Table of Contents

Introduction
1: The Schism of the non-Chalcedonians
2: The Libellus of Hormisdas: a Remodelling of the Past
3: Monks and Monasteries
4: Towards a Church: Sacraments, Canons, Liturgy and Priests
5: Syrian Orthodox Commemoration of the Past
Conclusion: Justinian, the Syrian Orthodox 536-553, and Subsequent Perceptions of the Syrian Schism
Bibliography

Reviews

...an original and important study...Menze has made a major contribution to our understanding of both the theological battles and the historical development of the sixth century.
*Judith Herrin, American Historical Review*

...Menze's monograph, bringing together new Syriac sources with an attention to a resurgent papacy and ambitious emperor, easily surpasses William H. C. Frend's The Rise of the Monophysite Movement (Cambridge, UK, 1972).
*Philip Wood, The Catholic Historical Review*

Volker Menze provides an excellent examination of the process by which a church is established and provides for itself the founding mythology of its earliest experiences...This is a well-written study that enables the reader to follow what could easily be a confusing melodrama or soap opera of ecclesiastical bickering...well worth the reading.
*Stephen Morris, Journal of Early Christian Studies*

This is an innovative, scholarly and thought-provoking work.
*Pauline Allen, Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum*

...[an] admirable and important book...Menze's analysis of the convictions and anxieties of the Syrian Miaphysites remains a model of fair and sympathetic treatment.
*Richard Price, Journal of Ecclesiastical History*