This study historicizes the formation of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Menze shows that the sixth century separation of the Syrian Orthodox Christians from Western Christianity took place because of divergent political and ecclesiastical interests of bishops and emperors. Roman emperors proved to be unable to hold the papacy in the West, the later Greek Orthodox and the Syrian Christians in the East together in one belief. The result was (religious) violence, discrimination and persecution of the Syrian Christians which forced them to establish an independent church.