Zeno and Acacius, who were victorious under the banner of Chalcedon, nevertheless saw the strength of the anti-Chalcedonian (Monophysite) reaction in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. And in the name of state and ecclesiastical unity, they fatally embarked on the same path of compromise and betrayal of Chalcedon that they had rejected in the Enkiklion of Basiliscus.

They saw that the imperial world demanded religious concessions. This meant breaking with Rome. And the politicians of the East decided to do this. The moment of the temporary belittling of Rome was tempting. Rome was surrounded by the Germans, cut off from Constantinople and did not understand what was needed for the improvement of the Roman Empire as a whole.

In Alexandria, Timothy Salofakiol spent great efforts to eliminate Peter Mong, but to no avail. The authorities did not help him at all. Timothy Salofakiol was concerned about securing his Orthodox cathedra as a reliable successor. for this purpose, he sent his candidate, the presbyter John Talaya, to the emperor's capital. John, having arrived in the capital, had the tactlessness to strike up friendship with the patrician Illus (Ιλλους), an Isaurian. Zeno, as is known, owed his throne to this patrician, but by this time Illus had already become an opponent of Zeno. From the capital, for this lack of tact, John Talaia was returned to Alexandria with promises of a general nature that did not concern him personally. However, after the early death of Timothy Salofakiolus in 482, John Talaias in Alexandria was elected in his place. He turned out to be undesirable neither to the "court" nor to the new line of conduct of Acacius of Constantinople. with Akakii John Talai went into trouble. John Talaia himself, having informed both Rome and Antioch of his election, for some reason did not send official news to Acacius.

Henoticon (Ενωτικον).

Acacius was tempted by the plan of reconciliation with the line of the successors of Dioscorus and Elurus. Therefore, Constantinople did not recognize Talaya either. He, fearing the fate of Proterius, fled to Rome. The new prefect of Egypt was instructed to summon Peter Mong from the underground and come to an agreement with him on the basis of the signing of a new document with the acceptance of "proterians", i.e. all Orthodox, into communion. This new document is the so-called Henoticon of Zeno. It was apparently edited by Akakii himself.

Emperor Zeno addresses in the form of a letter to "the inhabitants of Alexandria, Libya and Pentapolis, to the bishops, clergy, monks and people." Grieved by the present discord and heeding the requests for ecclesiastical unity, the emperor declares that he supports "the definitions of the faith of the Council of Nicaea in 325 and the Council of Constantinople in 381 and everything that has been done in Ephesus (??) against Nestorius and against others, who later thought the same way as he did..."

"Let it be known to you that we and the churches everywhere have not received, do not accept, and will not accept any other symbol or definition of faith than the holy symbol pronounced by the 318 fathers, confirmed by the 150 ever-memorable fathers, which was followed by the holy fathers gathered in Ephesus, who overthrew the impious Nestorius and his confederates. This Nestorius, as well as Eutychus, who philosophize contrary to what has been said above, and we anathematize the 12 chapters spoken by Cyril of Alexandria of blessed memory.

We also confess that the Only-begotten Son of God and God, our truly incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, One in Essence with the Father in divinity and one in essence with us in humanity, Who descended and was incarnate from Mary the Virgin Mother of God, is One, and not two.

To the One we attribute the miracles and sufferings that He voluntarily endured in the flesh. and those who divide or merge or introduce illusory are not at all acceptable, for the truly sinless incarnation from the Mother of God did not produce an addition in the Son.

Anyone who thinks differently now or at any time, in Chalcedon or at any other council, we anathematize."

Thus, in the Henoticon there is no direct speech about either one or two natures. But it is mentioned in passing that the Lord, who is of one essence with the Father in divinity, is of one essence with us in humanity. In essence, the Henoticon coincided with the mood of the Eastern episcopate. From the oros adopted in Chalcedon, he left out all the formulas that were disputed and the meaning of which was not clear to everyone. The Henoticon openly canonized the theology of Cyril and his 12 anathemas. Church historians (Gieseler, Neander, and even the Orthodox Paparrigopoulo) admit that the Henoticon is essentially an Orthodox document. Why was it published then? It is clear that in the present historical situation he was a betrayal of pure orthodoxy. And, most importantly, he did not achieve his goal - unification. In disguise, Henoticon wanted to liquidate the tomos of Leo and the oros of Chalcedon, to which the government had held on for 30 years as the banner of Orthodoxy.

Peter Mongus recognized the Henoticon and was recognized as Patriarch of Alexandria and received into communion by Constantinople. But the nature of things was more hopeless. The Monophysites did not recognize the Henoticon as sufficient. It was not enough for them to keep silent about the tomos of Leo and Chalcedon. They needed to smash these formulas. The opposition (now to their patriarch) raised cries again. Peter Mong began to adapt. He crossed out the names of Proterius and Timothy Salofakiol from the diptychs. The body of Salofakiol was taken away from the common tomb. Peter Mong had to preach sermons in the old style and assure that he had not changed his views. He even spoke against Chalcedon, but without anathemas, of course, for the eye of authority watched every word. At the same time he wrote letters to Acacius of Constantinople, full of reverence for the Council of Chalcedon. But the adherents of Peter Mong, in contrast, fabricated a forged correspondence, in which Acacius of Constantinople allegedly "rolled at the feet" of Peter Mong, asking forgiveness and admission to communication. After all, the Alexandrian pride was offended.

The opposition did not calm down. Peter Mong was forced to subject some monasteries to ecclesiastical punishment. Te complained to the emperor. The official Cosmas was sent to Alexandria. The grassroots opposition staged a grandiose demonstration. Around one country church, 30 thousand monks gathered (and the Roman authorities did not have enough soldiers to protect the border areas). This monastic army was not allowed into the city. They were forced to limit themselves to two hundred delegates. They were admitted to the church, where Peter Mongus was compelled, not without artifice, to prove that he was dissociating himself from both Pope Leo and Chalcedon. The demagnetized monks recognized Peter Mongus as innocent of error, but did not accept him personally for his association with Acacius and other "Chalcedonians" and came to the conclusion that they should elect a new archbishop for themselves. The authorities vigorously banned it. Then the monks and the masses in solidarity with them broke away from Peter Mong. Their leader was the monk Nephalius. Thus, the Henoticon did not bring peace even to such an anti-Chalcedonian Patriarch of Alexandria.

In other patriarchates, pacification did not work either.