Rome and Constantinople

 The Byzantine Empire was surrounded by enemies. It was due west of the powerful Persian empire that revived in Parthia following the Roman retreat. The Byzantine Empire also faced a challenge from European barbarians in the West. The central Asian nomads that challenged the Western Roman Empire also offered a constant threat. Finally, because the Byzantine Empire was located between Black and Mediterranean Seas, it was a major naval power .

 

The basic concern of emperors in both Rome and Constantinople was how to maintain the empire . Once Rome was sacked in the fifth century AD, their concern switched to "how to reconstruct the empire." That presented two practical problems: how to raise an army, and how to organize a system of administration. The answers to both problems required men, wealth and imperial unity.

 

In the Byzantine Empire, the Christian Church became a tool for solving both problems. The Church controlled great wealth through the system of tithes, which required each Christian to donate one tenth of his earnings to the Church to pay for good works. Later, Christianity also provided a sense of unity of purpose for recolonizing the western Roman Empire in the name of Christianity. Especially during the Crusades, Christian leaders were able to mobilize large armies in defense of their religion.

 

Spiritual and political (physical) power: This quotation provided the basis for the Christian Church's acquisition of wealth, and with that, political power.

 

Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe. (Numbers 18: 26)

 

ROME VERSUS CONSTANTINOPLE

 

At first, Constantinople and Rome cooperated because the Roman bishops relied on the Byzantine emperors for military assistance against the barbarians. For instance, the Emperor Justinian invaded the Italian peninsula in 527AD and reconquered Italy, the Balkans, and Numidia. The Roman bishops also received large amounts of money from Christians until eventually, Rome became the richest of the Five Holy Sees (Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem).

 

Theological dispute over leadership: However, as Christianity spread among the barbarians who settled in Europe, rivalry developed between the two imperial cities of Rome and Constantinople. The Roman bishops claimed leadership over Christianity based on the Gospel verse in which Jesus tells Peter (first bishop of Rome) that you are the rock on which I will build my church (Matthew 16: 18-19). Byzantine Emperors based their claims for leadership on the succession of leadership within the Christian Roman Empire.

 

Practical dispute over leadership: The Byzantine Emperor controlled the largest population of Christians, access to Christian holy sites, and the wealthiest part of the empire. However, the Roman bishopric obtained extra prestige after the reign of Victor around 190, who behaved responsibly during the last years of Commodius' reign (following the last of the Five Good Emperors). Also, by the 4th-5th centuries, the Roman bishops directed the most dynamic part of the Christian world--barbarian Europe--where missionary activity attracted the most energetic Christians and donations for the good work of converting barbarians.

 

The Byzantine Emperor imposed an imperial bureaucracy on the practice of Christianity by using bishops as inspectors and by calling conferences to codify doctrine. The first world council of Christianity was held at Nicaea 325AD. The Byzantine Emperor also recognized five Christian patriarchs in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Rome, but only Rome was in the western Roman Empire. These became known as the five Holy Sees.

 

THE SPLIT BETWEEN ROME AND CONSTANTINOPLE

 

The Iconoclastic Controversy of 710AD completed the break between Rome and Constantinople. The Controversy began under Emperor Leo the Isaurian, the emperor who defended Constantinople against the Arabs in 717. Facing numerous defections to the Muslims along his southern border, and the creation of a Muslim Persia along his eastern border, Emperor Leo initiated religious reforms in an attempt to retain followers.

 

Although these reforms were extensive, the main item was a declaration that religious images were corrupt. This appealed to Eastern Monophysites who refused to accept Jesus' divinity, and to Muslims who distrusted the worship of anything that came between the individual and the deity (saints), but it also resulted in the destruction of much Byzantine religious art.

 

The Byzantine reforms had political goals as well as spiritual goals. By purifying Christianity, they hoped to reduce the attractiveness of Islam to Eastern Monophysites and other religious opponents. By eliminating religious images, they hoped to undermine the worship of saints, including that of St. Peter, who was the ancestral founder of the Roman bishopric. Finally, by doing away with the worship of saints, the emperor also found a reason to close monasteries and confiscate their wealth for the Empire.

 

Byzantine missionaries penetrated Russia along the rivers that flow north out of the Black Sea. As they spread out, Byzantine missionaries converted the Kievian Varangian rulers of the Slavs, and spread the Greek language and the Roman imperial system . Later, the Mongol invasions forced the withdrawal of Russian Orthodox Christians to the north around Moscow , where a new empire, linked to but distinct from the Byzantine Empire, became a powerful influence on the Baltic region and northeastern Europe. In modern times, the leaders of Russia were known as Tsars, which is derived from the Roman title of Caesar.