Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Medieval)

Byzantine Christianity developed a distinctive theology, liturgy, and relationship between church and emperor, defended icons through the iconoclast controversy, and drifted apart from the Latin West toward the schism of 1054.

Definition

Medieval Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the form of Christianity centered on the Byzantine Church and the patriarchate of Constantinople, defined by the ecumenical councils, a rich liturgical and iconographic tradition, and a theology and ecclesiology that increasingly diverged from the Latin West.

Scope

Covers medieval Eastern Orthodox Christianity: the ecumenical councils and theological development, the role of icons and the iconoclast controversy, monasticism and mysticism (including hesychasm), the relationship of patriarch and emperor, the missionary expansion among the Slavs, and the growing estrangement and schism between the Greek East and Latin West.

Core questions

• What was at stake in the iconoclast controversy?
• How were emperor and church related in the Byzantine world?
• How did Eastern theology and liturgy develop distinctively?
• What caused the estrangement and schism between East and West?

Key theories

Theology of the icon

The Orthodox defense of icons, articulated by theologians such as John of Damascus and confirmed at the Second Council of Nicaea (787), holding that images of Christ and the saints are legitimate because of the Incarnation, against iconoclast objections.

History

Shaped by the ecumenical councils, Byzantine Christianity endured the iconoclast controversy (c. 726–843), resolved by the Triumph of Orthodoxy. Missions under Cyril and Methodius spread the faith to the Slavs. Doctrinal, liturgical, and jurisdictional differences with Rome — including the filioque and papal claims — culminated in the mutual excommunications of 1054 and were embittered by the sack of Constantinople in 1204.

Debates

Significance of 1054

Historians debate whether the events of 1054 constituted a definitive schism or one episode in a longer estrangement only later understood as a permanent division.

Key figures

• John Meyendorff
• Andrew Louth
• Leslie Brubaker
• Kallistos Ware

Seminal works

• meyendorff1979
• brubaker2011
• louth2007

Frequently asked questions

What was iconoclasm?

A controversy in the eighth and ninth centuries over the use of religious images (icons), in which iconoclasts sought to ban them and iconophiles defended them; the icons' veneration was ultimately upheld.

When did the Eastern and Western churches split?

The schism is conventionally dated to 1054, though the separation developed over a longer period and hardened after the Fourth Crusade's sack of Constantinople in 1204.