Die Bedeutung der Geschichtstheologie im monenergetisch-monotheletischen Streit des 7. Jahrhunderts

The article examines the motives of those opposing the religious politics of the imperial court of Constantinople during the christological controversy of the 7th century. It shows how the contemporary apocalyptic interpretation advanced by Sophronius of Jerusalem, Maximus Confessor and others determined the thoughts and actions of these opponents. They viewed the Arab conquests as divine punishment for monenergism and monotheletism and, considering the last judgment to be imminent, they tried to bring about a theological and political reversal. Anastasios Sinaites' triumphalistic theology of empire and history led to a factually dubious construal of the controversy which determines its descriptive narrative until this very day.