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Dyoenergism (from Greek δυοενεργητισμός "two energies") is a particular Christological doctrine that teaches the existence of two energies (divine and human) in the person of Jesus Christ. Specifically, dyoenergism correlates the distinctiveness of two energies with the existence of two specific natures (divine and human) in the person of Jesus Christ, the position known as dyophysitism.
Dyoenergism stands in opposition to the view of monoenergism, which is the doctrine that Jesus has only one energy, and was advocated for by St. Dionysius and St. Maximus the Confessor.[1] Rather, dyoenergism teaches that Jesus Christ acts through two energies, divine and human. The Sixth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople in 680-681 reaffirmed dyoenergism as church doctrine and condemned both monoenergism and monothelitism,[2] stating:[3]
And as we recognize two natures, so also we recognize two natural wills and two natural operations [...] And, as has been said, we rejected and condemned that most impious and unsubstantial heresy which affirmed but one will and one operation in the incarnate Christ our true God.
The term energy is derived from the term energeia, which typically means "activity" or "operation",[1] or more specifically in the "natural energy" sense employed by St. Maximus, a "natural, constitutive power,"[4] in other words, a capacity for a pattern of activity. The primary difference in the monoenergist controversy of the 5th and 6th centuries was whether energy is to be associated with person, which is one in Christ, or rather with his natures.[1] Dyoenergism is predicated on dyophysitism ('as we recognize[...] so also we recognize') - each different nature corresponds to a different energeia, as expressed by St. Cyril of Alexandria: "No sensible person would concede that things different in kind and nature possess the same operation."[5]