Breaking the Icons

 

As for the appeal of icons to popular sentiment, perhaps this was best understood by local Soviet commanders in the 1930s: when they were ordered to campaign against the influence of the Church, they were known to line up icons, sentence them to death, and then shoot them.

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, by Judith Herrin

Lighting a candle, burning incense, all in front of an image.  This was not something developed in Christendom.  It was an ancient practice – an ancient way of showing respect.  Images were set up on alters, decorated with flowers; prayers were offered for medical cures. 

The earliest Christians would not offer such practice to the Roman images – just one more reason for persecution.  But, as time went on, Christian images would gradually replace pagan ones.  Christ, the Virgin, and various saints took over the role.

Pagan images were likely models for the subsequent Christian ones: Isis, a model for the Mother of God; Zeus for Christ.  This actually worked out well for the pagans, who could pretend that they were venerating Christ when in fact they were venerating the other guy.

From where dd the dominance of this practice in Byzantium come from?  There is a story that St. Luke had painted the Virgin and Child. And all later copies were endowed with authentic power.  It was believed that in some way, the icon captured the essence of the holy person depicted. 

Large eyes captured attention and Christians offered their total devotion.  Icons could serve as intercessors – prayers directed to the icon would pass through to the person depicted. 

Of course, stories could be told through the images as well; not a small thing.  Eventually, images would find their way onto coinage.  Given the craft and quality of materials, some icons would be seen as valuable works of art and evidence of the superiority of the Byzantine culture.

Then, the great debate.  In the period from 730 to 843, the battle over icons.  This can be captured via the following two quotes:

The falsely called “icon” neither has its existence in the tradition of Christ, of the Apostles, or the Fathers, nor is there any prayer of consecration to transpose it from the state of being common to the state of being sacred.  Instead, it remains common and worthless, as the painter made it.

-          Definition of the Iconoclast Council of 754

The making and worship of icons is no new invention, but the ancient tradition of the church… it is impossible for us to think without using physical images…by the bodily sight we reach spiritual contemplation.  For this reason Christ assumed both soul and body, since man is fashioned from both.

-          St John of Damascus, eighth century

Iconoclasm is one of the few Byzantine words still in English and European usage: “breaking the icons.”  The commandment prohibiting the making or worshiping of graven images comes to the fore: God is, after all, a jealous God.

But it seems this wasn’t really the driving force.  Getting consistently routed by the Muslims seemed to play a more significant role.  Icons had no role in Islam; the Muslims were routing the iconophile, “idol worshipping,” Christians; the icons are failing the Christians.  Perhaps the Muslims are succeeding because they don’t worship idols.

Stopping the Tide

 

…the primary achievement of the new medieval Byzantium was to prevent Muslim efforts to capture Constantinople, which would have opened the way to a rapid conquest of the Balkans, central Europe, and probably Rome itself.

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, by Judith Herrin

I have mentioned often the turning point represented by the victory of Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732; just as often I have mentioned King John III Sobieski at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.  In both cases, the turning back of Muslim forces intent on penetrating further into Europe.

This will be a story of the role of Byzantium.  Despite losing significant territory to the Muslims, Constantinople was held until the mid-fifteenth century, giving Western Europe time to reform after the fall of Rome.

A decade of warfare against the Persians in the 620s and constant invasion by the Slavs into the Balkans was followed by attacks and invasion by desert tribes from Arabia into the eastern Mediterranean.  At one point the situation became so dire that the emperor would relocate to Sicily in the 660s.

The defenses of the empire were stretched to the breaking point.  To the west and north, Slavonic and Avar tribes would cross the Danube and capture major cities, allowing them to move south with their families to take advantage of better pastures.

Following further losses, Roman troops refused to campaign north of the Danube, instead turning to Constantinople and overthrowing the emperor.  In the meantime, Persians would overrun the eastern frontier, devastating major cities in Asia Minor.  Antioch succumbed, and Jerusalem was sacked.  Alexandria was occupied, and the grain shipments relied on from Egypt were prevented.

In 628, however, a major victory over Persia.  The Shah of Shahs was overthrown, and his palace was sacked.  The True Cross, lost in the sacking of Jerusalem, was recovered.  A few short years later, Mohammed died, and Arab Muslims replaced Persian Zoroastrians.

In their post-victory confidence, imperial officials refused the tribute traditionally paid to tribes who guarded the edge of the desert and had previously provided an early-warning system.

In hindsight, a mistake.  By the time of his passing, Mohammed had united the disparate Arab tribes.  With the death of the Prophet, the Arabs were determined to spread Islamic domination throughout the known world.

Damascus, Gaza, Antioch, Jerusalem.  One by one these would fall, from 634 to 638.  No one envisioned such losses were permanent, but these proved irreversible.  With their capital at Damascus now established, they would plan regular campaigns into Byzantium.

Within a decade, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt would all be occupied.  About two-thirds of imperial territory would be lost – and the rest was in sight.  The loss of Jerusalem was a deep humiliation to the Christian world; the loss of Egypt required a complete change to the economic system.

Using their knowledge of astronomy for travel through the desert, the Arabs would turn that knowledge into travel by sea, now threatening the islands and coastlines of the empire.  North Africa and southern Europe were in sight – a complete restoration of the Roman Empire, this time under Muslim Arab control.

Holy Wisdom

 

The power of the church’s profile dominates the skyline, the sheer bulk of the immense structure grows as one approaches by sea.

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, by Judith Herrin

Hagia Sophia; Holy Wisdom.  The scale and beauty were almost unknown even to visitors from the west in medieval times.  The dome, as form, was known to architects in the west, but at the time of construction virtually unknown in the east.

The art, however, was well known; a continuation of the forms, styles, and materials as known in antiquity: statues, reliefs, and portraits, using precious metals, enamel, and ivory.  Silk cloth from China was unraveled to provide thread for looms – the silk coming from China, at least until silkworms were (allegedly) smuggled from China by some monks and presented to Justinian.

The gradual increase of Christian images: loaves and fishes became Christ on coins became Christ Pantokrator.  This would eventually lead to the iconoclast controversies, which will be covered later.

Returning to the construction.  Those who observed the finished work were at a loss to explain how such a large dome could be supported by a structure pierced with forty windows that allowed light into the vast cavern below.  “Solomon, I have surpassed thee.”  So it is reported that Justinian would remark when he saw the completed work. 

How it (and the many other structures built during Justinian’s reign) was financed was another matter, and that part of the story remains unclear.  There were many battles and negotiations, yet the cost remains unknown and almost incalculable.

An earthquake would damage the dome twenty-one years later.  Isadore the Younger, son of the original architect, would secure the dome by raising it seven meters, making it narrower and steeper.

Conclusion

During his forty-year reign, Justinian would achieve much.  But nothing would compare to the construction of Hagia Sophia. 

Epilogue

Not to be missed during this time was what became known as the Nika Rebellion.  The Greens and the Blues – two groups responsible for Hippodrome entertainment – organized a challenge to the emperor’s power.  Normally rivals, they allied on the basis of antagonism towards Justinian’s financial policies.

They set fire to the center of the city.  Justinian considered fleeing the city, but his wife, Empress Theodora, would have nothing of this:

“Purple makes a fine shroud.  I would prefer to die in this imperial cloth.”

So inspired, Justinian would use force rather than negotiate.  A massacre of unarmed Byzantines followed.  Half the city was burned or destroyed; tens of thousands killed.  It was the burned-out area that gave room for the emperor’s massive construction project.

Establishing the East

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, by Judith Herrin

Capturing a few interesting tidbits from Herrin’s work:

Transforming the Roman World

August 9, 378.  The Goths inflicted a massive defeat on the Romans at Adrianople.  Emperor Valens marched out without waiting for western reinforcements; he was killed in the battle.  Theodosius, after several campaigns against the Goths, made peace with them in 380; he was declared emperor by his troops and thereafter entered Constantinople in triumph.  Now emperor, he had never previously seen the city.

Theodosius I, a strict Christian would call a council in 381 to condemn the Arian heresy.  While Constantinople gained in stature, Rome would fall – sacked in 410 and 455 before Odovacer, a Hun, deposed the last Roman emperor in 476.

Monasteries were established, Latin and Greek grammar were taught, along with rhetoric, philosophy and law.  Constantinople was the center of higher learning in the Christian world.  It was believed that only the Chinese surpassed the Greeks in applied arts.  Trade – from Syria, from the Slavs, from Rus, and others – would bring wealth, as evidenced by silk and caviar.

New walls were erected, walls that would serve Constantinople well until 1204.  Arabs, Bulgars, Russians all would fail at attempts to take the city.  In 1204, the Latins did not – aided by guile, treachery and internal weakness.  After 57 years, the Greeks would once again control the city.

Muslims long had designs on the city.  In the thirteenth century, al-Harawi would offer: “May God in his grace and generosity deign to make it the capital of Islam.”  The Ottoman Turks succeeded at this, with the city finally falling to the Muslims in 1453.

Why Greek Orthodoxy?

Why did the adherents of Apollo, Isis, Zoroaster, Mithras, and other established gods accept Christianity?

Death and martyrdom.  The Sermon on the Mount offered the basic instructions of how a Christian should live – and suffer.  The Roman officials found it extraordinary that so many would choose to die for this faith.  The martyrs were convinced that death was not the end.  Long before Constantine, a network of churches was established throughout the empire.  Whole communities would choose to die rather than burn incense in honor of the Roman rulers.

Not something one would consider an effective marketing campaign today.  Then came Constantine.  Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.  Church councils.  The Arian heresy – one that did not go away easily.  Nestorius, who may or may not have believed the heresy that has taken his name.  In 451, Chalcedon, after which the Coptic, the Armenians, and others would split.

Church and State

Theoretically, [the emperor] was limited to choosing one of three candidates [for patriarch] whose names were put forward by the clergy of the cathedral church of Constantinople.

But it didn’t always go this way.  Sometimes a son or favorite monk would get the nod.  Then there were the conflicts.  St. John Chrysostom, elected in 398, was one of the first of such casualties.  He was exiled to Armenia in 404 for denouncing Empress Eudoxia for erecting a statue of herself with pagan pomp and ceremony.  He would die three years later.

The City of Constantine

Constantine resolved to make the city a home fit for an emperor….

-          Zosimus, New History, c. 501

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, by Judith Herrin

Herrin starts at the beginning, with the founding of Constantinople and its namesake, the Emperor Constantine.  Looking for a new capital for the Roman Empire in the early fourth century, he found a location well-suited to control land and sea routes between Asia and Europe.

Born in the central Balkans, the son of one of the four rulers established by Diocletian – so divided as an attempt to bring some stability to the vast Roman world – Constantine was declared emperor by his troops upon his father’s death in York in 306.  Unfortunately, this would cause a problem as Galerius, the senior emperor in the east, did not recognize him as such.

Three men claimed the western throne, and Constantine would fight and defeat the others, culminating in the victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312.  He entered Rome triumphant, and was acclaimed by the Senate as emperor of the west.  But he did not thank the gods, claiming that his vision of the Cross in the sky offered the promise of victory.

A year later he would meet with Licinius, Emperor of the East.  They consolidated their relationship via marriage alliances, and issued the Edict of Toleration, proclaiming all religions could be celebrated freely as long as everyone offered prayers for the well-being of the Roman Empire and the emperor.

Eleven years later, Constantine defeated Licinius, exiled him, and then had him assassinated.  He was now ruler of both east and west, having fought his way from the far west in England to the far east of Byzantium.

And here he would build a new capital, closer to the major rival of Persia.  Byzantion, as the city was known, was built on an elevation surrounded on three sides by water, therefore requiring fortification only on the western side. 

In addition, Byzantion commanded the routes for the lucrative sea-borne transport of amber, furs, metal and wood from the north; oil, grain, papyrus, and flax from the Mediterranean; spices imported from the Far East, as well as overland trade between the West and Asia.

In 324, a line was ploughed to mark the new walls for the city that would bear his name, Constantinople.  The city would be inaugurated in 330, with ceremonies and horse and chariot races.  Bath houses were opened for public use and money was distributed to the inhabitants.

And then there were the gold coins, perhaps the most remarkable example of stable and honest money in history.  Constantine introduced the solidus (in Greek, numisma) in the West in 309.  It was a 24-carat gold coin, and it became the most reliable currency of Late Antiquity and the Byzantine world.

Until the early eleventh century, all emperors minted gold coins of comparable fineness and quality, maintaining a stable standard for over seven hundred years, an extraordinary achievement.

Yes, I would say.  No doubt contributing to the significant wealth and trade that came to and through the empire.  These Byzantine gold coins would be later excavated in places as far away as Scandinavia, western Europe, Russia, Persia, and Ceylon.

The First Christian Empire

For in contrast to other medieval societies both in the West and among the Muslims, Byzantium was old, many centuries old by the time of Charlemagne and Harun al-Rashid in AD 800….

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, by Judith Herrin

I have been wanting for some time to learn something more about Byzantium, its history, the Church that developed in and through and around this empire, and, ultimately, its demise.  This book has been sitting on my shelf long enough, and as I am coming to a close on other topics, it seemed time to pick it up.

Byzantium conjures many images – in some cases exaggerations and caricatures, in some cases deserved (but not unique to it).  Despite modern views, the Byzantines had no monopoly on complexity or treachery or hypocrisy.  They were not unique in pursuing riches and wealth.  They generally avoided burning people at the stake and never developed what could be described as an Inquisition. 

Further, per Herrin:

…I want you to understand that the modern western world, which developed from Europe, could not have existed had it not been shielded and inspired by what transpired further to the east in Byzantium.

A mix of pagan, Christian, Greek and Roman influences, the empire would wax and wane, but is generally recognized as encompassing the eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Anatolia.  Constantinople was the grandest of cities, its roots going back to the beginning of the decline of Rome. 

It nurtured the earliest Christian monastic traditions on mountains such as Sinai and Athos.  It converted the Bulgarians, Serbs, and Russians.  It maintained contact with many of the Christian centers that fell under Muslim rule during the seventh century – including Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria, and, in varying degrees (and at some times better than other times) Ethiopia, Persia and Armenia.

Hagia Sophia held the title of the largest dome for a thousand years, from the sixth century until the completion of St. Peter’s in Rome.  Constantinople considered itself the center of the world, and the replacement for fallen Rome. 

Until the Muslim invasions, it encompassed regions stretching from western North Africa to Mt. Ararat, southern Italy, Greece and the Balkans.  In the early years of the Church, it was the Church – protecting the Christian West in the early Middle Ages. 

Had Byzantium not halted their expansion in 678, Muslim forces charged by the additional resources of the capitol city would have spread Islam throughout the Balkans, into Italy and the West during the seventh century, at a time when political fragmentation reduced the possibility of organized defence. 

Thus, a Christian Europe was made possible.  Just over half-a-century later, Charles Martel would win the decisive battle over the Muslims near Poitiers in central France.