From the 4th to 7th c. monastic communities and ascetical literature developed in Egypt, Syria, Palestine as well as in Constantinople. Some belonged to the Greco-Roman culture in the Roman empire, others came from the Assyrian tradition in the Persian empire. The iconoclasm of the 7th c. had been vanquished by Orthodoxy with a large part of the brunt being taken, as it seems, by monastics in Constantinople and the royalty who at times supported or persecuted iconodules. Symphony was the idea developed in Constantinople, probably a very Roman concept, that the Church and the government should and must coexist harmoniously as much as it is possible, provided that the ruler is Orthodox as well as the majority of the people. The Old Testament is filled with examples of kings and empires. A holy nation and people will come out victorious whatever the politics because “good people always triumph” says the wisdom books of Scripture. The nobles, princes, or oligarchs (the rich masses) should also equally support the monarch and should not oppress the other classes – a point often neglected in discussion around Church-state relations. Alexander Schmemann and Metr. Hilarion admit that this symphony principle may have been an ideal more sought than practiced because there were certainly a lot of arbitrariness in the history of Byzantium. Monarchies tend to be hereditary whereas the hierarchy was not except in the Old Testament period and in certain cases in Syria. Europe had its own dilemma later than Byzantium with the Investiture Controversy that focused on the problem of how to order a good society, and how land was to be used either by the Church or the state. In the 9th and 10th c., Byzantine monks were sent and were requested to come and teach Christianity to various Slavic peoples of Europe, since they didn’t know whether to follow the Latin or Greek ritual that usually indicated different practices, and even beliefs. It was a time that also coincided with many other tumultuous events around the jurisdiction of the Greek Church in Constantinople and the Latin Church in Rome as well as competitive bishops from the Germanic lands of Bavaria bordering on Czechia and Slovakia, neighbors of the Slavs. The Franks, Normans, Bavarians, all more or less Romanized in one way or another, had already been Christians before the baptism of the Slavic nations and their respective unification.
There are a handful of large topics embedded in this short chapter surrounding the baptism of the Slavs. The Photian-Ignatian Schism, Prince Vladimir’s baptism of his nation, the deterioration of relations between Constantinople and Rome, the Filioque controversy, and the mission of Sts. Cyril and Methodius.
Many scholars and prominent Roman Catholic theologians have exculpated Photius. In fact, Photius never really desired or sought to be a bishop of Constantinople. He was content with his ascetical life. A faction of monks from the Stoudios Monastery favored bishop Ignatius who was the son of emperor Michael I (9th c.). Empress Theodora ruled instead of the young Michael III. After that, Ignatius was deposed for the first time and Photius was put on the patriarchal throne. One swift action by the monarchical power of this empress set off a long series of events that caused a schism, the second one after the Akakian schism, between Rome and Constantinople. But it may seem strange that Rome would be involved in a controversy involving another church’s bishop. As expected, the Stoudios monks didn’t accept Photius as bishop. In 863 Pope Nicholas I deposed Patriarch Photius. This action was unacceptable by the Church in Constantinople as a breach of canon law and Orthodox ecclesiology. Both the intervention of the empress and the Pope into the church affairs of an already complex city such as Constantinople caused further intensity and disruptions.
What soured the relationship more between Rome and Constantinople was the missionary activities of Sts. Cyril and Methodius as well as the often overlooked issue of the Normans eventually coercing the Latin rite on Greek Orthodox Christians populating southern Italy when they began to arrive in a vibrantly multi-ethnic and open society of trade and a high degree of religious tolerance in Italy during the 9th – 10th c. The Norman mercenaries just couldn’t stomach all of that, especially the Arab presence and occasional Saracen pirates. Most probably the latter issue had a lot to do with the 1054 schism. In the end, the Church of Constantinople canonized Ignatius and Photius post mortem. Patriarch Photius was a leading voice in criticizing the filioque teaching and raising it nearly to the level of heresy for introducing a fourth source into the Trinity by saying that the Holy Spirit proceeds (derives from, comes from - post classical meaning) from the Father and the Son, rather than from the Father alone, which was originally rejected by Pope Leo III himself when it was first brought to his attention in earlier centuries. The filioque was pushed mostly by Charlemagne’s newly founded kingdom in rivalry to the Byzantium empire in order to find fault and heresy with the Greek Church in Constantinople. Rome’s position among the pentarchy (all the Orthodox patriarchates) seems to be best described historically and theologically as the authoritative mediator not only between churches, bishops, and missions but also between outside forces like the Franks and Byzantium. But all of that changed with the advent of the Carolingian dynasty and the coronation of Charlemagne ca. 800 who had little in common with any real restoration of the Roman empire compared to the hereditary and cultural legacy of the Byzantines. In fact, more strange than to think that the capitol of the Roman Empire could be in the Greek city of Constantinople was that Charlemagne’s new Holy Roman Empire, the forerunner of modern Europe’s values and customs, was located not in the old city of Rome but headquartered in Aachen, Germany. From there all major European royalty emerges with also input from the Russian royal family as well. The term Roman pontiff is somewhat of an important word to use for the Bishop of Rome because it refers to the old Latin term that means a high official who acted as a bridge-maker. Just as the holy apostles Peter and Paul mediated between the Jews and Gentiles, so too Rome acted in this way, which precludes any idea of supremacy, jurisdictional authority, or notions of absolute monarchy that the pagans admired and worshipped. The Popes in Rome supported and mediated on behalf of Sts. Cyril and Methodius to enable them to teach the Byzantine faith to the Slavs of the Moravian kingdom in modern day Czecha and Slovakia. The Roman Popes approved of their efforts to translate the Bible and other works in the Slavonic language for the people despite the protests by the Bavarians and others who wrongly thought that only Latin, Greek, and Hebrew could be used for liturgical purposes. Their mission ultimately failed to take deeper root due to the tensions between their Germanic neighbors, and probably rightly so. But Bulgaria, Russia, Serbia and other Balkan nations accepted the Byzantine Christianity, and Greek bishops were sent there. Our grass-roots ideal of how politics, unity, and religious missions should work just wasn’t that simple according to the majority of the history of the Orthodox Church.
Prince Oleg in 911 experienced some missionary activity but it wasn’t well established, as Photius records. After a treaty was reached between the Rus’ (Russians) under Prince Igor and the Byzantine empire, Christianity flowed more freely between them. There was already a cathedral in Kiev of the Prophet Elias in 944. The traditional date of the “baptism of the Slavs” that the Church of Russia accepts is 988 when Prince Vladimir married Anna from Byzantium. The Tale of Bygone Years is a great example of ancient Russian literature mixed with Biblical themes and historical sources, which begins from Adam and Eve to Vladimir’s baptism that brings Christianity to the “peoples of the Rus’.” The next few chapters will cover Late Byzantium, its fall, and how Orthodoxy developed in Rus’ that became modern Russia. Metr. Hilarion and Alexander Schemann view the fallout of Rome and Constantinople and the subsequent fall of Constantinople as leaving Russian Orthodoxy as the leading light of Orthodoxy until the Revolution of 1918. In Russian culture, as well as most European cultures, the royals have set the best examples for us. St. King Aethelbert of East Anglia, Sts. Boris and Gleb, and St. Elizabeth the New Royal in the 20th c. are excellent models of good rulers lighting a candle in the midst of chaos rather than cursing the darkness. What can happen in a thousand years? Most of the inhabited world became Orthodox Christian. The next few chapters recount the first millennium and proceed into a time where monarchies fell and Christianity was broken up politically and socially.