Monothelitism was the christological
doctrine that Jesus
Christ had one will but two natures (divine and human). Under the influence
of the Patriarch Sergios (of Constantinople),
monothelitism was developed during the reign of Heraclius
as a
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response to Monoenergism
and as an attempt to reconcile the Monophysites
with the Chalcedonians. However, it was rejected by the Catholic
and Eastern
Orthodox churches, and was never accepted by most of the monophysites either.
One prominent opponent of the doctrine was Maximus
the Confessor, who insisted instead on dythelitism, the belief
that Christ had two wills rather than one.
