In the year 494, Gelasius I wrote the famous letter to emperor Anastasius I, in which he outlined the separation of church and state. “Two they are, august emperor, by which this world is chiefly ruled, the sacred authority of the priesthood and the royal power.”

The fact that the letter was written is notable for the fact that Anastasius held to a form of christology known as Monophysitism (condemned as a heresy by the Council of Chalcedon in 451*, a view seconded by Rome) which maintained that Christ himself had only one aspect, that of divinity, rather than being a perfect unity of humanity and divinity (a heterogeneous homogony of spirit).

The letter serves as a reminder to Anastasius of the separation of the two arms of the kingdom by Christ, for “he distinguished between the two offices of power by their own proper activities…” Reading the letter within this framework, one might take from it that Gelasius was attempting to convince Anastasius that the empire should serve to exemplify the duality of the Christ of orthodox Christology, and also to convince him to follow the doctrine of the duality of the Christ, through political metaphor. Contextually this makes sense, given that these are two religious men in comparable positions of power, in correspondence.

“The things which are established by divine judgement can be assailed by human presumption; they cannot be overthrown by anyones power, it happened before the coming of Christ that certain men, though still engaged in carnal activities were symbolically both kings and priests…”- Gelasius I to Anastasius I.

Gelasius sums up his letter by stating that with such a separation of church and state “the humility of each order would be preserved, neither being exalted by the subservience of the other”. But in fact, in the first half of the letter, he reminds Anastasius “You know most clement son, that, although you take precedence over all mankind in dignity, you piously bow the neck to those who have charge of divine affairs and seek from them the means of salvation,” (or as the translation posted on Fordham University’s website puts it “You are also aware, dear son, that while you are permitted honorably to rule over human kind, yet in things divine you bow your head humbly before the leaders of the clergy and await from their hands the means of your salvation.” ** emphasis added) In either translation, the message is clear, the church (the pope) holds the real power.

Monophysitism maintained itself as an ire to the papacy, and continued to garner a following in the eastern empire for years after the death of Gelasius I. Though few of his writings survive in full, in his “apparently voluminous dogmatic work On the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation,”  Eulogius of Alexandria “develops the doctrine of the ‘natural’ human will in Christ very precisely. He speaks directly about ‘two operations’ and ‘two desires,’ and he corroborates his reflections with a deep analysis of the basic Gospel texts.“({***} bottom of section on minor polemicists). It has also been written that he was very successful in converting Monophysites to accepted orthodox belief, and in fact, in one of numerous letters to Eulogius, Pope Gregory praises him for helping to maintain the status that “the see of the prince of the apostles alone has grown strong in authority, which in three places is one see”. The prince of the apostles being Peter, the founder of the church in Rome, and the see(seat of power) in this case being the orthodoxy in Rome “For Peter himself exalted the see in which he ordained to end his life on Earth.”(†) Hence, the above three places quote could be read equivalently as ‘the thrown of Peter and those most legitimate heirs to his legacy, namely the papacy in Rome, friend of Eulogius of Alexandria, have been able up to maintain control of the faithful throughout the empire.’

The claim that the papacy in Rome is the head of the church had already espoused by Leo (pope from 440 to 461) when he invoked Christ to legitimize papal rule (the Peter as forebear of the popes).

“Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, caused his truth to be promulgated through the apostles. And while this duty was placed on all the apostles, the Lord made St. Peter the head of all, that from him as from their head his gifts should flow out into all the body. So that if anyone separates himself from St Peter he should know that he has no share in the divine blessing.”