| 2. | Cyrillian-Alexandrian influences | 332 |
| 3. | Syrian influences | 334 |
| 4. | Translations from Arabic | 334 |
| Chapter 5 | Faith in Christ in the Ethiopian church | 336 |
| 1. | Jewish and Jewish-Christian motifs in Ethiopian Christology | 337 |
| (a) | Translatio Regni Messianici | 337 |
| (b) | Jesus the 'anointed One' | 341 |
| (aa) | Patristic discussion: Qerellos -- Philoxenus of Mabbug | 341 |
| (bb) | The 'anointment' in the Ethiopian theology of the late Middle Ages and the modern period | 345 |
| (1) | In the Mashafa Milad | 345 |
| (2) | A church history text | 347 |
| (3) | 'The Mirror of Insight' | 348 |
| (4) | A new phase in the dispute | 349 |
| (5) | The conflict under King Yohannes | 353 |
| (c) | The baptism of Jesus in the Jordan | 355 |
| (aa) | The baptism of Jesus in Ethiopian formulas of faith | 358 |
| (bb) | The baptism of Jesus in Ethiopian anaphoras | 360 |
| (d) | Names and numbers | 362 |
| (e) | The mysticism of the symbols | 365 |
| (f) | Retrospective | 367 |
| 2. | Limitations | 369 |
| (a) | Jewish Christian -- and yet Christology from above | 369 |
| (b) | Nearness to and distance from Judaism | 372 |
| 3. | Relationship to universal church Christology, its terminology and systematic representation | 372 |
| (a) | Negative | 373 |
| (b) | Positive | 374 |
| (c) | Ethiopia and the conceptual language of the universal church | 376 |
| Chapter 6 | The position of Jesus in the worship and prayer of the Ethiopian church | 379 |
| 1. | Christ in the structure of the church year | 379 |
| 2. | The alleged Monophysitism of the Ethiopian anaphoras | 381 |
| 3. | Chalcedonian-anti-Chalcedonian conceptual language in the liturgy? | 384 |
| 4. | Christ in the priestly prayer of the hours | 387 |
| 5. | An example of extra-liturgical prayer to Christ | 388 |
| Final reflections | 389 |
| 1. | Alexandria, the 'Christ-loving City' | 389 |
| 2. | The Archimandrite Shenoute and his christological significance | 391 |
| 3. | Nubia | 391 |
| 4. | Ethiopia | 392 |
| Selected Bibliography | 393 |
| Indexes | |
| 1. | Biblical references | 405 |
| 2. | Words in ancient languages | 408 |
| 3. | Ancient authors | 413 |
| 4. | Modern authors | 419 |
| 5. | Subjects | 425 |
