The heresy known as Monophysitism was a reaction to the Nestorian heresy and postdates Nicaea. However, the doctrine of Monophysitism certainly predates it. In some cases, such as with the Docetics, the concept that Christ had only a divine nature is taken to an extreme, and Christ was seen as something of a hologram. The Basilidians also believed this, and held that Simon of Cyrene took his place on the cross. Valentinians believed in a physical Jesus but he was not "human", merely divine.

It is telling that these doctrines were current in Egypt in particular (see C. Wilfred Griggs, Early Egyptian Christianity, which charts the theological debates quite well, or one of the many books on gnosticism).

The Egyptians can call themselves miaphysites, but in reality this position was a veil cast by the Egyptian hierarchy to cover popular monophysitism.