Monothelites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Members of a 7th-century Christian sect who taught that Christ possessed a single divine will rather than both divine and human wills
2. Followers of the early Christian heresy claiming that Jesus had one will only, a view condemned by church councils in the seventh century
3. Those who held to monothelitism, the doctrine that the incarnate Christ had only one volition, which the Church later rejected as heretical

Etymology: Monothelites were members of a 7th-century Christian movement that held Christ had only one will, the divine, rather than both a divine and a human will. The word is a plural, the form used for the adherents themselves, and it refers to the believers of the doctrine known as Monotheletism. The word is built from Greek roots: "monos" meaning "single" or "alone", and "thelein" meaning "to will" or "to wish", so the literal sense is "one-willers." The term follows the pattern of the older word "Monophysite," formed from "monos" and "physis" (nature), which named those who held Christ had only one nature. Its formation reflects the theological debates of the period, when the Byzantine church sought to reconcile the two natures of Christ with a single divine person.