The Chronicle of 640 and the Council of Ctsifont of 621

Abstract

In 622 the persian expeditions against the Aegean and the Minor Asia, on the one hand brought Romania to nearly collapse, and on the other, the sasanian Iran to a point of a complete victory. In view of this new reality and aiming at the consolidation of their conquests in the East Byzantium, the new Persia of Cosroes II attempted to achieve the unification of the Christian churches favouring the Monophysites to the detriment of the Nestorians and the Chalcedonians. This pro-Monophysite religious policy resulted in an implicit support from the churches and the Monophysite populations of the new empire. It also generated a new stance of independence before the Roman power which grandly favoured the latest Arab conquest.