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Ecclesiastical problems under the Palaeologi
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Page 4
The Arsenites. Besides the question of union Byzantium was agitated during the reign of Michael by the struggle of religious-political parties, the most nmportant of which was concerned with the so-called Arsenites. Beginning with the twelfth century, there were two irreconcilably opposing parties in the Byzantine church which were struggling for influence and power in ecclesiastical administration. One of those parties is called in Byzantine sources the zealots (ζηλωταί), the other the politicians (πολιτικοὶ) or moderates; church historian A. Lebedev styled this party by the modern French parliamentary term of opportunists.
The zealots, champions of the freedom and independence of the church, were opposed to state interference in church affairs, a point of view which brought them into continual collision with the emperor. In this respect the zealots' ideas resembled those of the famous Theodore of Studion who in the ninth century openly spoke and wrote against imperial interference with church affairs. The zealots would not make any concession to the imperial power; they wished to submit the Emperor to severe ecclesiastical discipline, and were fearless of any collision with the government or society that might arise from their ideas. Accordingly, they became involved at various times in political troubles and disorders and gained the reputation of a party political as well as ecclesiastical. They could not boast of much education and took no care to have an educated clergy, but they faithfully observed the rules of strict morality and austerity. In the struggle with their opponents they were often supported by the monks, and in the moments of their triumph they opened to the monks the way to power and activity. A historian of that time, Gregoras, noted that one patriarch could not even read correctly. Describing the spirit prevailing among the monks when a zealot became patriarch the same historian wrote: It seemed to these malignant monks that after storm and troubles calm had come, and after winter, spring. Strict supporters of Orthodoxy, the zealots were stubbornly opposed to Michael's inclination to the union, and they had great influence with the mass of the people.
The politicians or moderates were directly opposed to the zealots. They stood for state support of the church and co-operation between church and state; accordingly they did not object to the exerting of state influence on the church. They believed that a strong temporal power unrestrained by external interference was essential for the well-being of a nation; therefore they were ready to make considerable concessions to the imperial power. They followed the so-called theory of economy, which stated that the church in its relation to the state should accommodate itself to circumstances; to justify the theory of economy the politicians usually referred to the life of the Apostles and the Holy Fathers. Recognizing the importance of education, they tried to fill the ecclesiastical offices with cultured and educated men. As they interpreted the rules of strict morality rather liberally and lacked sympathy with severe asceticism, the politicians sought support not among the monks, but among the secular clergy and the educated classes of society.
A History of the Byzantine Empire - Table of Contents
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Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/ecclesiastical-problems.asp?pg=4
