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The book deals with the policy of the Byzantine state in the field of ecclesiastical matters from the end of Iconoclasm in 843 to the death of Emperor Basil I in 886. It examines the attitude of the main political actors the emperors and their closest collaborators towards religious matters and the decisions they made concerning the various issues of Iconoclasm and Orthodoxy, appointment of the patriarchs, relations with the Church of Rome, and theological disputes with Muslims, non-Chalcedonian Christians, and Christian sects. This volume also considers missionary activity outside the borders of the Empire and policy towards religious minorities inside them, as well as the political and intellectual potential behind it.
List of contents
Part I Orthodoxy re-enthroned (843 856).- Chapter 1 Introduction.- Chapter 2 The end of Iconoclasm.- Chapter 3 Challenges of Methodius Patriarchate.- Chapter 4 Patriarch Ignatius between the opposing factions.- Part II Expansion of the Byzantine Church (856 867).- Chapter 5 The Schism of Photius.- Chapter 6 Constantine the Philosopher at the Caliph s Court.- Chapter 7 The Gospel behind the Hospitable Seas: the Khazar Mission and the first baptism of the Russians.- Chapter 8 Photius and the Armenians: Against the heresy of the Theopaschites.- Chapter 9 The Great Moravian Mission of Constantine and Methodius.- Chapter 10 Conversion of the Bulgarians.- Chapter 11 Photius at the peak of power and his fall.- Part III The Emperor s Church (867 886).- Chapter 12 The Schism of Photius and the Council of 869/870.- Chapter 13 Bulgarian Church Question.- Chapter 14 The question of the role of Basil I in the Christianization of the Serbs and Croats.- Chapter 15 Internal homogenization.- Chapter 16 Expansion of the area of jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.- Chapter 17 Photius return and the Council of 879/880.- Chapter 18 The Patriarch and the Emperor.- Chapter 19 The activity of St. Methodius and the birth of the Slavic Church.- Chapter 20 The autocephalous Church of Bulgaria.- Chapter 21 The results of the Byzantine church policy in 886.
About the author
Predrag Komatina is Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Summary
The book deals with the policy of the Byzantine state in the field of ecclesiastical matters from the end of Iconoclasm in 843 to the death of Emperor Basil I in 886. It examines the attitude of the main political actors – the emperors and their closest collaborators – towards religious matters and the decisions they made concerning the various issues of Iconoclasm and Orthodoxy, appointment of the patriarchs, relations with the Church of Rome, and theological disputes with Muslims, non-Chalcedonian Christians, and Christian sects. This volume also considers missionary activity outside the borders of the Empire and policy towards religious minorities inside them, as well as the political and intellectual potential behind it.
