ABSTRACT
IN the fifth century the Church of the East broke away into independence of Byzantine Christendom. Its people became known as Nestorians. The separation of the Monophysites declared itself about the same time; for. from the fifth century. Monophysitism was adopted as the official creed of the ancient and national Church of Armenia, while in Syria, the J acobites, in the sixth century, set up an organised Church of their own. In Egypt, the Copts had been in sympathy with Monophysite from the days of Cyril and Dioscorus. In the seventh century, the majority took advantage of the Arab conquest, 642, to detach themselves finally from Constantinople, leaving to the Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria a mere handful of adherents known as Melkites, or Imperialists. .
