the Greek garrison and officials, which the Byzantine Government was trying to force on turbulent and rebellious natives.
St. Cyril's successor, Dioscor of Alexandria (444-451, † 454), was, we have seen, a vehement Monophysite. In Lequien's list he is the twenty-fifth Patriarch since St. Mark.[1] We may count him as the first Coptic Patriarch, in the modern sense of Monophysite. But he was not, of course, conscious of beginning any new Church. He protested that he was defending the old faith of Athanasius and Cyril. And for a long time after him there is still only one line, held alternately by Monophysites and Orthodox. When Dioscor was deposed by the Council of Chalcedon (451), the Government made a Catholic, Proterius (451-457), Patriarch. Proterius was murdered in 457 and the Copts set up Timothy the Cat (457-460). Then he was banished, and a Catholic, Timothy Salophakiolos (460-475), was set up. Salophakiolos was ejected by the usurping Emperor Basiliskos in 475, and the Cat was restored. Zeno deposed the Cat and brought back Salophakiolos in 476. He reigned then till his death in 481. When the Cat died (479) the Copts set up Peter Mongos; but at first he did not obtain possession. Instead, the Catholic John Talaia was appointed (482). Then came the Henotikon. Talaia would not sign it and fled to Rome. Peter Mongos signed, obtained the palace and church, and reigned till his death (482-490). Talaia was the last Catholic Patriarch for about sixty years. With Mongos we come to the time of the Acacian schism (pp. 193-199); Egypt becomes more and more the central home of all Monophysism, the harbour of refuge to which these heretics flee from all countries. Six Monophysite Patriarchs follow. Mongos fiercely persecuted all Melkites in Egypt. He became a tower of strength to his party, so that "communion with Mongos" was the recognized outward sign of inward Monophysism. But in Egypt the extreme Monophysites, who from their side were as dissatisfied with the compromising Henotikon as were loyal Catholics, refused to accept it, broke with Mongos because he did so, and formed the schism of "those without a Chief (Akephaloi, p. 194)."[2] There were a number of other schisms and sects,
