Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire

The fall of Byzantium

Ecclesiastical problems under the Palaeologi

Page 8

Towards the end of the thirteenth century, in connection with the abolition of the union and triumph of the Orthodox policy, the party of the zealots, who placed their reliance upon the monks and monastic ideals, increased in power. In the fourteenth century they showed vigorous activity not limited to church problems, but extended to politics and social movements. For example, the zealots took an active part in the troubles of Thessalonica in the fourteenth century, pursuing some political aims which have not yet been satisfactorily elucidated, and they sided with Emperor John V Palaeologus against Cantacuzene; for this reason Iorga called the zealots legitimists. An interesting attempt to expound the political ideology of the zealots, on the basis of an unpublished oration of the famous Byzantine mystic Nicholas Cabasilas has been recently made by the Roumanian scholar Tafrali.

In the first half of the fourteenth century the zealots and monks gradually got the upper hand of the secular clergy. This movement ended in the complete triumph of the Athonian monks over the patriarchate of Constantinople in the epoch of the so-called Hesychast controversies. This period saw the last patriarch elected from the state officials and the last patriarch elected from the secular clergy. From this time on the highest posts in the hierarchy are exclusively occupied by monks, and the patriarchal throne of Constantinople becomes for a long time the property of the representatives of Mt. Athos.

Under Andronicus II the Elder an important change in the administration of Athos took place. At the end of the eleventh century Alexius Comnenus had freed Athos from submission to any outside ecclesiastical or civil power and placed the monasteries of Athos under the control of the Emperor alone. He ordained the protos, that is to say, the head of the council of abbots (igumens), to whom the administration of the monasteries was entrusted. Andronicus the Elder renounced direct power over Mount Athos and handed the monasteries over to the patriarch of Constantinople, who was to ordain the protos. In the imperial charter (chrysobull) granted on this occasion, the protos of Mount Athos, this second paradise or starry heaven or refuge of all virtues, was to be under the great spiritual power of the Patriarch.

Previous / First / Next Page of this section

A History of the Byzantine Empire - Table of Contents

Next Chapter : The Hesychast movement

Previous Chapter : Constantine XI (1449-1453) and the capture of Constantinople

Constantinople

 

Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/ecclesiastical-problems.asp?pg=8