Alexander Schmemann

3. The Age Of The Ecumenical Councils (50 pages)

From Schmemann's A History of the Orthodox Church

Page 18

Last Dream of Rome.

The forty-year reign of Justinian (527-65) represented the last attempt of an emperor to preserve the unity of the Roman “universe,” the climax and apogee of that world in which dying antiquity had entered into union with Christianity. From the beginning Justinian was fascinated by Rome’s great past, and behind all his policies lay a dream of the former glory of the empire, of the majesty of imperial power and the mission of Rome, rather than sober recognition of reality. “We hope that God will return to us the lands which the ancient Romans ruled as far as the two oceans,” he wrote. But this was a dream. In reality Roman unity no longer existed.

Byzantium, for its part, was increasingly turning its back on the West and shifting its center of interest eastward. From the fifth century on, we clearly perceive the progressive orientalization of the empire in its culture, psychology, art, and court ritual. New Christian churches were arising beyond its borders in Georgia, Armenia, and Persia; the Byzantine mission developed eastward, and it was characteristic that the break with Rome in 484 did not particularly disturb anyone in Byzantium. The Church unfortunately submitted to history, and history widened still further the gulf between the two halves of what had once been a united oekumene. The fact is, although the East was connected by organic succession with Rome, a new Byzantine world had developed, while the Roman West under barbarian attack plunged deeper and deeper into the chaos of those Dark Ages from which Roman-Germanic Europe would later emerge.

The beginning of the barbarian invasions, the great migration of peoples, was marked in 355 by the appearance of the Huns in eastern Europe. Under their onslaught the Germanic tribes, which had settled there began to break through the borders of the empire. The eastern region was saved by Theodosius the Great. Repelled from the south, the German tribes moved west. The first wave at the beginning of the fifth century rolled as far as Rome, but was beaten off. Nevertheless, the barbarians gained a foothold within the empire.
The Visigoths in Italy, the Vandals in Africa, and the Franks in Gaul as “allies” recognized Roman rule, and the victory over the Huns on the Catalonian plain in 451 may still be regarded as a Roman victory. But Rome itself was falling apart; betrayals, conspiracies, and murders, one after the other, pursued the helpless Western emperors, and in 476 the last of them ignominiously disappeared. In 493 Theodoric’s Ostrogoths founded their kingdom in central Italy. Even then, all these peoples continued nominally to recognize the supreme and sacred authority of the Byzantine emperor, and their princelings willingly accepted empty court titles from Constantinople; nevertheless, the West was plunging into barbarism and darkness.

This history of decay was just what Justinian did not recognize. His whole mind, life, and actions were controlled by the Roman idea in all its universalism. He assumed power at a crucial period; from the beginning of the sixth century the pressure of the restored Persian empire on Byzantium had increased, and his vital interest demanded that he concentrate all his forces on the East, as the events of the next century showed so clearly. Justinian bought off the Persians, however, and threw his armies westward under the command of Belisarius. In 534 Africa was taken from the Vandals; the next year the Byzantines occupied Sicily, and on December 10, 536, Belisarius entered Rome, which had been abandoned by the Ostrogoth king.
The dream had become reality, and in 559 it was crowned by the restoration of Roman dominion in Spain. When he died, Justinian believed that the ancient unity of the empire had been restored.

He wanted not only external but internal restoration as well. The very first years of his reign were marked by a colossal systematization of Roman law, known as the “Code of Justinian.” Its reputation has not been exaggerated; Justinian’s Code preserved the heritage of Roman law and made it the foundation of the new world born out of the decay of the empire, thus establishing our historical origins. Finally, alongside this juridical work went a profound administrative and financial reform. The empire again found its strong state structure. Justinian was the last great Roman emperor.

 

Previous Page / First / Next

Schmemann, A History of the Orthodox Church: Table of Contents

Cf.  Books for getting closer to Orthodox Christianity ||| Orthodox Images of the Christ ||| Byzantium : The Alternative History of Europe ||| Greek Orthodoxy - From Apostolic Times to the Present Day ||| A History of the Byzantine Empire ||| Videos about Byzantium and Orthodoxy ||| Aspects of Byzantium in Modern Popular Music ||| 3 Posts on the Fall of Byzantium  ||| Greek Literature / The New Testament

On Line Resources for Constantinople * On the future of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Greek Forum : Make a question / Start a Discussion 

Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/schmemann-orthodoxy-3-councils.asp?pg=18