Icons and Iconoclasm

 

·         Iconoclasm=“destruction of images”; Exodus 20.4; connection with veneration of saints

·         Leo III (717-41): icons=idolatry; outlawed in 726-1st Iconoclast period

·         John of Damascus: On the Divine Images-defends icons

  1. Images in Hebrew Scriptures
  2. The Incarnation and Icons of Christ
  3. Distinction between “worship” (latreia) and “veneration” (proskynesis)
  4. Instructional value of icons

·         Constantine V (741-75) & Leo IV (775-80) continue iconoclasm; Irene & Constantine VI end it

·         7th Ecumenical Council: Nicea II (787): authorizes icon veneration; condemns iconoclasm

·         Leo V (814-20) restored iconoclasm (814): 2nd Iconoclast period; 843-Empress Theodora restores icons

 

Dualist Christianies

 

·         Dualism – Monotheism – Polytheism - Zoroastrianism

·         Marcion (d. ca. 160); Mani (216-76); Manicheism; Paraclete; elect & hearers; Shapur I (242-73); Bahram I (274-77)

·         Paulicians; Eznik of Kolb (5th cent.)–De Deo (ca. 445); Zurvanism; adoptionists

·         Bogomil (ca. 930-40); Cathars/Albigenses

 

Golden Age of Byzantium

 

·         Byzantine Revival: 9th & 10th cent.— Basil the Macedonian/Basil I (867-86); Macedonian Dynasty

·         Reconquest: S. Italy, Balkans, Crete, Cyprus, N. Syria (Antioch 969; Damascus 974)

o        Political changes in Islamic Empire; 2. Conversion of the Slavs

·         1071–Battle of Manzikert;

·         Cyril (826-69) and Methodius (815-85); Thessalonica; 863- Mission in Moravia

·         Slavic alphabet & translations: Glagolitic; Cyrillic; Old Church Slavonic

·         Bulgaria: 1st success—Boris I (853-89) converts 864-adopts Slavic translations; Symeon (893-927)

·         Russia: 988; Olga, 955; Vladimir (988-1015)

·         Photius (820-91); patriarch (858-67; 877-86); Bibliotheca; Lexicon;

·         Photian Schism: Ignatios; Michael the Drunkard; Pope Nicholas I

 

Monks and Scholars

 

·         Humanists: Michael Psellos (1018-1078);

§         Conservative/monastic “party”: Theodore the Studite (759-826); Studios monastery

§         Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022); apophatic

·         John Italos condemned 1082; victory for monastic/conservative party

 

Christianity in Eastern Asia

 

·         India: Acts of Thomas; “Mar Thoma” church

·         Central Asia: Merv & Heart; Sogdian, Uighur; Seljuk Turks

·         China: T’ang Dynasty – 618-906; A-lo-pen – 635; the Tao/the Way; the “Luminous Religion”

·         “Alopen texts”: Jesus Messiah Sutra – 635-38; Discourse on Monotheism – 641-42; The Lord of the Universe’s Discourse on Almsgiving – ca. 641; God = “Buddha”; “I-shen” – “one God”

·         Sutra on Mysterious Rest and Joy – ca. 800; 980 – Christianity disappears from China

·         Mongols – Genghis Khan; 1271 – rule China – under Kubla Khan

·         Mark and Rabban Sauma – “monks of Kubla Khan”; Mark=Nestorian Patriarch–Yaballaha III

·         1368 – end of Mongol rule and Christianity in China

 

Christianity East & West: The Crusades (Crusader=Cross-bearer)

                                                                                         

·         Sealed the separation of the two churches

·         Turks—Battle of Manzikert—1071; 1095: Pope Urban II calls for Crusades

·         Crusaders converge at Constantinople: “1st Crusade”

·         1097: Take the Turkish capital at Nicea; 1098: Antioch; 1099: Jerusalem

·         Crusader Kingdoms: Jerusalem, Antioch, Edessa, Tripoli

·         3 More “Crusades” – 2nd—Loss of NE Syria (Edessa) to Muslims in 1144

·         3rd—Kingdom of Jerusalem Falls to Salah ed-Din in 1187; Akko/Acre

·         4th—Diverted to Constantinople in 1204; Alexius: Deposed Byzantine Emperor

·         Western Crusaders pillage Constantinople; take over much of the Byzantine Empire

·         3 centers of Byzantine resistence: 1). western Greece – Despotate of Epirus; 2) western Asia minor – Empire of Nicea; 3) NE Asian coast – Empire of Trebizond; Nicea most legitimacy

·         1259: Empire of Nicea begins reconquest; 1261: regains Constantinople; Michael VIII Paleologos

 

Christainity East & West: Theology

 

·         Differences already visible in 5th century

·         Intensify in the 8th: 800—Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman emperor

·         Papal Claims: “First among equals” - Pope claims authority over all Christendom: East doesn’t recognize; Rome and Photius

·         Filioque - 589 council of Toledo; council in Aachen (809) - Charlemagne, increasing Western usage; Rome adopts 1000; Photius: Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit

·         Liturgical Differences - around 1000: try to impose on each other; Normans in S. Italy; use of leavened bread at Eucharist

·         July 1054—“traditional” date of separation; Cardinal Humbert—Papal ambassador

·         Demetrios Kydones (1323-1397/98); Apology; Thomas Aquinas, Scholasticism

 

Hesychasm & Gregory Palamas (1296-1359)

 

·         Nicephorus the Hesycast (13th cent.); Mt. Sinai, Mt. Athos; Hesychasm – hesuchia = quietness; stillness

·         Technique: 1) posture; 2) breathing/Jesus prayer; 3) imagined union of heart and mind; elimination of thought

·         Gregory Palamas (1296-1359); Triads – defense of Hesychasm

·         Barlaam the Calabrian (1290-1348) – attacks Hesycham ca. 1330; influence of Western Scholasticism

·         Challenged possibility of direct knowledge of God, union with God; also challenged Deification

·         Uncreated energies of God vs. essence of God

 

Christianity in the Balkans

 

·         865 – conversion of Bulgarians; Serbs - 867-74

·         Sava (1175-1235); 1207 – involved in Serbian politics;

·         1219 – Sava head of Serbian church; autocephalous

·         1204: Pope makes Bulgarians independent

·         1235: Constantinople makes Bulgarians independent; Bulgarian Patriarch

·         Bosina: Bogomils in Serbia 1150; Patarenes; 1500-Islam

·         1359: Romanian church organized; claimed independence 1859; granted 1885

 

The Fall of Constantinople

 

·         1433 – Byzantines approach Western Council; 1439 – Council of Florence; July 6, 1439: union

·         1443 – Western Army sent; 1444 – defeated by Turks

·         29 May 1453 – Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks; 1460 – S. Greece; 1461 – Trebizond

 

Christianity in Late Byzantium

 

·         Nicholas Kavasilas (ca. 1323-91); Philokalia

·         Greek Revival – George Gemistos Plethon (ca. 1360-1452); Mistra; Sparta; Book of Laws; On the Differences of Aristotle from Plato; Cardinal Bessarion (1400-1472)

 

Origins of Russian Christianity

 

·         988 – Vladimir (d. 1015); the Rus’ – Scandinavians; 860 – assault on Constantinople

·         Cherson; Crimea; Cyril; 882 – Kiev center of Russia

·         Princess Olga – converted ca. 955 (d. 969)

·         Metropolitan of Kiev; Hilarion – metropolitan 1051-54; Sermon on Law & Grace

·         Instruction of Vladimir Monomakh (1053-1125); Novgorod

 

The Russian Church under the Mongols

 

·         City of Vladimir; Grand Prince

·         1237-40 – Mongols conquer Russia; “the Golden Horde”; Serai = capital; Lithuania & Poland

·         Novgorod and the Crusaders; Alexander Nevsky –  Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252-63)

·         “Galicia” (western Ukraine/Byelorussia)

·         1328 – Rise of Moscow

·         1380 – Russian victory against Mongols; 1447 – end of Mongol Rule

·         1386 – Lithuanians become Catholic

·         Sergius of Radonezh (1314-92)

 

Moscow as the Third Rome

 

·         1433 – Isidore metropolitan of Kiev – Plethon & Bessarion; 1437 – Isidore in Russia; to Florence

·         1441 – returns from Florence – accepted union; a Cardinal; 1443 – fled to Italy

·         1448 – Russian bishops appoint metropolitan Jonas – independence; recognized by Constantinople in 1589

·         legend of the “White Cowl”; Filofei – 1510

·         Judaizers – 1470 in Novgorod – Zachariah; 1479 - Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow – appoints Judaizers to high positions; Theodore Kuritsyn – Ivan’s chief diplomat – a Judaizer

·         1485 – crackdown on Judaizers in Novgorod; 1490 – metropolitan = Judaizer

·         1497 – death of Kuritsyn; 1505 – council condemns Judaizers

·         Possessors & Non-Possessors: Nilus = Non-Possessor leader – hesychast

·         Joseph = Possessor leader –also known as Josephites