Bishop Hefele on Pope Honorius [pp. 273-301]

VON HEFELE ON POPE HONORIUS. [April,
Sergius says, that no one should be allowed to affirm either
one energy or two; for the expression one energy was suspicions, as it seemed to deny that there were in Christ two
natures (i. e. to teach the monophysitic doctrine); in the
same manner the assertion of two energies was an offense to
many, since it might follow from this, that there were in
Christ two OONTRA~Y?OiitS (&~A~~~r~); a false inference!
7. Pope Honorins answered Sergius, and his whole letter
is still preserved in the original Latin, and in an old Greek
version. (Epistola I.)
The sum of what Honorius says in this epistle is as follows:
(c~.5 Thou hast done well to forbid the phrase "one energy,"
for the monophysitic view could be found in it. So too,
Nestorianism could be found in the expression "two energies" (&vo ~y~py~zc'ti); and neither expression is biblical.
Besides, the expression "two energies" is false, for Christ
(~Y4py7/J8 ~oAvrp4~~~) "worked in divers ways," (e. g.
now he ate, then he drank, he slept, he taught, he healed the
sick, etc.)
Hence Honorius confounded the encr~y, or mode of working in itself, with its single manifestations.
His words, bearing on this, read literally: "It is not right
to give the authority of ecclesiastical dogmas to Opinions
which do not seem to have been submitted to the examination
of Synods, nor to have the authority of ecclesiastical canons;
as is the case with those who presume to predicate one energy
or two energies of Christ, etc." (3Jan~i, Collect. Concil. T.
xi. p. 542.)
And afterwards he says: "For we have not learned from
the Holy Scriptures that Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit
have one mode of operation, or two, although we have learned
that he worked in manifold ways." (3lansi, ~bi supra.)
And at the close: "This, my brother, you will also preach
as we do... and we exhort you, that, avoiding the new mode
of speaking of one or two modes of operation, you proclaim
with us one Lord Jesus Christ." (IWans~, p 543).
(6.) Honorius liere not only rejects the o~U~o~ox technical
term of two energi~, but at the same time prescribes a hereti -