6. Byzantine Religion: The Expansion of Eastern Orthodoxy
CHAPTER 6
Byzantine Religion
The Expansion of Eastern Orthodoxy
Years ago I spent an afternoon in the magnificent chapel of Princeton University, where hundreds of icons were on display. I found them interesting, but they seemed alien to my own evangelical heritage. I did not find them to be windows to God. The same was true as I visited and viewed the domed Orthodox cathedrals in Moscow. There was great beauty but nothing that inspired a direct connection with God.
Recently, after worshipping at our own church, my husband and I decided to visit an Orthodox Church. St. George Antiochian and St. John Chrysostom Russian are nearby in downtown Grand Rapids, but we decided to travel across town to the much larger St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church. In an introductory session, Deacon Justin pointed out that the various “brands” of Orthodoxy in America are unique. Orthodoxy elsewhere in the world is simply that, with no prefix. But when immigrants began flooding into the United States, they established churches in their own cultures and languages—thus Russian and Serbian and Greek Orthodox churches.
As we entered the sanctuary, I was expecting a large open room with no seating. This is true in the old countries, Justin told us, but most Orthodox churches here have made concessions to American sensibilities and provide pews. But no compromise had been made on incense, bells, ornate robes, and high-church liturgy. Icons with gold-leafed halos adorned the walls and ceiling: Mary with arms outstretched and baby Jesus in her heart was above the altar, and directly above us in the dome, Jesus was depicted, surrounded by great figures of the Old Testament.
The people in the pews seemed sincere and no less genuinely Christian than those in my own church. Yet there was a chasm separating us. That we were asked not to participate in the Eucharist was as much their loss as ours.
Even the most painstaking history is a bridge across an eternal mystery.
BRUCE CATTON, PREFACES TO HISTORY
A twenty-first-century Protestant seeking to understand Eastern Orthodoxy may become bogged down in what seems like a most painstaking history. To do so the individual must bridge the chasm across an eternal mystery. Orthodox Christianity is indeed a religion of mystery. As we move through the history of Christianity, the direction is both geographical and ecclesiastical, and sometimes we pick up the story from an earlier era. The Christian faith began in Palestine, initially centered in Jerusalem and the eastern Mediterranean world. As Paul and others journeyed to Rome and beyond, the stage was set for the gradually differing forms of Greek and Latin Christianity.
Early Christian leaders are Greek speakers and writers, and there is no obvious division between East and West. By the fourth century, however, the so-called church fathers are often differentiated as the Greek or Latin Fathers. They are also categorized chronologically, those prior to the Council of Nicaea in 325 as the ante-Nicene Fathers, and those after as the post-Nicene Fathers.
Most of the individuals already discussed fit into either the East or the West. Included in the East (or Greek) are Irenaeus, Origen, and
Athanasius. In the West (or Latin) are Tertullian, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, and Gregory I. But the lines are often blurred. Jerome, for example, studied in Constantinople but spent most of his adult life in a monastery near Bethlehem. The differences between East and West only intensify as one century rolled into another. Those who are most identified with the Eastern church in the first millennium include ones held in high regard by the whole church as well as ones deemed heretics, and ones revered by Orthodox Christians alone. They include the Cappadocian Fathers (and Mothers), John Chrysostom, Nestorius, John of Damascus, Emperor Justinian, Cyril and Methodius, and Princess Olga and Vladimir.
By the time of Gregory the Great, subtle changes began creeping into the eastern and western branches of the church. One of these changes was language. Greek had been the common language spoken throughout the Roman Empire. Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans in Greek, and most church leaders in the next five or six centuries knew Greek (with the notable exception of Augustine of Hippo). By the sixth century that began to change. Although Gregory had served as the pope’s representative in Constantinople in his younger years, he did not know Greek His example no doubt influenced others, and Latin became the language of the church in the West With this language barrier came increased theological and cultural barriers.
PARADE OF HISTORY
In the Eastern Church the procession of icons on the first Sunday of Lent marks Orthodoxy in its unique style of worship. But this is only one example of its colorful processions. The setting is eighth-century Athens, the night before Easter. John of Damascus, along with the king and queen and countless clerics are processing from church and ascending a platform that stands high above the multitudes. As the night wears on, the melancholy chant of the monks grows louder. Then the timekeeper announces the stroke of midnight. The drums roll. John raises the cross and joyfully proclaims: Christos Anesti, Christ is risen. The people, lighting torches, shout back the refrain and sing and dance and process around the platform until dawn. Christos Anesti!
GREEK AS MOTHER, ROME AS DAUGHTER
The Greek Church reminds us of the time when the tongue, not of Rome, but of Greece, was the sacred language of Christendom. It was a striking remark of the Emperor Napoleon, that the introduction of Christianity itself was, in a certain sense, the triumph of Greece over Rome…. The name of pope is not Latin, but Greek, the common and now despised name of every pastor in the Eastern Church. She is the mother, and Rome the daughter. It is her privilege to claim a direct continuity of speech with the earliest times; to boast of reading the whole code of Scripture, Old as well as New, in the language in which it was read and spoken by the Apostles. The humblest peasant who reads his Septuagint or Greek Testament in his own mother-tongue on the hills of Boeotia may proudly feel that he has access to the original oracles of divine truth which pope and cardinal reach by a barbarous and imperfect translation; that he has a key of knowledge which in the West is only to be found in the hands of the learned classes.
Arthur Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church
But language was only one factor. Long before 604 when Gregory died, East and West had been developing their own traditions while at the same time sharing a common history One of the most significant issues separating the two sides was papal supremacy Orthodoxy has defined itself as the church of the seven councils (First Council of Nicaea, Constantinople I, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Constantinople II, Constantinople III, Second Council of Nicaea), believing that councils, not the pope, hold final authority Nevertheless, Christian leaders continued to be heralded in both East and West The four western Fathers (Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, and Gregory I) are balanced by four eastern Fathers: Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John Chrysostom.
Today there are some 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, the largest being Russian, with upwards of 100 million, followed by Romanian, with some 15 million, with Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian close behind Of the more than two billion professing Christians in the world, more than half are Catholics, Protestants being the second-largest branch Consequently, Orthodox Christians have often been sidelined by Western Christians Indeed, as Catholics and Protestants have fought each other over the centuries, Orthodox Christians have simply carried on their traditions, seemingly paying little heed In the minds of some scholars, however, they had seriously veered off course The noted nineteenth-century church historian Adolf von Harnack wrote: “The Orthodox Church is in her entire structure alien to the gospel and represents a perversion of the Christian religion, its reduction to the level of pagan antiquity.” In the early centuries, however, East and West were one A saint like John Chrysostom belonged to the whole church.
The Cappadocians: Molded by a Woman’s Touch
The Cappadocian Fathers, as they later came to be known, were brothers Basil and Gregory and Gregory Nazianzen, all from Cappadocia, a region in central Turkey. Recognized for their monastic leadership, they were also astute theologians. The term Cappadocians, however, is more fitting than Cappadocian Fathers because it captures three generations of a family, both women and men. The grandmother of Basil and Gregory was Macrina the Elder, who fled persecution only to be left widowed and impoverished. Yet she ministered to those who were even more needy and was canonized as the patron saint of widows.
EVERYDAY LIFE
Food, Fasts, and Feasts
One of the most popular genres of literature today is food and meal preparation. Every kind of recipe collection or cookbook or diet manual imaginable is either available or on the way to publication. Such was not the case in the ancient world, though Rome featured a second-century cookbook and ancient Greece offered a store of sources that serve the food historian well. But the Byzantine Empire provides only hints of its cuisine.
In the East, food regulations came down from on high. Meat and fish were prohibited on fast days, including every Wednesday and Friday. In fact, Orthodox fast days encompass more than half the days of a year, some stricter than others. And fasting does not involve food alone. On certain fast days married couples were to abstain from sex. But if one became weary of fast days, there were many feast days to celebrate.
Included in food restrictions were restraints on the sale of items. Rules forbad the setting up a food booth close to churches, particularly the grandest church of all, Saint Sophia in Constantinople, though such rules were often challenged. Merchants insisted that the aromas of spices lofting into the air was a means of honoring Mother Church and the saints.
“And if you come to the holy city of famous Byzantion, I urge you again to eat a steak of peak-season tuna; for it is very good and soft.”
Archestratus, letter, c. 350 BC
A favorite Byzantine recipe was monokythron, cooked in one pot and calling for cabbage, fourteen eggs, three different kinds of cheese, five varieties of fish, olive oil, garlic, pepper, and wine. The dish would be the main course for a feast. But both upper and lower classes enjoyed a wide variety of staples, including eggs, cheese, apples, pears, oranges, lemons, figs, walnuts, almonds, olives (in brine), and olive oil. In fact, a visitor complained that Byzantine food was too saturated with olive oil.
A feast fit for a king might feature a goat stuffed with onions, leeks, garlic, and a wide range of savory spices. Situated along trade routes from the Orient, the Eastern Empire quickly became a major spice market. Sold alongside saffron, cinnamon, clovers, ginger, and black pepper were aromatics, some doubling for perfume and food flavoring. Musk, imported from Afghanistan, was a favorite. “It is a scent,” sniffed Saint Jerome, “for lovers and hedonists.”
Sauces were often copied from other regions, including the Roman Empire’s famed garum, prepared by fermenting fish and then mixing the guts, gills, and blood. A commoner’s delicacy that crossed class lines, it found its way to the table to flavor whatever food was being served. A stuffed goat would not be complete without garum.
Dessert was a delicacy Favorites were the many varieties of pastries, some, including Greek baklava, incorporating almonds, walnuts, and chestnuts Jam was a special delight, sometimes eaten by the spoonful Treats for a poorer family included rice pudding with honey A good meal was incomplete without wine, particularly spicy varieties Coffee and buttermilk often accompanied dining as well.
Bread was the most important staple of the diet In fact, so critical was bread for family meals, for feast days, and for the sacrament that bakers were exempt from the military draft or other forms of public service.
One of Macrina’s sons was Basil (the elder), who married the wealthy Emmelia and together with her had nine children, five of whom were designated as saints. Macrina (the younger) (324 – 379), named for her grandmother, was the older sister who had a profound influence on her siblings as well as on her mother. Her brother Gregory presents a glowing account in his Life of Macrina, as follows:
Macrina the younger
Macrina’s brother, the great Basil, returned after his long period of education, already a practiced rhetorician. He was puffed up beyond measure with the pride of oratory and looked down on the local dignitaries…. Nevertheless Macrina took him in hand, and with such speed did she draw him also toward the mark of philosophy that he forsook the glories of this world and despised fame gained by speaking, and deserted it for this busy life where one toils with one’s hands. His renunciation of property was complete, lest anything should impede the life of virtue…. Now that all the distractions of the material life had been removed, Macrina persuaded her mother to give up her ordinary life and all showy style of living and the services of domestics to which she had been accustomed before, and bring her point of view down to that of the masses, and to share the life of the maids, treating all her slave girls and menials as if they were sisters and belonged to the same rank as herself.
Macrina had chosen a life of asceticism after her fiancé died, maintaining that lifestyle in the home while her siblings were growing up. She later joined with her brother Basil to form a convent in conjunction with his monastery. The most celebrated of the Cappadocians, he is recognized as Basil the Great (329 – 379), Father of Eastern Monasticism. Setting aside worldly aspirations and touring monasteries in Egypt, Basil returned to Cappadocia, where he established a monastery. His “Longer Rules” and “Shorter Rules” are still used today, and all monks in the Eastern church are Basilian monks. Basil viewed monastic life as one of service to those in need, setting the example by selling his family’s estate for famine relief and calling on other wealthy landholders to do likewise. He worked in the kitchen and dispersed provisions alongside ordinary monks and laypeople. Food was distributed freely to any in need, regardless of ethnicity, pointing out to his critics that the digestive system of a Jew is no different from that of a Christian.
Basil had a flare for words and is remembered particularly for “The Six Days,” his series of nine sermons on creation that display the beauty of God’s natural wonders. In 370 he was named bishop of Caesarea, pitting him against Emperor Valens, an Arian. When he died in 379, the entire population of Caesarea — Christians, Jews, and pagans — is said to have followed his funeral cortege with weeping.
Basil’s younger brother Gregory of Nyssa (335 – 394) did not enter the monastery and may have been married to Theosebia, a much-heralded deaconess in the church at Nyssa, where Gregory served as bishop. His writing set the stage for the Eastern church’s focus on apophatic theology, which emphasizes that God is ultimately unknowable. While strongly defending the doctrine of the Trinity, he insisted that God is infinite and transcendent and thus beyond our understanding. The true way to God is through darkness — even as Moses found God in the luminous darkness. In Life of Moses he writes:
Since Moses was alone, by having been stripped as it were of the people’s fear, he boldly approached the very darkness itself and entered the invisible things where he was no longer seen by those watching. After he entered the inner sanctuary of the divine mystical doctrine, there, while not being seen, he was in company with the Invisible. He teaches, I think, by the things he did that the one who is going to associate intimately with God must go beyond all that is visible and … believe that the divine is there where the understanding does not reach.
Gregory Nazianzen (c. 325 — 389), the third of the Cappadocian Fathers, was a close associate and friend of Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. His mother was instrumental in converting her husband, Gregory, who subsequently became bishop of Nazianzus. Young Gregory accused his father of tyranny and left home, only to later return and work with his father in the church. He was consecrated bishop of Sasima by Basil, but he protested that Basil was using him simply to promote his own standing in the church. Of his location, Gregory writes, it is an “utterly dreadful, pokey little hole; a paltry horse-stop on the main road … devoid of water, vegetation, or the company of gentlemen…. This was my Church of Sasima!.”
Gregory later gives away his wealth and enters a monastery. On his deathbed Basil, not a man to hold grudges, recommends his friend Gregory to a post as the leading theologian in Constantinople with the hope that he will defeat Arianism. As such, Gregory’s tenure in Constantinople is anything but peaceful. The city is deeply divided, but he begins drawing crowds with his powerful preaching. His “Five Theological Orations,” defending the Trinity and the deity of Christ, are aimed at Arians.
A CRITIQUE OF FOURTH-CENTURY LUXURY
We repose in splendor on high and sumptuous cushions, upon the most exquisite covers, which one is almost afraid to touch, and are vexed if we but hear the voice of a moaning pauper; our chamber must breathe the odor of flowers…. Slaves must stand ready … some to hold cups both delicately and firmly with the tips of their fingers, others to fan fresh air upon the head. Our tables must bend under the load of dishes…. The poor man is content with water; but we fill our goblets with wine to drunkenness, nay, immeasurably beyond it. We refuse one wine, another we pronounce excellent when well flavored….
Gregory Nazianzen
Arian opponents storm his church in 379 during the Easter vigil, killing one bishop and wounding Gregory. Matters improve when Theodosius ascends the throne and vows to rid the East of Arians once and for all. Gregory is elected bishop of Constantinople to replace the Arian bishop dismissed by the emperor, but his problems are far from over. Accused of attaining his position illegally, he resigns: “Let me be as the Prophet Jonah! I was responsible for the storm Seize me and throw me.” The emperor accepts his resignation, and Gregory returns to Cappadocia where his ministry began.
John Chrysostom: Preacher Excellence
John Chrysostom (c. 347 – 407), like Gregory of Nazianzus, was a bishop of Constantinople and known for eloquence in preaching—hence, his name Chrysostom, meaning “golden mouth.” So captivating are his words that his congregation is sometimes moved to tears. On other occasions they applaud and stomp their feet, a response he finds utterly out of place in a worship service. In fact, he is so disturbed that he devotes a sermon to proper worship conduct and the impropriety of boisterous clapping and stomping. So moved are the people that they give him rousing approval with their hands and feet.
Born in Antioch, John was raised by his widowed mother, Anthusa, who arranged for his education with Libanius, one of the most renowned teachers of rhetoric in the ancient world — and a pagan. On his deathbed, Libanius confided to a friend that John would naturally have been his successor “if the Christians had not taken him from us.”
Initially living as a hermit, John denies himself sleep and stands most of the day and night reading and memorizing Scripture. After two years and in ill health, he returns to Antioch, where he is ordained a deacon and then a priest. In this capacity he develops his rhetorical skills. His sermons reveal a wide range of perspectives, from deep theological and spiritual insights to outright anti-Semitism and spiteful notions about women. He is bold in his attacks, on one occasion calling Empress Eudoxia the second Jezebel. He realizes he has preached himself “out of the pulpit and into exile” — though that would not happen for several years.
In the meantime he preaches thousands of sermons based on a literal rather than an allegorical interpretation of Scripture. His application is often pointed. “Do you wish to honor the body of Christ?” he demands of wealthy parishioners. “If so, do not imagine you are doing so when you show up at worship in your finest attire, bowing before an ornate altar, while you neglect the poor all around you.” He also preaches on childrearing: “Higher than every painter, higher than every sculptor and than all artists do I regard the one who is skilled in the art of forming the souls of children.” The key is to begin while “the soul is tender.” Parents should not parade their boys around in “fine raiment and golden ornaments” and “long hair.” Rather, funds should support a “strict tutor.” As to discipline: “Punish him, now with a stern look, now with incisive, now with reproachful, words” or “win him with gentleness and promises.”
The home is to be ordered with husbands and wives fulfilling their assigned roles, though the husband, in Chrysostom’s construct, is not head of the home.
To woman is assigned the presidency of the household…. A woman is not able to hurl a spear or shoot an arrow, but she can grasp the distaff, weave at the loom…. She cannot express her opinion in a legislative assembly, but she can express it at home, and often she is more shrewd about household matters than her husband … and frees him from all such household concerns … about money.
With so much freedom for women, John might appear to be a fourth-century feminist, but he is not. He restricts women in church leadership because “the woman taught the man once, and made him guilty of disobedience, and wrought our ruin.” But he is inconsistent. In reference to Junia, in Romans 16, he writes, “Think how great the devotion of this woman must have been, that she should be worthy to be called an apostle!” Yet again, he suggests that men would be better served by being taught by lower forms of animals than by women.
“I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is: I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the work; for more stormy billows vex the soul of the priest than the gales which disturb the sea.”
John Chrysostom
Women, however, fare much better in John’s sermonizing than do Jews. His harshest attacks against Jews come in 386 while serving as a presbyter in Antioch. Christians are freely participating in Jewish holidays and rituals, which John regards as “Judaizing.” He preaches eight sermons timed to correspond with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Here he rails that the synagogue is no better than a theater or brothel. And worse: “The Jews have degenerated to the level of dogs. They are drunkards and gluttons. They beat their servants. They are ignorant of God. Their festivals are worthless…. [They are] the Christ killers”—words used by Christians (and Nazis) to persecute Jews in later generations.
In many ways, John is an equal-opportunity slanderer. His attacks reach the inner sanctums of power where Empress Eudoxia reigns in extravagant luxury. When a silver statue is erected in her honor within sight of his cathedral, he explodes. “Again Herodias raves, again she is troubled; she dances again; and again desires to receive John’s head in a charger.” He is banished a second and final time and dies in exile.
Nestorius and the Church That Bears His Name
Long before there was a split between Eastern Orthodoxy and the West, some “Nestorian” Christians in the East separated from the rest of the Christian church. Geographically, the movement stretched from the Mediterranean world to Iraq and Iran and India and all the way to China. Although it is referred to today as the Assyrian Church of the East, the name most often used in the West is Nestorian. This identification was inspired in part by John Stewart’s Nestorian Missionary Enterprise: The Story of a Church on Fire (first published in 1928).
A patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius (c. 386 – 451) was born in Asia Minor. Educated in rhetoric, he was a popular preacher and was sometimes compared to golden-mouthed John Chrysostom Like John and the Cappadocians, he strikes out against Arianism and all heresies — until he is deemed a heretic himself He refuses to acknowledge Mary as the “mother of God,” insisting rather she is the mother of Christ but not the mother of God. Heretic, bellows Cyril of Alexandria. How can she be mother of Christ in his humanity without being mother of Christ in his divinity without dividing Christ into two persons?
A SAINT NAMED NICHOLAS
Jolly Old St. Nicholas” is a song taken from a legend — and perhaps from a real saint, though there are no dated records referencing him as a fourth-century bishop in Myra (present-day Turkey). Born into a prosperous family, he inherits bags of gold that he throws to beautiful young girls to prevent them from becoming prostitutes. When his bags of gold are gone, he works miracles and keeps Arians out of the city. His legend grows over the generations, and today St. Nicholas — or Santa Claus — brings his bags of booty down the chimney.
So serious is the tension that Emperor Theodosius II calls a general council to settle the matter Strife between Alexandria and Antioch (as represented by Cyril and Nestorius) is surely not new. When the Council of Ephesus convenes in 431, Cyril takes charge and opens the meetings before those from Antioch even arrive In the end, Cyril, not surprisingly, wins the day. Nestorius is deposed; Mary is the mother of God Christ is only one person Within two years the church rids itself of seventeen bishops who had supported Nestorius, and a separate church is born Persecution pushes the movement further east, and as it moves it picks up new adherents and new beliefs — so much so that the Nestorians in later generations are often unaware of the issues that ignited the separation.
NESTORIANS: A CHURCH ON FIRE
These are the men who the arrogance of Rome has branded as heretics all down the centuries. Would to God that the churches and missions of to-day might be inoculated with the same brand of heresy if it but led to such a mighty work of grace as was wrought through these missionaries of the “Church of the East,” the Nestorian Church of the sixth, seventh and subsequent centuries of the Christian era!
John Stewart, Nestorian Missionary Enterprise
Long before the Council of Ephesus in 431, Christians had fled east beyond the borders of the empire to escape persecution But hardly had the persecution in the West ceased than it began in the Persian Empire, particularly under Sapor II (339 – 379) and his fifth-century successors. The numbers of martyrs in the West pale in comparison to those in the East Under Sapor II, the named martyrs were some sixteen thousand. The height of the slaughter came under Kirkuk, when ten bishops, hundreds of other clerics, and more than one hundred thousand lay Christians were reportedly martyred. Survivors were driven further east.
In India Nestorians claim ancient roots with the already-existing Thomas Christians — those who, according to tradition, were evangelized by the apostle Thomas The Nestorians then spread out across Asia, arriving in China and Mongolia in the seventh century, spurred on by zeal to evangelize Their monasteries are Bible institutes, and by the end of the eighth century the Persian Empire is reportedly filled with monastic missionary training centers that send out men and women with large portions of Scripture committed to memory.
By the thirteenth century there were nearly thirty metropolitan church seats and some two hundred bishops extending across Asia Within a century, however, Nestorians were in decline Internal corruption combined with the destructive forces of Genghis Khan and Islam led to the dismantling of a once vibrant church.
Emperor Justinian I and Empress Theodora
He stepped into office as the most powerful ruler in the world in an era of hard times, promising to turn the economy around, reform the tax code, revitalize education, make improvements on the infrastructure, and consolidate foreign policy It did not hurt that he had a beautiful and brilliant wife at his side Conscious of the failures of the previous administration, his program was ambitious and his promise was change. “We have decided now to grant to the world [what others failed to do] with the help of Almighty God.” A modern American story? This was the year 527, and the state was the Roman Empire.
Emperor Justinian I exudes confidence Intelligent, easy-going, and energetic, he is indeed a workaholic, often referred to as “the Emperor who never sleeps “ But he faces almost insurmountable problems, including a bubonic plague that decimates nearly half the population Born into a poor peasant family and orphaned early, Flavius Peterus Sabbatius (c 483 – 565) was adopted and raised by his uncle, Justin, an army officer also of peasant stock Justin quickly recognizes the boy’s precocious ways, and young Flavius is given the best education Constantinople has to offer. In return he serves as an invaluable, albeit young, consultant to his illiterate uncle, who aspires to become emperor. With the young man’s help and a cortege of advisors and troops, in addition to some hefty bribes, Justin ascends the throne in his late sixties and reigns for seven years.
Some historians cite evidence that Justinian was actually the power behind the throne, but it is unlikely that this powerful military officer would have handed over the reins of government to his son. Justinian more likely served only as his adopted father’s most trusted advisor. He convinces his father to repeal a law in 525, allowing him to marry Theodora (c. 500 – 548), a low-class woman. Justin, considered by historians a mediocre emperor, names Justinian as co-emperor and dies shortly thereafter.
Justinian and Theodora are the talk of the town. He is the brilliant and engaging prince, and she, seventeen years his junior, is as beautiful and elegant as she is cunning and clever. She was born in Cyprus, where her father was a circus animal trainer and her mother a dancer performing in the grand Hippodrome of Constantinople. When she was twelve her father died, and she and her sisters soon joined their mother in circus dancing and acting routines. According to one early source, “She was … [a] comedienne who delights … by letting herself be cuffed and slapped on the cheeks … raising her skirts to reveal to the spectators … feminine secrets.”
As First Lady, she is no mere hostess. Nor is she a behind-the-scenes advisor. She makes her opinions known publicly, and her adoring husband, with self-image intact, appears not to be threatened. Her influence is seen in imperial decisions such as a ban on selling girls as prostitutes. Aware of this life of degradation, she establishes a home — the Convent of Repentance—for young women escaping prostitution.
But like all married couples, Justinian and Theodora have their differences. Religion divides them more than anything else. They are both Christians but he is Orthodox, she a Monophysite — a sector of Christianity refusing to accept the conclusions of the Council of Chalcedon. Denying the two natures of Christ, the adherents of this movement insist rather that Jesus is wholly divine, his humanity having been swallowed up in the divine, in the words of Eutyches, like a “drop of wine in the ocean.” For the sake of his wife — and for the sake of maintaining a stable grain trade with Monophysite Egypt — Justinian seeks to downplay the differences. Like Constantine before him, more than anything he wants peace and prosperity in the empire.
THE COPTIC (MONOPHYSITE) CHURCH IN EGYPT
The origins of this church are claimed to date from the Holy Family’s escape to Egypt and to have been carried on by the testimony of the Ethiopian eunuch as he passed through the region on his way south. But the actual founding of the church, according to tradition, came when Mark journeyed to Egypt as a missionary. Until the fifth century Copts were considered part of the church, but the Chalcedon Definition demanded that Christ, while being one person (hypostasis), has two natures, human and divine. The word mono-physite is derived from Greek terms meaning one and nature. Opposite of the Monophysite position was that of Nestorius, who insisted on a distinct separation of Christ’s divine and human nature — so much so that Mary must not be regarded Theotokos (God-bearer or Mother of God) because she was mother only of the human Jesus. The Christians of Egypt insisted that their theology was in accord with that of Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, a respected theologian who attacked Nestorius. Coptic beliefs are summed up on the Church of Alexandria official website:
Copts believe that the Lord is perfect in His divinity, and He is perfect in His humanity, but His divinity and His humanity were united in one nature called “the nature of the incarnate word” — united in one “without mingling, without confusion, and without alteration.” … These two natures “did not separate for a moment or the twinkling of an eye.”
This plan works well for him as it had for Constantine. Regarding church and state, he declares: “There are two great gifts which God, in his love for man, has granted from on high: the priesthood and the imperial dignity. The first serves divine things, while the latter directs and administers human affairs; both, however, proceed from the same origin and adorn the life of mankind.”
Through much of his reign, Justinian is fighting internal and external enemies. At times he ruthlessly crushes rebellions to save his government and to hold his empire together. Indeed, he pushes back boundaries, seeking to restore the empire to its past glory. But cost overruns and a devastating plague dash his dreams. Nevertheless, he moves forward on legal reforms and architectural wonders, including the magnificent Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, with its second-to-none mosaics and spectacular cathedral dome. Constructed in only five years, it becomes one of the wonders of the world.
Justinian survives the decades-long plague, as does Theodora. But she is brought down at age forty-eight by apparent cancer. Her husband lives on for another two decades. Having been childless, the couple has no direct heirs. But in the years that follow, the empire is ruled by Justin II (Justinian’s nephew) and his wife Sophia (Theodora’s niece).
Muhammad and the Advance of Islam
The rise of Islam in the seventh century was actually aided by some Christian communities that initially joined forces with the followers of Muhammad to subdue non-Christian tribes in the region. But with their mutual enemies suppressed, the more powerful Muslims turned against the Christians Some Christians converted to Islam to protect their property and livelihood. Others became part of the great migration east.
THE JUSTINIAN ADMINISTRATION
529 The Justinian Code, a codification of Roman law, is laid out in a series of volumes, Corpus Juris Civilis. The word justice comes from this Byzantine emperor, as do countless legal maxims based on the code such as, “The things which are common to all (and not capable of being owned) are: the air, running water, the sea and the seashores.”
533 Convinced that the Second Coming of Christ is imminent, Justinian prepares by ordering military forces to recapture large regions of the Roman Empire.
542 The bubonic plague, known as the Great Plague of Justinian, ravages Europe for more than a half-century, killing an estimated half of the population.
552 The emperor is convinced that Europe is ripe for new business ventures, so he sends missionary monks to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and China as undercover silk-worm-egg smugglers. They return with the worm, and the silk industry is born.
CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA AND AFRICA
Much of what we today call the Islamic world was once Christian. The faith originated and took shape in Syria-Palestine and in Egypt, and these areas continued to have major Christian communities long after the Arab conquests. As late as the eleventh century, Asia was still home to at least a third of the world’s Christians, and perhaps a tenth of all Christians still lived in Africa.
Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity
Muhammad (c 570 – 632), founder and prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca His visions that later became the basis for the Qur’an began in 610, and twelve years later, in 622, the Hegira — fleeing Mecca to Medina — marked the birth of the movement In 630 Muhammad’s forces prevailed in Mecca Following his death in 632, Muslim armies moved west in a conquest that inaugurated Islamic rule in Jerusalem in 636, with Antioch and Damascus falling to Muslim rule soon after They then moved on to North Africa, to the Christian centers of Alexandria and Carthage The goal was conversion not killing, but those who resisted lost property and in some cases their lives Within twenty years, large regions of the Persian and Byzantine empires were under Islamic control.
The speed at which the Islamic armies conquered is striking In less than a hundred years the Prophet’s warriors had overrun much of the region from Persia to Spain In Eastern Europe, they were stopped before they conquered Vienna In the West, the decisive turning point came with the Battle of Tours in 732, when Muslim forces were defeated by Charles Martel. The threat of Islam to Eastern Orthodoxy would continue for centuries, with no resolution in the Crusades Today Christianity has all but disappeared in a region once dotted with churches and led by some five hundred bishops.
John of Damascus and the Iconoclastic Crisis
The most disruptive controversy in the Eastern Church related to icons — depictions of Christ, Mary, the apostles, and other saints that were considered to be windows to God For some — called iconoclasts (or image-breakers) — icons signified the idol worship forbidden in the Ten Commandments Icon supporters, however, insisted icons were means of grace as were the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper In 692, after generations of bickering, the Council of Quinsextum (also called the Trullan Synod) issued a canon in their defense: “The human figure of Christ our God, the Lamb, who took on the sins of the world, [should] be set up even in the images Through this figure, we realize the height of the humiliation of God the Word and are led to remember His life in the flesh, His suffering and His saving death and the redemption ensuing from it for the world “ Various emperors had taken issue with icons, but it was not until the reign of Leo III in 726 that they were ordered destroyed and monks who were their most zealous defenders were severely persecuted Icons, opponents insisted, prevented Muslims and Jews from converting to Christianity. Emperor Leo sought support from Pope Gregory II in Rome, while at the same time threatening to destroy the images in the churches in the West. The pope defended the use of icons, but after further threats from the emperor he confided that his only defense in the face of military might was to pray that a demon would so torture the emperor that he would repent of his evil ways.
John of Damascus
In the meantime, the empire was in the midst of a bloody civil war. Monks were the target of angry mobs and state-sponsored persecution. Iconoclasts wreaked havoc on churches and shrines. Even dead saints were not spared, their bodies dug up and burned. Those who opposed the ban on icons fought back. In 730, Emperor Leo issued a stronger decree, ratcheting up the persecution and penalties against icon supporters. The divide between East and West deepened when a papal representative was imprisoned. In the years that followed, the bloody struggle continued, only to abate after Emperor Leo IV died and his wife Irene, a devoted icon-worshiper, succeeded him as empress (regent for her nine-year-old son). Throughout her reign and her son’s, the use of icons was restored, only to be prohibited again in 943 during the reign of Empress Theodora.
The churchman most known for his cogent defense of icons in Eastern Orthodoxy is John of Damascus (c. 676 – 749), a Syrian monk and priest considered “the last of the Fathers.” John grew up in a wealthy Arab Christian home, the son of an official in the court of a Muslim caliph. After studying theology, astronomy, and music with a Sicilian monk, he succeeded his father in the Islamic court. At fifty he retired to a monastery near Bethlehem, living as a monk and writing theological discourses and hymns. Among his hymns still sung today are, “Come ye faithful, raise the strain” and “The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad!.”
The theological work for which John is best known is The Fountain of Wisdom, which lays out the philosophical and theological underpinnings of the Eastern Church. His defense of icons comes at a time when icons are banned, but he is safely ensconced in the caliph’s court, outside the emperor’s reach. That he would find a safe haven among Muslims who denounce all images is curious. But this is where he writes his three Apologetic Treatises against Those Decrying the Holy Images. Written in a style easily understood by ordinary Christians, the work spurs protests and intense theological debate, most specifically at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, called to resolve the icon controversy.
A DEFENSE OF ICONS
Icons are not primarily historical but spiritual portrayals…. An icon is more like the Bible. A Bible is not “identical in essence” with the living Word, Jesus Christ, yet the Bible mediates the grace of Christ as we read it…. The … church fathers like Athanasius, Basil, and John Chrysostom … supported the use of icons.
Bradley Nassif, “Kissers and Smashers.”
Amid the controversy, Emperor Leo allegedly forges a letter in John’s handwriting, showing John to be double-crossing the Islamic regime to which he owes his office. John vigorously denies writing the letter, but to no avail. He not only loses his job, but his right hand — the hand that wrote the letter — is cut off at the wrist. However, there is a happy and fitting ending. His hand is restored in answer to a prayer before an icon of Mary. So moved is the caliph, according to John’s tenth-century hagiographer, that he offers to reinstate John in his high court position. But John declines the offer and moves to the monastic fortress of Mar Saba, where he lays out his support for icons: “If we made an image of the invisible God, we would certainly be in error,” he writes, “but we do nothing of the sort; for we are not in error if we make the image of the incarnate God, who appeared on earth in the flesh.”
The logic of representing Christ and the saints because they appeared in human form is fiercely challenged by the iconoclasts, who continue to condemn icons. Indeed, they dredge up the previous debates on Christ’s human and divine natures and insist that those who favor the use of icons are perpetuating the ideas of Nestorius, who divided the two natures of Christ. “If the image represents the humanity of Christ to the exclusion of His divinity,” writes an opponent of icons, “it implies a Nestorian Christology and separates in Christ, God from man; if on the contrary, the iconographer pretends to represent Christ in the individual fullness of his divinity and his humanity, he assumes that the divinity itself can be circumscribed, which is absurd.”
AN ANCIENT RESURRECTION HYMN
The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad;
The Passover of gladness, the Passover of God.
From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over, with hymns of victory….
Now let the heavens be joyful! Let earth the song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph, and all that is therein!
Let all things seen and unseen their notes in gladness blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen, our joy that hath no end.
John of Damascus
Icon defenders are not easily silenced: “If someone dares make an image of the immaterial and in corporal divinity,” writes John, “we repudiate him.” John argues that icons actually uphold a worship that is more faithful to the doctrine set forth at the Council of Chalcedon. Patristic theology, he insists, opens the way for the veneration of icons. The Tome of Leo is offered as evidence, particularly the oft-quoted passage on the two natures of Christ that sought to illuminate the mystery of the incarnation:
The Inconceivable is conceived in the womb of a Virgin, the Unmeasurable becomes three cubits high; the Unqualifiable acquires a quality; the Undefinable stands up, sits down and lies down: He who is everywhere is put into a crib; He who is above time gradually reaches the age of twelve; He who is formless appears with the shape of a man and the Incorporeal enters into a body …, therefore the same is describable and indescribable.
THE CONTROVERSIAL LITTLE WORD FILIOQUE
The matter of icons is not the only theological issue that troubles the Eastern Church during this era, though in the case of the filioque the debate is not internal. The Nicene Creed adopted by the churches in both the East and the West states, “I believe … in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father…” But in the generations that follow, the Arian claim that the Son was lesser than the Father had taken root. In an effort to dampen such teachings, theologians begin adding the phrase and the Son (the filioque) — thus making the Son equal to the Father. The addition of the filioque becomes widespread throughout the West, where it not only receives a stamp of approval from Charlemagne but is also adopted in 794 at the Council of Frankfurt — though not deemed official orthodoxy by Rome until some two centuries later.
In 808 Pope Leo III writes to Charlemagne that he personally has no problem with the filioque, but that the Creed itself is sacrosanct. Don’t mess with the Creed is his message. The Creed belongs to the whole church, and no one could simply change it. But future popes are not so protective, particularly amid growing East-West hostility. When the Council of Frankfurt confirms the filioque, the lines are drawn. How dare the West change the doctrine of the church? Such is no less than “moral fratricide” — a flagrant sin of church disunity. Moreover, the filioque is heresy — it entails upsetting the very balance of the Godhead.
Despite John’s best efforts, the iconoclasts prevail, and in 754 Emperor Constantine V (son of Leo III) calls a synod, the Iconoclast Council, proclaiming that “the only lawful representation of Christ is the Holy Eucharist” and that images of Christ and saints are to be “abhorred” as “blasphemous.” The council also pronounces a curse against three defenders of icons, including John of Damascus In fact, the synod declares: “The Trinity has destroyed these three.”
With a new emperor—and Empress Irene— the balance of power tips in favor of icons In 787 the Second Council of Nicaea restores icons as “holy images “ But not until the tenth century, with Empress Theodora, would they be permanently secure in the Eastern Church.
Cyril and Methodius: Missionary Monks
Caught between the East and the West, Cyril and his brother Methodius were missionary translators to the Slavs Born in Thessalonica in 825 and 827 respectively, they were reared by an uncle who held a high government position in Constantinople As a teenager Cyril studied theology, Hebrew, and Arabic He later served as a theology professor in Constantinople and as a diplomat with Arab religious leaders at the Abbisid Caliphate His assignment was theological in nature, and he focused on the doctrine of the Trinity, becoming one of the first to serve as a missionary to Muslims Methodius joined a monastery after briefly serving as an official among the Slavs.
Together the brothers teamed up as ambassadors to the Khazars, a large nomadic tribe in a vast region that is today southern Russia Over previous generations, the Khazars had successfully warded off a Muslim invasion and were being courted by the Byzantine Empire. The brothers were unsuccessful in their mission, and the Khazars, before being overrun by Genghis Khan, accepted Judaism as their faith.
Undeterred, in 860 the brothers, at the invitation of a Moravian prince, begin their life-long ministry of formulating an alphabet and translating the Bible into the Slavic language. Such tireless labors would seem on the surface to be commendable, but clerics, resentful of the “foreign missionaries,” insist that Latin alone is the language of the Bible and report them to Pope Nicholas I. He demands an explanation, and the brothers dutifully report to Rome since their mission field is within the Western church’s jurisdiction. But by the time they arrive in 869, Nicholas has died and Adrian II is on the papal throne. To his credit, the new pope not only commends their ministry but also consecrates Methodius as bishop and soon thereafter as archbishop. Cyril, apparently too ill to return, remains in Rome and joins a Greek monastery, where he dies.
Returning to Moravia with the pope’s blessing does not lessen the opposition Methodius faces from clerics and ruling authorities. He is deposed and imprisoned. Three years later, after political reverses, he is released and resumes his position as archbishop. His health broken, he dies in 885, though not without completing his translation of the Bible into Slavic.
Princess Olga, Vladimir, and Russian Orthodoxy
When Princess Olga converted to Christianity she laid the foundation for the Russian Orthodox Church. Born into a powerful family of Viking descent, Olga marries Prince Igor I of Kiev. In 954, due in part to his costly wars and political ineptness, Igor is assassinated and Olga begins her term as regent for her young son. After executing her husband’s assassins, she sets about bringing fiscal, social, and religious reforms. In 955 she makes a public profession of faith, and two years later she journeys to Constantinople to be baptized and arrange for teachers to come to Russia. But any progress toward Orthodoxy is quickly undone when her son and his supporters assume power. He renounces Christianity, and for a time, for political gain, he flirts with Islam.
EASTERN EXASPERATION WITH ROME
My dearest brother, we do not deny to the Roman Church the primacy amongst the five sister patriarchates [Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem], and we recognize her right to the most honorable seat at an ecumenical synod. But, she has separated herself from us by her own deeds, when through pride she assumed a monarchy which does not belong to her office…. How shall we accept decrees from her that have been issued without consulting us and even without our knowledge? If the Roman pontiff, seated on the lofty throne of his glory, wishes to thunder at us and, so to speak, hurl his mandates at us and our churches not by taking counsel with us but at his own arbitrary pleasure, what kind of brotherhood or even what kind of parenthood can this be? We would be the slaves not the sons of such of a church…. In such a case what could have been the use of the scriptures? The writings and the teachings of the Fathers would be useless. The authority of the Roman pontiff would nullify the value of all because he would be the only bishop, the sole teacher and master.
Niketas, Archbishop of Nikomedia, to Anselm, Bishop of Havelberg, 1136
Baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir, by Viktor Vasnetsov
Not until nearly twenty years after Olga’s death in 988 did Orthodoxy become the official religion of Russia. Her illegitimate grandson, Vladimir (c. 958 – 1015), seems the most unlikely royal to bring this about. He is only ten when his grandmother dies and already on his way to becoming a ruthless and degenerate warrior. When his father dies, Vladimir prevails over his half-brothers in a bloody rivalry and eventually gains control of Kiev and other key strongholds. Like his father, he rejects his grandmother’s religion, which is now taking root among many of his subjects. He is a pagan — particularly in lifestyle, with several wives and numerous concubines.
THE “INCIDENT” OF 1054
Even as Orthodoxy was taking root in Russia, it was being strained to the breaking point with the Western Latin church. Theological perspectives as well as cultural and political rivalry had created tension for centuries, but one particular incident stands out as a turning point in hostilities. Bishop Kallistos Ware, in his classic The Orthodox Church, tells the story best:
One summer afternoon in the year 1054, as a service was about to begin in the Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) at Constantinople, Cardinal Humbert and two other legates of the Pope entered the building and made their way up to the sanctuary. They had not come to pray. They placed a Bull of Excommunication upon the altar and marched out once more. As he passed through the western door, the Cardinal shook the dust from his feet with the words: “Let God look and judge.” A deacon ran out after him in great distress and begged him to take back the Bull. Humbert refused; and it was dropped in the street.
The pope’s representatives had apparently waited for months to gain an audience with the Patriarch of the Eastern Church. Finally, on July 16, 1054, their patience had worn thin. The Bull of Excommunication, spurred by the apparent rebuff, dredged up old squabbles, including the filioque, married clergy, and various liturgical differences.
Within days, the Patriarch had dispatched his own bull of excommunication to Rome, pointing out the errors of the Latin Church. In the centuries that followed, there would be many efforts to bring about reconciliation — efforts that still continue today. There would also be terrible animosity, however, as in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, when Constantinople was overrun and captured. But the Great Schism of 1054 has symbolically stood for the separation and split of the Church — an event of historic proportions. The most calamitous date for the Eastern Orthodox Church came in 1453 when the Eastern Empire fell with the capture of Constantinople by the Turks — and the great church of Holy Wisdom would become a mosque.
Paganism, lacking cohesive unity, is not an ideal state religion, however. With nation-building in mind, Vladimir commissions envoys to investigate other religions: Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy. The first two are ruled out because of dietary laws and other factors. In the end, Catholicism does not rise to the high liturgical standard of Orthodoxy. The report of the commission on seeing the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is memorable: “We no longer knew whether we were in heaven or on earth…. Such beauty, and we know not how to tell of it.” With that endorsement, Vladimir picks Orthodoxy as the state religion, takes another wife (Anna, the sister of Basil II, the Byzantine emperor), dispatches troops for another war, and secures his place as a saint in the Orthodox tradition.
With its long history and millions of adherents, Eastern Orthodoxy remains today an enigma to many Christians in the West — particularly its apophatic theology and icons. With no pope or famous evangelists, it rarely makes news and often seems aloof and set apart from the other branches of Christianity.
What If …
What if the Eastern and Western churches had been able to work out their differences and had remained under one umbrella? How would the church look today? Would the Protestant Reformation have occurred? Would the churches in Asia, Africa, and Latin America be expanding in size as they are today?
What if the iconoclasts had won the day? How distinct would Eastern Orthodoxy be today?
What if Justinian and his adoptive father, with their peasant backgrounds, had not ascended the throne and made their marks on statecraft and judicial law? How might our laws and courts be different today?
What if Cyril and Methodius had stayed home instead of serving as missionaries to the Slavs, or if Vladimir had chosen Islam over Orthodoxy? How would the world be different today?
Selected Bibliography
Bridge, Antony, Theodora: Portrait in a Byzantine Landscape. Chicago: Academy Chicago, 1993.
Daley, Brian. Gregory of Nazianzus. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Evans, James Allan. The Empress Theodora: Partner of Justinian. Austin: University of Texas, 2003.
Hall, Christopher A. Reading Scripture With the Church Fathers. Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter Varsity, 1998.
Herrin, Judith. Women in Purple: Rules of Medieval Byzantium. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University, 2004.
Kelly, J. N. D. Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press, 1998.
Rosen, William. Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe. New York: Viking, 2007.
Smith, Richard Travers. St. Basil the Great. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing, 2007.
Stewart, John. Nestorian Missionary Enterprise: The Story of a Church on Fire. Piscataway, N.J.: Georgia Press, 2007.
Tradigo, Alfredo. Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Los Angeles: Getty, 2006.
Ware, Timothy Kallistos. The Orthodox Church. New York: Penguin, 1993.