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Aphthartodocetae

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Dictionaries
Dictionary of Early Christian Biography
• Aphthartodocetae, a Sect of the Monophysites
Encyclopedias
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Aphthartodocetae

(from ἄφθαρτος , incorruptible, and δοκέω, to think), a sect of Monophysites, who affirmed that the body of our Lord was rendered incorruptible in consequence of the divine nature being united with it. These were again divided into parties, who debated whether the body of Christ was created or not. Others of them asserted that our Lord's body was indeed corruptible, but that the divine nature prevented its actual corruption. The heresy spread widely in the 6th century, and, in 563, Emperor Justinian issued a decree, which, by favoring this doctrine, sought to reconcile the Monophysites with the orthodox Church. — Hase, Ch. Hist. § 115. (See MONOPHYSITES).