Alexander Schmemann

5. The Dark Ages (16 pages)

From Schmemann's A History of the Orthodox Church

Page 4

Rise of Religious Nationalism

The era of the Turkish yoke was marked in the history of Orthodoxy by an unprecedented rise of religious nationalism. Its roots, as we already have seen, lay deep in the spirit of Byzantinism itself, which made an absolute value out of the concept of the “holy state.” Yet this concept had arisen and developed at first in the context of Roman universalism. Rome had deified the state, not the nation. The multinational empire thought it had overcome all national limitations; it saw itself as a “universe” united by a single law, a single authority, a single culture, with faith in the same values, but had no racial features of any sort, or any exaltation of “flesh and blood.” Any barbarian who accepted Roman citizenship and shared the cultural values of Hellenism would cease to be a barbarian and become a full member of that universe, a member of a united human society in which all the best elements lived according to values which were opposed to racial exclusivism of any sort. This universal spirit of Rome was its main point of alliance with Christianity, which was universal and all-embracing by its very nature.

The Church accepted alliance with the empire, placed itself under its protection, and gladly sanctified it by its blessing because the empire itself was aware that it was summoned to a universal mission and that this calling was in no way limited. It must be admitted that at first the empire really lived according to this inspiration.
Constantine, for example, considered himself responsible for spreading Christianity in Persia, and missions went out of early Byzantium to the Armenians, Georgians, Goths, Huns, and finally to the Slavs. The inclusion of barbarian peoples who had accepted Christianity within the empire was not dictated by political imperialism alone but also by the conviction that the empire was the normal form for the Christian world, which was united because it was Christian.

 

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://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/schmemann-orthodoxy-5-dark-ages.asp?pg=4