Byzantine Empire: Christianity In The Byzantium Empire
Christians in the Byzantium Empire
The Byzantine Empire was in fact the Eastern Roman Empire. Byzantium was established in the year 395 and came to an end in 1453. During the Byzantine reign of power, we shall see imperial Christianity which was distinctive to Byzantium. This was a rule were the Pope was not the ruler over the Christians but it was effectively the Emperor who held control over the church. This included appointing prominent bishops and also appointed patriarchs.1 The religious aspect of Byzantines are very interesting and is what we are going to explore. There are many aspects to this religion. It was the dominant religion in that time period yet wasn’t the only one. There was a Jewish influence among others which was not as popular and was mostly shunned. They were the largest religion and held a lot of power, but not nearly as much as the Emperor. The Byzantine aristocracy, the monastics, and the clergy were extremely well documented. However, the life of the ordinary every day Christian is very unclear since it was not …show more content…
Monks were people would gave up everything. They chose a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. They were not allowed to accumulate things. All they were allowed to own was two changes of clothing, a comb, pen, pillow, blankets and that is basically all there is to their belongings. The first man to do this was a man named St. Anthony.16 He was the first great preacher of the hermit life. 17He was a rich man who one day decided to give it all up and live a quite peaceful life. He sold his farm and went out into the scorching desert in Egypt and lived his life as hermit. There were no rules as how to lives as a hermit or monk at the time since there was no code to live by. That is until a man named St. Benedict came along and wrote his rule of St. Benedict. This is basically just the rule for living as a monk. Kind of like a do and do not list to live your life
The Byzantine Empire was in fact the Eastern Roman Empire. Byzantium was established in the year 395 and came to an end in 1453. During the Byzantine reign of power, we shall see imperial Christianity which was distinctive to Byzantium. This was a rule were the Pope was not the ruler over the Christians but it was effectively the Emperor who held control over the church. This included appointing prominent bishops and also appointed patriarchs.1 The religious aspect of Byzantines are very interesting and is what we are going to explore. There are many aspects to this religion. It was the dominant religion in that time period yet wasn’t the only one. There was a Jewish influence among others which was not as popular and was mostly shunned. They were the largest religion and held a lot of power, but not nearly as much as the Emperor. The Byzantine aristocracy, the monastics, and the clergy were extremely well documented. However, the life of the ordinary every day Christian is very unclear since it was not …show more content…
Monks were people would gave up everything. They chose a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. They were not allowed to accumulate things. All they were allowed to own was two changes of clothing, a comb, pen, pillow, blankets and that is basically all there is to their belongings. The first man to do this was a man named St. Anthony.16 He was the first great preacher of the hermit life. 17He was a rich man who one day decided to give it all up and live a quite peaceful life. He sold his farm and went out into the scorching desert in Egypt and lived his life as hermit. There were no rules as how to lives as a hermit or monk at the time since there was no code to live by. That is until a man named St. Benedict came along and wrote his rule of St. Benedict. This is basically just the rule for living as a monk. Kind of like a do and do not list to live your life