This is a dome window found at the Stavrovouni Monastery found in the community known as the Monastery of the Holy Cross.

The Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire had different kinds of Christianity. I wanted to find out more about the kind of Christianity found in Byzantine and how it changed everyday life of the people who lived there. In the Byzantine Empire they practiced Orthodox Christianity. The Byzantine Empire was influenced greatly by Orthodox Christianity, by this I mean their art and literature was based around their faith.

Icons are very important to Orthodox Christianity along with other traditions. Most of the artwork found in this Empire depicted saints and other figures from the bible. Most of the art was abstract and stood for icons, and normally took the forms of small panels. These panels were all over churches a long with crosses and the amazing Architecture. Most of the structures for churches in the Byzantine Empire had domes and were surrounded by many figures from the bible. The dome represents the expansion of the heavens; the Orthodox Christians believed the heavens were always expanding to allow more people to enter. A lot of the churches had colored/abstract panels and beautiful stained glass windows. There were two different forms of architecture for churches found in this Empire.

The basilica type had a long column shaped tower that was covered with a wooden roof, which formed a dome at the top. The other type was the vaulted centralized church. This had separate components that gathered under a central dome. It was very important for the Orthodox churches to have a dome shaped top because of its significance to the heavens. In most of the churches there was a variety of different shapes incorporate into the windows and floors.

I used information from http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?vendorId=FWNE.fw..by218900.a and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire.

The picture is found on this website: http://www.holytrinityindy.org/OurParish/AboutourByzantineTemple/AncientByzantineArtandArchitecture/tabid/243/language/en-US/Default.aspx

The Reign of Justinian I.

Justinian was born Petrus Sabbatius, in 483 A.D. Justinian was adopted by his uncle, Justin, during early childhood. Justin was at the time an Imperial Guard, and later became a Roman Emperor. He brought Justinian to Constantinople, providing him with a formal education and entrance to the political world. When Justin became emperor of Rome, Justinian stayed close and was a valued consul. Later, during the end of his rule, Justinian became commander of eastern armies and even began to make large scale decisions for Rome as a whole. When Justin died, Justinian became the official ruler of Rome in or around 527 A.D.

As emperor, Justinian always put first the concerns of Rome, and for this reason was quite successful and liked in during his career. He was said to be very direct, yet easy to approach. His success as an emperor however, had many contributing factors, including, surrounding himself with keen and intelligent individuals. One key factor was his wife, Theodora, who became a very helpful aid as she was an extremely smart individual. She was 20 years younger than he and also in a different social class, which under normal circumstances marriage between the two wouldn’t be allowed however the previous emperor Justin made a law which allowed for marriages such as these. Other individuals who offered great aid were Tribonian, a legal adviser, and a diplomat by the name of Peter.

Justinian conquered back much of the Roman Empire which was lost before the Byzantium era, and also created many new sets of laws, which was called the Corpus Juris Civilis. He incorporated Christianity into his rulings which allowed for Christianity to flourish in Rome. Around the time of 540 A.D. a terrible outbreak of the bubonic plague ended what was arguably one of the Roman Empires finest ruler ships.

Roman and Byzantine Christianity

While the Western Roman Empire (west Europe) was struggling to hold on to their empire while Byzantine (east Europe) began developing, becoming a strong unified state. During this time Christianity spread rapidly, becoming a major religion in Europe for the first time. Both Western and Eastern Europe began developing different beliefs. The Eastern developed Orthodox Christianity and Western Europe developed the Roman Catholic church.

Byzantine was the first of the two to become fully Christian. This could be due to caesaropapism (the emperor's power is tied to church and state). The emperor was God appointed so he had the power to choose the church leader. The leaders of the church were important and were treated as if they were part of the "elite class".

The Roman Catholic Church of the west started off as a more localized religion mainly found in rural areas. Unlike the church of the east, caesaropapism was not practiced.Separation of church and state was important. The Pope is the leader of all Christians and he is a highly respected.

There were more distinct differences between the two churches. Orthodox Christians did not believe that the Pope had authority over all the Christians. The leaders of the church were able to get marry and have hair unlike the Roman Catholic priest who had to remain celibate. Some other key differences were their practice of theology, the Trinity and faith. Despite the difference of the church's political system they also have some similarities. Both churches believe in the same basic doctrines and they believe that the use of idols in worship is offensive.

Christianity has many different branches and a variety of beliefs. It is important for us to recognize that the spread of Christianity in Europe was important because it helped mode Europe in what it is today.

Ways of the World Robert W. Strayer, pg. 269-289

Constantine - Religious Conversion

(Site of the Battle of Milvian)
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Constantine was an emperor of Rome starting in 306 BCE. His conversion to Christianity led to the spread of the religion throughout the state, allowing it to become dominant in the Roman empire. Although it is not thoroughly interesting that he brought about the religion within Rome, the events that caused him to become a follower of the religion is a bit less dry.

Constantine was surrounded with Christian influences throughout his life as his mother, St. Helena, was a firm believer. Whether Constantine adopted this religion in some form as a child or an adult does not matter, but the fact that he was exposed to it probably provided a foundation for what was to come.

In 312 BCE, Constantine, who was a great general in the Roman army, was set to engage in a war against Maxentius, his co-emperor and brother-in-law. Constantine, believing that his army was not strong enough to withstand that of Maxentius, thought he needed the assistance and backing of a higher power than he possessed. After praying for assistance, Constantine saw a vision in the sky which read "in hoc signo vinces " ("in this sign you will be victorious"). After successfully defeating the opposing troops, Constantine adopted the symbol of Christ as the signature of his army, contributing the triumph to his newly claimed religion.

After this Battle of Milvian Bridge, the religion gained momentum within Rome. Although Constantine has always been criticized as a hypocrite because he persecuted certain sects of the religion in which he believed, he adopted and furthered the spread of Christianity in Rome none-the-less. As many people in our country follow Christianity, I think it is interesting for them to be able to look at the inclusion of the religion in other societies and other time periods.

Information for this blog was obtained from:

http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/easteurope/ConstantineConverts.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_and_Christianity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I

Christian Persecution

For this week’s topic on Western Christendom & Byzantium I decided that I wanted to find out more information on Christian persecution. What I found was an explanation of the top ten primitive mass persecutions found in Foxes Book of Martyrs.

1. In 67 BC Nero blamed the Christians for setting Rome aflame and the death and destruction caused by that fire. Some christens were sewn up in skins of wild beasts, and fed to the dogs, while others were made to wear stiff shirts coated in wax, then fixed to trees while they were set on fire, so they would light the gardens.

2. Under the rule of Domitian in 81 BC Christians were blamed for any famine, pestilence, and earthquakes that happened, and were put to death.

3. In 108 AD, Trajan Christians were beaten, behead, and eaten by wild beasts, killing over ten thousand people.

4. Marcus Aurelius Antoninas in 162 BC Christians were burned at the stake, beheaded, had hot tar poured over their heads, and eaten by wild beasts.

5. In 192 BC Severus continued Antoninas techniques to persecute Christians.

6. Maximus in 235 BC killed Christians for no reason, and had them buried in mass graves.

7. Under the rule of Decius in 249 BC who beheaded Fabian the Bishop of Rome, as well as countless others.

8. Valerian in 257 BC had Christians tortured for entertainment.

9. Under Aurelian in 274 BC the Roman Bishop Felix was martyred.

10. In 303 BC Diocletian had Christians persecuted was done by swords, daggers, crosses, poisons, famine.

Despite the number mass persecutions the Romans carried out, Christianity as a religion still survived much to the despite of the roman aristocrats. Some of these persecutions are incredibly gruesome. Also, it’s hard to believe that people actual tortoured others for entertainment. What I find truly horrifying about all of this though, is the fact that, persecution no matter what religion a person is, still happens today.

References
http://www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org/early-christian-persecution-faq.ht