Thursday, September 13, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog:
Reciprocate, Psalms 139, Luke 6:27-38, St John Chrysostom, Constantinople
Good Day Bloggers! Reciprocate, Psalms 139, Luke 6:27-38, St John Chrysostom, Constantinople
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift knowledge and free will as well,
make the most of it. Life on earth is a stepping to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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Today's Word: reciprocate re·cip·ro·cate [ri-sip-ruh-keyt]
Origin: 1605–15; < Latin reciprocātus past participle of reciprocāre to move back and forth. See reciprocal, -ate1
verb (used with object)
1. to give, feel, etc., in return.
2. to give and receive reciprocally; interchange: to reciprocate favors.
3. to cause to move alternately backward and forward.
verb (used without object)
4. to make a return, as for something given.
5. to make interchange.
6. to be correspondent.
7. to move alternately backward and forward.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 139:1-3, 13-14, 23-24
1 For the choirmaster Of David, Yahweh, you examine me and know me,2 you know when I sit, when I rise, you understand my thoughts from afar.
3 You watch when I walk or lie down, you know every detail of my conduct.
13 You created my inmost self, knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 For so many marvels I thank you; a wonder am I, and all your works are wonders. You knew me through and through,
23 God, examine me and know my heart, test me and know my concerns.
24 Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin, and guide me on the road of eternity
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 6:27-38
Jesus said to his disciples: Love your
enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who treat you badly.
To anyone who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek as well; to anyone who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from someone who takes it.
Treat others as you would like people to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get money back, what credit can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount.
Instead, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ‘Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you.’
Reflection
• In today’s Gospel we have the second
part of the “Discourse of the Plain”. In the first part (Lk 6, 20-26),
Jesus addresses himself to the disciples (Lk 6, 20). In the second
part (Lk 6, 27-49), he addresses himself “to you who listen to me”,
that is, the great crowds of poor and sick people, who had come form
all parts (Lk 6, 17-19).
• Luke 6, 27-30: Love the enemies! The words that Jesus addresses to these people are demanding and difficult: to love the enemies, not to curse them, to present the other cheek to anyone who slaps you on one cheek, and do not protest or complain when somebody takes what is ours. Taken literally, these phrases seem to favour the rich who rob. But not even Jesus observes them literally. When the soldier struck him on the face, he did not offer the other cheek but rather reacted firmly: “If there is some offence in what I said, point it out, but if not why do you strike me?” (Jn 18, 22-23). Then, how are these words to be understood? The following verses help us to understand what Jesus wants to teach us.
• Luke 6, 31-36: The Golden Rule! to imitate God. Two phrases of Jesus help us to understand what he wants to teach. The first phrase is the so called Golden Rule: “Treat others as you would like people to treat you!” (Lk 6, 31). The second phrase is: “Be merciful as your Father in Heaven is merciful!” (Lk 6, 36). These two phrases indicate that Jesus does not want simply to change the situation, because nothing would change. He wants to change the system. The novelty which he wants to construct comes from the new experience of God the Father, full of tenderness who accepts all! The words of threat against the rich cannot be the occasion of revenge on the part of the poor! Jesus demands the contrary attitude: “Love your enemies!” Love cannot depend on what I receive from others. True love should want the good of others, independently of what he or she does for me. Love should be creative, because that is how God’s love is for us: “Be merciful, as your Heavenly Father is merciful!” Matthew says the same thing with other words: “Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (Mt 5, 48). Never will anyone be able to say: Today I have been perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect! I have been merciful as the Father in Heaven is merciful”. We will always be below the measure which Jesus has placed before us.
In Luke’s Gospel, the Golden Rule says: “Treat others as you would like people to treat you!” (Lk 6, 31). Matthew, in his Gospel, gives a different formulation: “Treat others as you would like others to treat you” And he adds: “That is the Law and the Prophets” (Mt 7, 12). Practically, all religions in the whole world have the same Golden Rule with a diverse formulation. This is a sign that a universal intuition or desire is expressed which comes from the bottom of the human heart.
• Luke 6, 37-38: “Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and there will be gifts for you; a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you”. These are four advices: two in a negative form, do not judge and do not condemn; and two in positive form: to forgive and to give an abundant measure. When it says: “there will be gifts for you”, Jesus refers to the treatment which God wants to have with us. But when our way of treating others is mean, God cannot use with us the abundant and overflowing measure that he would want to use.
Celebrate the visit of God. The Discourse of the Plains or the Sermon on the Mountain, from the beginning, leads the listeners to make a choice, to opt, in favour of the poor. In the Old Testament, several times, God placed people before this same choice, blessing or curse. People were given the freedom to choose: “Today I call heaven and earth to witness against you: I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live” (Dt 30,19).It is not God who condemns, but the people themselves according to the choice that they make between life and death, good or evil. These moments of choosing are moments of the visit of God to his people (Gn 21, 1; 50, 24-25); Ex 3, 16; 32, 34; Jr 20, 10; Ps 65, 10; Ps 80, 15; Ps 106, 4). Luke is the only Evangelist who uses this image of the visit of God (Lk 1, 68. 78; 7, 16; 19, 44; Ac 15, 16). For Luke it is the visit of God which places people before the choice between blessing or curse: “Blessed are you who are poor” and “Alas for you, the rich!” But people do not recognize the visit of God (Lk 19,44).
Personal questions
• Do we look at life and at persons with the same look of Jesus?
• What does it mean today “be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful”?
• What does it mean today “be merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful”?
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: St. John Chrysostom
Feast Day: September 13
Patron Saint: Constantinople, education, epilepsy, lecturers, orators, preachers
John Chrysostom (c. 347–407, Greek: Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος), Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic sensibilities. After his death in 407 (or, according to some sources, during his life) he was given the Greek epithet chrysostomos, meaning "golden mouthed" in English, and Anglicized to Chrysostom.
The Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches honor him as a saint and count him among the Three Holy Hierarchs, together with Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzus. He is recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church as a saint and as a Doctor of the Church. Churches of the Western tradition, including the Roman Catholic Church, some Anglican provinces, and parts of the Lutheran Church, commemorate him on 13 September. Some Lutheran and many Anglican provinces commemorate him on the traditional Eastern feast day of 27 January. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria also recognizes John Chrysostom as a saint (with feast days on 16 Thout and 17 Hathor).
John is known in Christianity chiefly as a preacher, theologian and liturgist. Among his homilies, eight directed against Judaizing Christians remain controversial for their impact on the development of Christian antisemitism.
Biography
Early life and education
John was born in Antioch in 349 to Greco-Syrian parents. Different scholars describe his mother Anthusa as a pagan or as a Christian, and his father was a high-ranking military officer. John's father died soon after his birth and he was raised by his mother.
He was baptised in 368 or 373 and tonsured as a reader (one of the minor orders of the Church). As a result of his mother's influential connections in the city, John began his education under the pagan teacher Libanius. From Libanius, John acquired the skills for a career in rhetoric, as well as a love of the Greek language and literature.
As he grew older, however, he became more deeply committed to Christianity and went on to study theology under Diodore of Tarsus, founder of the re-constituted School of Antioch. According to the Christian historian Sozomen,
Libanius was supposed to have said on his deathbed that John would have
been his successor "if the Christians had not taken him from us".
He lived with extreme asceticism and became a hermit in about 375; he spent the next two years continually standing, scarcely sleeping, and committing the Bible
to memory. As a consequence of these practices, his stomach and kidneys
were permanently damaged and poor health forced him to return to
Antioch.
Priesthood and service in Antioch
John was ordained as a deacon in 381 by Saint Meletius of Antioch who
was not then in communion with Alexandria and Rome. After the death of
Meletius, John separated himself from the followers of Meletius, without
joining Paulinus, the rival of Meletius for the bishopric of Antioch,
but after the death of Paulinus he was ordained a presbyter (that is, a priest) in 386 by Evagrius, the successor of Paulinus. He was destined later to bring about reconciliation between Flavian I of Antioch,
the successor of Alexandria and Rome, thus bringing those three sees
into communion for the first time in nearly seventy years.
In Antioch, over the course of twelve years, John gained popularity
because of the eloquence of his public speaking, especially his
insightful expositions of Bible passages and moral teaching. The most
valuable of his works from this period are his Homilies on
various books of the Bible. He emphasised charitable giving and was
concerned with the spiritual and temporal needs of the poor. He also
spoke against abuse of wealth and personal property:
Do you wish to honour the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not pay him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect him outside where he is cold and ill-clad. He who said: "This is my body" is the same who said: "You saw me hungry and you gave me no food", and "Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me"... What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well.
His straightforward understanding of the Scriptures – in contrast to the Alexandrian tendency towards allegorical interpretation
– meant that the themes of his talks were practical, explaining the
Bible's application to everyday life. Such straightforward preaching
helped Chrysostom to garner popular support. He founded a series of
hospitals in Constantinople to care for the poor.
One incident that happened during his service in Antioch illustrates
the influence of his homilies. When Chrysostom arrived in Antioch, the
bishop of the city had to intervene with Emperor Theodosius I on behalf of citizens who had gone on a rampage mutilating statues of the Emperor and his family. During the weeks of Lent
in 387, John preached twenty-one homilies in which he entreated the
people to see the error of their ways. These made a lasting impression
on the general population of the city: many pagans converted to
Christianity as a result of the homilies. As a result, Theodosius'
vengeance was not as severe as it might have been.
Archbishop of Constantinople
In the autumn of 397, John was appointed Archbishop of Constantinople, after having been nominated without his knowledge by the eunuch Eutropius. He had to leave Antioch in secret due to fears that the departure of such a popular figure would cause civil unrest.
During his time as Archbishop he adamantly refused to host lavish
social gatherings, which made him popular with the common people, but
unpopular with wealthy citizens and the clergy. His reforms of the
clergy were also unpopular with these groups. He told visiting regional
preachers to return to the churches they were meant to be
serving—without any payout.
His time in Constantinople was more tumultuous than his time in Antioch. Theophilus, the Patriarch of Alexandria, wanted to bring Constantinople under his sway and opposed John's appointment to Constantinople. Being an opponent of Origen's teachings, he accused John of being too partial to the teachings of that theologian.
Theophilus had disciplined four Egyptian monks (known as "the Tall Brothers") over their support of Origen's teachings. They fled to and were welcomed by John. He made another enemy in Aelia Eudoxia, the wife of the eastern Emperor Arcadius, who assumed (perhaps with justification) that his denunciations of extravagance in feminine dress were aimed at herself.
Depending on one's outlook, John was either tactless or fearless when
denouncing offences in high places. An alliance was soon formed against
him by Eudoxia, Theophilus and others of his enemies. They held a synod in 403 (the Synod of the Oak) to charge John, in which his connection to Origen was used against him. It resulted in his deposition and banishment.
He was called back by Arcadius almost immediately, as the people became "tumultuous" over his departure. There was also an earthquake the night of his arrest, which Eudoxia took for a sign of God's anger, prompting her to ask Arcadius for John's reinstatement.
Peace was short-lived. A silver statue of Eudoxia was erected in the Augustaion, near his cathedral. John denounced the dedication ceremonies. He spoke against her in harsh terms: "Again Herodias raves; again she is troubled; she dances again; and again desires to receive John's head in a charger," an allusion to the events surrounding the death of John the Baptist. Once again he was banished, this time to the Caucasus in Armenia.
Around 405, Chrysostom began to lend moral and financial support to
Christian monks who were enforcing the emperors' anti-Pagan laws, by
destroying temples and shrines in Phoenicia and nearby regions.
Death and canonization
Faced with exile John Chrysostom wrote an appeal for help to three western churchmen:
- “How well known and highly esteemed Chromatius was in the Church of his time we can deduce from an episode in the life of St John Chrysostom. When the Bishop of Constantinople was exiled from his See, he wrote three letters to those he considered the most important Bishops of the West seeking to obtain their support with the Emperors: he wrote one letter to the Bishop of Rome, the second to the Bishop of Milan and the third to the Bishop of Aquileia, precisely, Chromatius (Ep. CLV: PG LII, 702).
He wrote in exactly the same terms to all three:
- "I address this letter also to Venerius, Bishop of Milan, and to Chromatius, Bishop of Aquileia. Farewell in the Lord."
Writing in 1872, church historian William Stephens said “The
Patriarch of the Eastern Rome appeals to the great bishops of the West,
as the champions of an ecclesiastical discipline which he confesses
himself unable to enforce, or to see any prospect of establishing. No
jealousy is entertained of the Patriarch of the Old Rome by the
Patriarch of the New Rome. The interference of Innocent is courted, a
certain primacy is accorded him, but at the same time he is not
addressed as a supreme arbitrator; assistance and sympathy are solicited
from him as from an elder brother, and two other prelates of Italy are
joint recipients with him of the appeal.”
Pope Innocent I protested at this banishment, but to no avail. Innocent sent a delegation to intercede on behalf of John in 405. It was led by Gaudentius of Brescia; Gaudentius and his companions, two bishops, encountered many difficulties and never reached their goal of entering Constantinople.
John wrote letters which still held great influence in Constantinople. As a result of this, he was further exiled to Pitiunt (in modern Georgia) where his tomb is a shrine for pilgrims.
He never reached this destination, as he died during the journey. His
last words are said to have been, "δόξα τῷ θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκεν" (Glory be
to God for all things).
John came to be venerated as a saint soon after his death. Three
decades later, some of his adherents in Constantinople remained in
schism. Saint Proclus,
Patriarch of Constantinople (434-446), hoping to bring about the
reconciliation of these Johannites, preached a homily praising his
predecessor in the Church of Hagia Sophia. He said, "O John, your life
was filled with sorrow, but your death was glorious. Your grave is
blessed and reward is great, by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ O graced one, having conquered the bounds of time and place! Love
has conquered space, unforgetting memory has annihilated the limits,
and place does not hinder the miracles of the saint."
These homilies helped to mobilize public opinion, and the patriarch
received permission from the emperor to return Chrysostom's relics to
Constantinople, where they were enshrined in the Church of the Holy Apostles on January 28, 438.
The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him as a "Great Ecumenical Teacher", together with Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian.
These three saints, in addition to having their own individual
commemorations throughout the year, are commemorated together on 30
January, a feast known as the Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs.
There are several feast days dedicated to him:
- 27 January, Translation of the relics of St John Chrysostom from Comana to Constantinople
- 30 January, Synaxis of the Three Great Hierarchs
- 14 September, Repose of St John Chrysostom
- 13 November, St John Chrysostom the Archbishop of Constantinople
Writings
Homilies
Known as "the greatest preacher in the early church", John's homilies have been one of his greatest lasting legacies. Chrysostom's extant homiletical works are vast, including many hundreds of exegetical homilies on both the New Testament (especially the works of Saint Paul) and the Old Testament (particularly on Genesis). Among his extant exegetical works are sixty-seven homilies on Genesis, fifty-nine on the Psalms, ninety on the Gospel of Matthew, eighty-eight on the Gospel of John, and fifty-five on the Acts of the Apostles.
The homilies were written down by the audience and subsequently
circulated, revealing a style that tended to be direct and greatly
personal, but was also formed by the rhetorical conventions of his time
and place. In general, his homiletical theology displays much characteristic of the Antiochian school
(i.e., somewhat more literal in interpreting Biblical events), but he
also uses a good deal of the allegorical interpretation more associated
with the Alexandrian school.
John's social and religious world was formed by the continuing and
pervasive presence of paganism in the life of the city. One of his
regular topics was the paganism in the culture of Constantinople, and in
his homilies he thunders against popular pagan amusements: the theatre, horseraces, and the revelry surrounding holidays. In particular, he criticized Christians for taking part in such activities:
If you ask [Christians] who is Amos or Obadiah, how many apostles there were or prophets, they stand mute; but if you ask them about the horses or drivers, they answer with more solemnity than sophists or rhetors".
John's homilies on Saint Paul's Epistles proceed linearly,
methodically treating the texts verse by verse, often going into great
detail. He shows a concern to be understood by laypeople, sometimes
offering colorful analogies and practical examples. At other times, he
offers extended comments clearly intended to address the theological
subtleties of a heretical misreading, or to demonstrate the presence of a
deeper theme.
One of the recurring features of John's homilies is his emphasis on care for the needy.
Echoing themes found in the Gospel of Matthew, he calls upon the rich
to lay aside materialism in favor of helping the poor, often employing
all of his rhetorical skills to shame wealthy people to abandon conspicuous consumption:
It is not possible for one to be wealthy and just at the same time.
Do you pay such honor to your excrements as to receive them into a silver chamber-pot when another man made in the image of God is perishing in the cold?
Homilies on Jews and Judaizing Christians
During his first two years as a presbyter in Antioch (386-387), John denounced Jews and Judaizing Christians in a series of eight homilies delivered to Christians in his congregation who were taking part in Jewish festivals and other Jewish observances. It is disputed whether the main target were specifically Judaizers or
Jews in general. His homilies were expressed in the conventional manner,
utilizing the uncompromising rhetorical form known as the psogos (Greek: blame).
One of the purposes of these homilies was to prevent Christians from
participating in Jewish customs, and thus prevent the perceived erosion
of Chrysostom's flock. In his homilies, John criticized those "Judaizing
Christians", who were participating in Jewish festivals and taking part
in other Jewish observances, such as the shabbat, submitted to circumcision and made pilgrimage to Jewish holy places. John claimed that on the shabbats and Jewish festivals synagogues were full of Christians, especially women, who loved the solemnity of the Jewish liturgy, enjoyed listening to the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, and applauded famous preachers in accordance with the contemporary custom. A more recent theory is that he instead tried to persuade Jewish Christians, who for centuries had kept connections with Jews and Judaism, to choose between Judaism and Christianity.
In Greek the homilies are called Kata Ioudaiōn (Κατὰ Ιουδαίων), which is translated as Adversus Judaeos in Latin and Against the Jews in English. The original Benedictine editor of the homilies, Bernard de Montfaucon,
gives the following footnote to the title: "A discourse against the
Jews; but it was delivered against those who were Judaizing and keeping
the fasts with them [the Jews]."
According to Patristics' scholars, opposition to any particular view
during the late fourth century was conventionally expressed in a manner,
utilizing the rhetorical form known as the psogos, whose literary
conventions were to vilify opponents in an uncompromising manner; thus,
it has been argued that to call Chrysostom an "anti-Semite" is to employ
anachronistic terminology in a way incongruous with historical context
and record.[46] That does not, however, prevent one from claiming that Chrysostom's theology was a form of Anti-Jewish supersessionism, or that his rhetoric was not Anti-Judaism.
The Catechetical Homily
Although most of his homilies must have taken a couple of hours to deliver, his famous Catechetical Homily (Hieratikon) is rather brief. In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is read at Paschal matins where it the only patristic reading of the day (and, in parishes, the only one any time of the year.
Treatises
Outside of his homilies, a number of John's other treatises have had a
lasting influence. One such work is John's early treatise Against Those Who Oppose the Monastic Life,
written while he was a deacon (sometime before 386), which was directed
to parents, pagan as well as Christian, whose sons were contemplating a
monastic vocation. The book is a sharp attack on the values of
Antiochene upper-class urban society written by someone who was a member
of that class. Chrysostom also writes that, already in his day, it was customary for Antiochenes to send their sons to be educated by monks. Other important treatises written by John include On the Priesthood (one of his earlier works), Instructions to Catechumens, and On the Incomprehensibility of the Divine Nature. In addition, he wrote a series of letters to the deaconess Olympias, of which seventeen are extant.
Liturgy
Beyond his preaching, the other lasting legacy of John is his
influence on Christian liturgy. Two of his writings are particularly
notable. He harmonized the liturgical life of the Church by revising the
prayers and rubrics of the Divine Liturgy, or celebration of the Holy
Eucharist. To this day, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches
of the Byzantine Rite typically celebrate the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom as the normal Eucharistic liturgy, although his exact connection with it remains a matter of debate among experts.
Legacy and influence
During a time when city clergy were subject to criticism for their
high lifestyle, John was determined to reform his clergy in
Constantinople. These efforts were met with resistance and limited
success. He was an excellent preacher[53] whose homilies and writings are still studied and quoted. As a theologian, he has been and continues to be very important in Eastern Christianity,
and is generally considered the most prominent doctor of the Greek
Church, but has been less important to Western Christianity. His
writings have survived to the present day more so than any of the other Greek Fathers.
He rejected the contemporary trend for allegory, instead speaking
plainly and applying Bible passages and lessons to everyday life. His
exile demonstrated the rivalry between Constantinople and Alexandria for
recognition as the preeminent Eastern See, while in the west, the Pope's primacy remained unquestioned.
View of women
Feminist scholars found him critical of women, when he wrote "Of all the wild animals, none can be found as harmful as women" (translated by others as "Among all the savage beasts none is found so harmful as woman.").
Another scholar found "rejoicing in the creation of humanity in two
sexes, and in the gift of sexual desire" rather than that which "may
seem degrading to women if taken in isolation".
Influence on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and clergy
John's influence on church teachings is interwoven throughout the current Catechism of the Catholic Church
(revised 1992). The Catechism cites him in eighteen sections,
particularly his reflections on the purpose of prayer and the meaning of
the Lord's Prayer:
Consider how [Jesus Christ] teaches us to be humble, by making us see that our virtue does not depend on our work alone but on grace from on high. He commands each of the faithful who prays to do so universally, for the whole world. For he did not say "thy will be done in me or in us", but "on earth", the whole earth, so that error may be banished from it, truth take root in it, all vice be destroyed on it, virtue flourish on it, and earth no longer differ from heaven.
Christian clerics, such as R.S. Storr, refer to him as "one of the
most eloquent preachers who ever since apostolic times have brought to
men the divine tidings of truth and love", and the 19th-century John Henry Newman described John as a "bright, cheerful, gentle soul; a sensitive heart."
The Legend of the Penance of St John Chrysostom
A legend recorded in Croatia in the 16th Century (although not mentioned in the Golden Legend) relates that when John Chrysostom was a hermit in the desert, he was approached by a royal princess in distress.[63]
The Saint, thinking she was a demon, at first refused to help her, but
the princess convinced him that she was a Christian and would be
devoured by wild beasts if she were not allowed to enter his cave. He
therefore admitted her, carefully dividing the cave in two parts, one
for each of them.
In spite of these precautions, the sin of fornication was committed,
and in an attempt to hide it, the distraught saint took the princess and
threw her over a precipice. He then went to Rome to beg absolution,
which was refused. Realising the appalling nature of his crimes,
Chrysostom made a vow that he would never rise from the ground until his
sins were expiated, and for years he lived like a beast, crawling on
all fours and feeding on wild grasses and roots. Subsequently the
princess reappeared, alive, and suckling the saint's baby, who
miraculously pronounced his sins forgiven.
This last scene was very popular in the early 16th century as a subject for engravers and artists. The theme was depicted by Albrecht Dürer, Hans Sebald Beham and Lucas Cranach the Elder among others.
Relics
John Chrysostom died in the city of Comana in the year 407 on his way to his place of exile. There his relics remained until 438 when, thirty years after his death, they were transferred to Constantinople during the reign of the Empress Eudoxia's son, the Emperor Theodosius II (408–450), under the guidance of John's disciple, St. Proclus, who by that time had become Archbishop of Constantinople (434–447).
Most of John's relics were looted from Constantinople by Crusaders in 1204 and taken to Rome, but some of his bones were returned to the Orthodox on 27 November 2004 by Pope John Paul II. They are now enshrined in the Church of St. George, Istanbul.
However, the skull of St John, having been kept at the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos in northern Greece, was not among the relics that were taken by the crusaders in the 13th century. In 1655, at the request of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich,
the skull was taken to Russia, for which the monastery was compensated
in the sum of 2000 rubles. In 1693, having received a request from the
Vatopedi Monastery for the return of St John's skull, Tsar Peter the Great
ordered that the skull remain in Russia but that the monastery was to
be paid 500 rubles every four years. The Russian state archives document
these payments up until 1735.
The skull was kept at the Moscow Kremlin, in the Cathedral of the
Dormition of the Mother of God, until 1920, when it was confiscated by
the Soviets and placed in the Museum of Silver Antiquities. In 1988, in
connection with the 1000th Anniversary of the Baptism of Russia, the Head, together with other important relics, was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church and kept at the Epiphany Cathedral, until being moved to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour after its restoration.
However, today, the Vatopedi Monastery posits a rival claim to
possession of the skull of St. John Chrysostom, and there a skull is
venerated by pilgrims to the monastery as that of St John.
Two places in Italy also claim to have the skull of St. John Chrysostom: the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence and the Dal Pozzo chapel in Pisa.
The right hand of St John is preserved on Mount Athos, and numerous smaller relics are scattered throughout the world.
References
- Attwater, Donald (1939). St. John Chrysostom: The Voice of Gold. London: Harvill.
- Baur, Chrysostomus (1959). John Chrysostom and His Times. M. Gonzaga, trans (2nd ed.). London: Sands.
- Chrysostom, John (1985). Apologist. Margaret A. Schatkin and Paul W. Harkins, trans. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 0-8132-0073-3.
- Chrysostom, John (1986). Homilies on Genesis. Robert C. Hill, trans. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 0-8132-0074-1.
- Chrysostom, John (1986). On marriage and family life. Catherine P. Roth, trans. Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 0-913836-86-9.
- Lim, Richard (1995). Public disputation, power, and social order in late antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-585-16041-4.
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Today's Snippet I: Constantinople
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| Map of Byzantine Constantinople |
Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Κωνσταντινούπολη - Konstantinoúpolis, Konstantinoúpoli; Latin: Constantinopolis; Ottoman Turkish: قسطنطینیه - Qostantiniyye; and modern Turkish: İstanbul) was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin and the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in AD 330, at ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine I, after whom it was named. The city was the largest and wealthiest European city of the Middle Ages, and shared the glories of the Byzantine Empire, which was eventually reduced to the city and its environs.
Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. A first wall was erected by Constantine I, and the city was surrounded by a double wall lying about 2 km to the west of the first wall, begun during the 5th century by Theodosius II. The city was built on seven hills as well as on the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara, and thus presented an impregnable fortress enclosing magnificent palaces, domes and towers. The Church of Hagia Sophia, the sacred palace of the emperors, the hippodrome, and the Golden Gate were among the largest of the many churches, public edifices, and monuments lining the arcaded avenues and squares.
Constantinople had a large amount of artistic and literary treasure before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453. It was virtually depopulated when it fell to the Ottoman Turks , but the city recovered rapidly. The Ottoman sultans, whose court was called the Sublime Porte, embellished Constantinople with many mosques, palaces, monuments, fountains, baths, aqueducts and other public buildings. After World War I, the city was occupied (1918–23) by the Allies. In 1922, the last Ottoman sultan was deposed and in 1923 Ankara became the new capital of Turkey.
Names
The city was originally founded as a Greek colony under the name of Byzantium in the 7th century BC. It took on the name of Konstantinoupolis ("city of Constantine", Constantinople) after its re-foundation under Roman emperor Constantine I, who designated it as his new Roman capital, the New Rome. The modern Turkish name İstanbul derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin (εις την πόλιν), meaning "in the City" or "to the City". This name was used in Turkish side by side with Kostantiniyye, the more formal adaptation of the original Constantinople,
during the period of Ottoman rule, while western languages mostly
continued to refer to the city as Constantinople until the early 20th
century. After the creation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Turkish government began to formally object to the use of Constantinople in other languages and ask that others use the more common name for the city.
History
Byzantium
Byzantium (bih-ZAN-tee-uhm; Greek: Βυζάντιον, Byzántion; Latin: BYZANTIVM) was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 657 BC and named after their king Byzas (Greek: Βύζας, Býzas, genitive Βύζαντος, Býzantos). The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion. The city was later renamed Nova Roma by Constantine the Great, but popularly called Constantinople and briefly became the imperial residence of the classical Roman Empire. Then subsequently the city was, for more than a thousand years, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks, becoming the capital of their empire, in 1453. The name of the city was officially changed to Istanbul in 1930 following the establishment of modern Turkey.
The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend. The traditional legend has it that Byzas from Megara (a town near Athens), founded Byzantium in 657 BC, when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea. Byzas had consulted the Oracle at Delphi to ask where to make his new city. The Oracle told him to find it "opposite the blind." At the time, he did not know what this meant. But when he came upon the Bosporus he understood: on the opposite eastern shore was a Greek city, Chalcedon, whose founders were said to have overlooked the superior location only 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away. Byzas founded his city here on the European coast and named it Byzantion after himself. It was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Sea's only entrance. Byzantion later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosporus on the Asiatic side.
After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in 196 AD.[1] Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity. It was bound to Perinthos during the period of Septimius Severus. The location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in 330 AD, refounded it as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself. (See Nova Roma.) After his death the city was called Constantinople (Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις or Konstantinoupolis) ('city of Constantine'). It remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which is called the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinople's role as the nexus point between two continents: Europe and Asia. It was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic magnet. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the route between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29, 1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire. The Turks called the city Istanbul (though not officially renamed until 1930) and it has remained Turkey's largest and most populous city, although Ankara is now the capital.
The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend. The traditional legend has it that Byzas from Megara (a town near Athens), founded Byzantium in 657 BC, when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea. Byzas had consulted the Oracle at Delphi to ask where to make his new city. The Oracle told him to find it "opposite the blind." At the time, he did not know what this meant. But when he came upon the Bosporus he understood: on the opposite eastern shore was a Greek city, Chalcedon, whose founders were said to have overlooked the superior location only 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away. Byzas founded his city here on the European coast and named it Byzantion after himself. It was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Sea's only entrance. Byzantion later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosporus on the Asiatic side.
After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in 196 AD.[1] Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity. It was bound to Perinthos during the period of Septimius Severus. The location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in 330 AD, refounded it as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself. (See Nova Roma.) After his death the city was called Constantinople (Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις or Konstantinoupolis) ('city of Constantine'). It remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which is called the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinople's role as the nexus point between two continents: Europe and Asia. It was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic magnet. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the route between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29, 1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire. The Turks called the city Istanbul (though not officially renamed until 1930) and it has remained Turkey's largest and most populous city, although Ankara is now the capital.
306–337
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| Constantine the Great |
Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330.
Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and
ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis. Yet, at first, Constantine's new Rome did not have all the dignities of old Rome. It possessed a proconsul, rather than an urban prefect. It had no praetors, tribunes, or quaestors. Although it did have senators, they held the title clarus, not clarissimus,
like those of Rome. It also lacked the panoply of other administrative
offices regulating the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers,
aqueducts, or other public works. The new programme of building was
carried out in great haste: Columns, marbles, doors, and tiles were
taken wholesale from the temples of the Empire and moved to the new
city. In similar fashion, many of the greatest works of Greek and Roman
art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The Emperor
stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from
the Imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica,
and on 18 May 332, he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of
food would be made to the citizens. At the time, the amount is said to
have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points
around the city.
Constantine laid out a new square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it the Augustaeum.
The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east
side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the Emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke, and its ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne. Nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and the famed Baths of Zeuxippus. At the western entrance to the Augustaeum was the Milion, a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Roman Empire.
From the Augustaeum led a great street, the Mese
(Greek: Μέση [Οδός] lit. "Middle [Street]"), lined with colonnades. As
it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it
passed on the left the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through the oval Forum of Constantine where there was a second Senate-house and a high column with a statue of Constantine himself in the guise of Helios, crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking toward the rising sun. From there the Mese passed on and through the Forum Tauri and then the Forum Bovis, and finally up the Seventh Hill (or Xerolophus) and through to the Golden Gate in the Constantinian Wall. After the construction of the Theodosian Walls in the early 5th century, it was extended to the new Golden Gate, reaching a total length of seven Roman miles.
337–527
The first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople was Honoratus, who took office on 11 December 359 and held it until 361. The emperor Valens built the Palace of Hebdomon on the shore of the Propontis near the Golden Gate, probably for use when reviewing troops. All the emperors up to Zeno and Basiliscus were crowned and acclaimed at the Hebdomon. Theodosius I founded the Church of John the Baptist to house the skull of the saint (today preserved at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey), put up a memorial pillar to himself in the Forum of Taurus, and turned the ruined temple of Aphrodite into a coach house for the Praetorian Prefect; Arcadius built a new forum named after himself on the Mese, near the walls of Constantine.
The importance of Constantinople gradually increased. After the shock of the Battle of Adrianople in 378, in which the emperor Valens with the flower of the Roman armies was destroyed by the Visigoths within a few days' march, the city looked to its defences, and in 413–414, Theodosius II built the 18-meter (60-foot)-tall triple-wall fortifications, which were never to be breached until the coming of gunpowder. Theodosius also founded a University near the Forum of Taurus, on 27 February 425.
Uldin, a prince of the Huns,
appeared on the Danube about this time and advanced into Thrace, but he
was deserted by many of his followers, who joined with the Romans in
driving their king back north of the river. Subsequent to this, new
walls were built to defend the city, and the fleet on the Danube
improved.
In due course, the barbarians overran the Western Roman Empire: Its emperors retreated to Ravenna,
and it diminished to nothing. Thereafter, Constantinople became in
truth the largest city of the Roman Empire and of the world. Emperors
were no longer peripatetic between various court capitals and palaces.
They remained in their palace in the Great City, and sent generals to
command their armies. The wealth of the eastern Mediterranean and
western Asia flowed into Constantinople.
527–565
The emperor Justinian I
(527–565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal reforms and
for his public works. It was from Constantinople that his expedition
for the reconquest of the former Diocese of Africa set sail on or about
21 June 533. Before their departure, the ship of the commander Belisarius
was anchored in front of the Imperial palace, and the Patriarch offered
prayers for the success of the enterprise. After the victory, in 534,
the Temple treasure of Jerusalem, looted by the Romans in 70 AD and taken to Carthage by the Vandals after their sack of Rome in 455, was brought to Constantinople and deposited for a time, perhaps in the Church of St. Polyeuctus, before being returned to Jerusalem in either the Church of the Resurrection or the New Church.
Chariot-racing had been important in Rome for centuries. In
Constantinople, the hippodrome became over time increasingly a place of
political significance. It was where (as a shadow of the popular
elections of old Rome) the people by acclamation showed their approval
of a new emperor, and also where they openly criticized the government,
or clamoured for the removal of unpopular ministers. In the time of
Justinian, public order in Constantinople became a critical political
issue.
Throughout the late Roman and early Byzantine periods, Christianity
was resolving fundamental questions of identity, and the dispute between
the orthodox and the monophysites
became the cause of serious disorder, expressed through allegiance to
the horse-racing parties of the Blues and the Greens. The partisans of
the Blues and the Greens were said
to affect untrimmed facial hair, head hair shaved at the front and
grown long at the back, and wide-sleeved tunics tight at the wrist; and
to form gangs to engage in night-time muggings and street violence. At
last these disorders took the form of a major rebellion of 532, known as
the "Nika" riots (from the battle-cry of "Victory!" of those involved).
Fires started by the Nika rioters consumed Constantine's basilica of
St Sophia, the city's principal church, which lay to the north of the
Augustaeum. Justinian commissioned Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with a new and incomparable St Sophia.
This was the great cathedral of the Orthodox Church, whose dome was
said to be held aloft by God alone, and which was directly connected to
the palace so that the imperial family could attend services without
passing through the streets. The dedication took place on 26 December 537 in the presence of the emperor, who exclaimed, "O Solomon, I have outdone thee!" St Sophia was served by 600 people including 80 priests, and cost 20,000 pounds of gold to build.
Justinian also had Anthemius and Isidore demolish and replace the
original Church of the Holy Apostles built by Constantine with a new church
under the same dedication. This was designed in the form of an
equal-armed cross with five domes, and ornamented with beautiful
mosaics. This church was to remain the burial place of the Emperors from
Constantine himself until the 11th century. When the city fell to the
Turks in 1453, the church was demolished to make room for the tomb of Mehmet II the Conqueror.
Justinian was also concerned with other aspects of the city's built
environment, legislating against the abuse of laws prohibiting building
within 100 feet (30 m) of the sea front, in order to protect the view.
During Justinian I's reign, the city's population reached about 500,000 people. However, the social fabric of Constantinople was also damaged by the onset of Plague of Justinian between 541–542 AD. It killed perhaps 40% of the city's inhabitants.
Survival, 565–717
In the early 7th century, the Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans, threatening Constantinople from the west. Simultaneously, the Persian Sassanids overwhelmed the Prefecture of the East and penetrated deep into Anatolia. Heraclius, son to the exarch of Africa,
set sail for the city and assumed the purple. He found the military
situation so dire that he is said at first to have contemplated
withdrawing the imperial capital to Carthage,
but relented after the people of Constantinople begged him to stay. The
citizens lost their right to free grain in 618 when Heraclius realised
that the city no longer could be supplied from Egypt as a result of the
Persian wars: the population dropped substantially in size as a result.
While the city withstood a siege, Heraclius campaigned deep into Persian territory and briefly restored the status quo in 628, when the Persians surrendered all their conquests. However, further sieges followed in the course of attacks from the Arabs, a first from 674 to 678, and a second from 717 to 718. At this time the Theodosian Walls kept the city impregnable from the land, while a newly discovered incendiary substance known as "Greek Fire" allowed the Byzantine navy to destroy the Arab fleets and keep the city supplied. In the second siege, decisive help was rendered by the Bulgars.
717–1025
In the 730s Leo III
carried out extensive repairs of the Theodosian walls, which had been
damaged by frequent and violent attacks; this work was financed by a
special tax on all the subjects of the Empire. Theodora, widow of the Emperor Theophilus (died 842), acted as regent during the minority of her son Michael III,
who was said to have been introduced to dissolute habits by her brother
Bardas. When Michael assumed power in 856, he became known for
excessive drunkenness, appeared in the hippodrome as a charioteer and
burlesqued the religious processions of the clergy. He removed Theodora
from the Great Palace to the Carian Palace and later to the monastery of Gastria,
but, after the death of Bardas, she was released to live in the palace
of St Mamas; she also had a rural residence at the Anthemian Palace,
where Michael was assassinated in 867.
In 860, an attack was made on the city by a new principality set up a few years earlier at Kiev by Askold and Dir, two Varangian
chiefs: Two hundred small vessels passed through the Bosporus and
plundered the monasteries and other properties on the suburban Prince's Islands. Oryphas,
the admiral of the Byzantine fleet, alerted the emperor Michael, who
promptly put the invaders to flight; but the suddenness and savagery of
the onslaught made a deep impression on the citizens.
In 980, the emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Prince Vladimir of Kiev: 6,000 Varangian warriors, which Basil formed into a new bodyguard known as the Varangian Guard.
They were known for their ferocity, honour, and loyalty. It is said
that, in 1038, they were dispersed in winter quarters in the Thracesian
theme when one of their number attempted to violate a countrywoman, but
in the struggle she seized his sword and killed him; instead of taking
revenge, however, his comrades applauded her conduct, compensated her
with all his possessions, and exposed his body without burial as if he
had committed suicide. However, following the death of an Emperor, they became known also for plunder in the Imperial palaces. Later in the 11th Century the Varangian Guard became dominated by Anglo-Saxons who preferred this way of life to subjugation by the new Norman kings of England.
The Book of the Eparch,
which dates to the 10th century, gives a detailed picture of the city's
commercial life and its organization at that time. The corporations in
which the tradesmen of Constantinople were organised were supervised by
the Eparch, who regulated such matters as production, prices, import,
and export. Each guild had its own monopoly, and tradesmen might not
belong to more than one. It is an impressive testament to the strength
of tradition how little these arrangements had changed since the office,
then known by the Latin version of its title, had been set up in 330 to
mirror the urban prefecture of Rome. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Constantinople had a population of between 500,000 and 800,000.
Iconoclast controversy
In the 8th and 9th centuries, the iconoclast movement caused serious political unrest throughout the Empire. The emperor Leo III
issued a decree in 726 against images, and ordered the destruction of a
statue of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act that was
fiercely resisted by the citizens. Constantine V convoked a church council in 754,
which condemned the worship of images, after which many treasures were
broken, burned, or painted over with depictions of trees, birds or
animals: One source refers to the church of the Holy Virgin at Blachernae as having been transformed into a "fruit store and aviary". Following the death of his son Leo IV in 780, the empress Irene restored the veneration of images through the agency of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.
The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, only to
be resolved once more in 843 during the regency of Empress Theodora, who restored the icons. These controversies contributed to the deterioration of relations between the Western and the Eastern Churches.
Prelude to the Comnenian period, 1025–1081
In the late 11th century catastrophe struck with the unexpected and calamitous defeat of the imperial armies at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia in 1071. The Emperor Romanus Diogenes was captured. The peace terms demanded by Alp Arslan,
sultan of the Seljuk Turks, were not excessive, and Romanus accepted
them. On his release, however, Romanus found that enemies had placed
their own candidate on the throne in his absence; he surrendered to them
and suffered death by torture, and the new ruler, Michael VII
Ducas, refused to honour the treaty. In response, the Turks began to
move into Anatolia in 1073. The collapse of the old defensive system
meant that they met no opposition, and the empire's resources were
distracted and squandered in a series of civil wars. Thousands of Turkoman
tribesmen crossed the unguarded frontier and moved into Anatolia. By
1080, a huge area had been lost to the Empire, and the Turks were within
striking distance of Constantinople.
1081–1185
Under the Comnenian dynasty (1081–1185), Byzantium staged a remarkable recovery. In 1090–91, the nomadic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army. In response to a call for aid from Alexius, the First Crusade assembled at Constantinople in 1096, but declining to put itself under Byzantine command set out for Jerusalem on its own account. John II built the monastery of the Pantocrator (Almighty) with a hospital for the poor of 50 beds.
With the restoration of firm central government, the empire became
fabulously wealthy. The population was rising (estimates for
Constantinople in the 12th century vary from some 100,000 to 500,000),
and towns and cities across the realm flourished. Meanwhile, the volume
of money in circulation dramatically increased. This was reflected in
Constantinople by the construction of the Blachernae palace, the
creation of brilliant new works of art, and general prosperity at this
time: an increase in trade, made possible by the growth of the Italian
city-states, may have helped the growth of the economy. It is certain
that the Venetians and others were active traders in Constantinople, making a living out of shipping goods between the Crusader Kingdoms of Outremer and the West, while also trading extensively with Byzantium and Egypt.
The Venetians had factories on the north side of the Golden Horn, and
large numbers of westerners were present in the city throughout the 12th
century. Toward the end of Manuel I's reign, the number of foreigners
in the city reached about 60,000-80,000 people out of a total population
of about 400,000 people. In 1171, Constantinople also contained a small community of 2,500 Jews.
In artistic terms, the 12th century was a very productive period. There was a revival in the mosaic
art, for example: Mosaics became more realistic and vivid, with an
increased emphasis on depicting three-dimensional forms. There was an
increased demand for art, with more people having access to the
necessary wealth to commission and pay for such work. According to N.H.
Baynes (Byzantium, An Introduction to East Roman Civilization):
- "With its love of luxury and passion for colour, the art of this age delighted in the production of masterpieces that spread the fame of Byzantium throughout the whole of the Christian world. Beautiful silks from the work-shops of Constantinople also portrayed in dazzling colour animals - lions, elephants, eagles, and griffins - confronting each other, or represented Emperors gorgeously arrayed on horseback or engaged in the chase."
- "From the tenth to the twelfth century Byzantium was the main source
of inspiration for the West. By their style, arrangement, and
iconography the mosaics of St. Mark's at Venice and of the cathedral at Torcello clearly reveal their Byzantine origin. Similarly those of the Palatine Chapel, the Martorana at Palermo, and the cathedral of Cefalù, together with the vast decoration of the cathedral at Monreale, demonstrate the influence of Byzantium on the Norman Court of Sicily in the twelfth century. Hispano-Moorish art was unquestionably derived from the Byzantine. Romanesque art
owes much to the East, from which it borrowed not only its decorative
forms but the plan of some of its buildings, as is proved, for instance,
by the domed churches of south-western France. Princes of Kiev, Venetian doges, abbots of Monte Cassino, merchants of Amalfi,
and the kings of Sicily all looked to Byzantium for artists or works of
art. Such was the influence of Byzantine art in the twelfth century,
that Russia, Venice, southern Italy and Sicily all virtually became
provincial centres dedicated to its production."
1185–1261
In February, the people rose again: Alexius IV was imprisoned and executed, and Murzuphlus took the purple as Alexius V.
He made some attempt to repair the walls and organise the citizenry,
but there had been no opportunity to bring in troops from the provinces
and the guards were demoralised by the revolution. An attack by the
Crusaders on 6 April failed, but a second from the Golden Horn on 12
April succeeded, and the invaders poured in. Alexius V fled. The Senate
met in St Sophia and offered the crown to Theodore Lascaris, who had
married into the Angelid family, but it was too late. He came out with
the Patriarch to the Golden Milestone
before the Great Palace and addressed the Varangian Guard. Then the two
of them slipped away with many of the nobility and embarked for Asia.
By the next day the Doge and the leading Franks were installed in the
Great Palace, and the city was given over to pillage for three days.
The great historian of the Crusades, Sir Steven Runciman, wrote that the sack of Constantinople is “unparalleled in history”.
“For nine centuries,” he goes on, “the great city had been the capital of Christian civilisation. It was filled with works of art that had survived from ancient Greece and with the masterpieces of its own exquisite craftsmen. The Venetians, wherever they could, seized treasures and carried them off. But the Frenchmen and Flemings were filled with a lust for destruction: They rushed in a howling mob down the streets and through the houses, snatching up everything that glittered and destroying whatever they could not carry, pausing only to murder or to rape, or to break open the wine-cellars. Neither monasteries nor churches nor libraries were spared. In St Sophia itself, drunken soldiers could be seen tearing down the silken hangings and pulling the silver iconostasis to pieces, while sacred books and icons were trampled under foot. While they drank from the altar-vessels, a prostitute sang a ribald French song on the Patriarch’s throne. Nuns were ravished in their convents. Palaces and hovels alike were wrecked. Wounded women and children lay dying in the streets. For three days the ghastly scenes continued until the huge and beautiful city was a shambles. Even after order was restored, citizens were tortured to make them reveal treasures they had hidden.
For the next half-century, Constantinople was the seat of the Latin Empire. The Byzantine nobility were scattered. Many went to Nicaea, where Theodore Lascaris set up an imperial court, or to Epirus, where Theodore Angelus did the same; others fled to Trebizond, where one of the Comneni had already with Georgian support established an independent seat of empire. Nicaea and Epirus both vied for the imperial title, and tried to recover Constantinople. In 1261, Constantinople was captured from its last Latin ruler, Baldwin II, by the forces of the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus.
1261–1453
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| Map of Constantinople (1422 |
Ottoman Era
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| The Ottoman sultan Mehmed II and Gennadius II. |
Once the fighting started, it went on for forty-eight days. The wall
was beginning to collapse when Constantine sent a letter to the pope
asking for help. In response the pope sent five ships full of
reinforcements, weapons and supplies. Another defense tactic involved
Constantine blocking off the port so that the Ottoman army could not get
ships into it. Mehmed had his people pave a path from oiled tree
branches in order to bring eighty ships overland, and placed them into
the gulf behind the enemy ships. Byzantine attempts to burn the Turkish
ships failed. For the defenders, this meant loss of control over the
Horn and that they were effectively cut off from reinforcements by sea.
Since the Byzantine army was still holding on after this defeat the
sultan thought it was time to set up his secret weapon, a huge mobile
tower. This tower could hold many soldiers who could be at the same
level as the walls of the city, making it easier for them to break into
Constantinople. The first group of Ottomans who entered the city were
killed almost immediately, with the effect that the other Muslims began
to retreat. Witnessing this, the sultan encouraged his soldiers. Soon
after the sultan’s encouragement the Muslims broke the wall in two
places and entered the city. In a last attempt to protect it,
Constantine attacked the enemy sword raised; however he was defeated and
killed.
Finally, Constantinople was under Ottoman rule. When Mehmed finally entered Constantinople through what is now known as the Topkapi Gate, he immediately rode his horse to the Hagia Sophia which he ordered to be sacked. He ordered that an imam meet him there in order to chant the Muslim Creed: “I testify that there is no God but Allah. I testify that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah.” This turned the Greek cathedral into a Turkish mosque, solidifying Turkish rule in Constantinople.
The composition from the Ottoman Turkish point of view shows Mehmed
as a clever, strong conqueror. Evidence of the bias toward portraying
Mehmed as an intelligent military leader is reflected in the statement:
"The sultan ordered the setting up of his secret weapon which he had
invented himself."
By contrast, the composition from the Byzantine point of view portrays
Constantine Palaeologus as a brave leader who gave his life for the
cause. As quoted from a Byzantine essay: "[Constantine] charged into the
sea of the enemy soldiers, hitting left and right in a final act of
defiance." Other than the variations in their stories, the battle occurs in the
same manner and neither of the compositions portrays the opposition in a
brutally negative light.
The city was plundered for three days.
At the end, the population which had not been able to escape, was
deported to Edirne, Bursa and other Ottoman cities, leaving the city
deserted except for the Jews of Balat and the Genoese of Pera.
Mehmed’s main concern with Constantinople had to do with rebuilding
the city’s defenses and repopulation. Building projects were commenced
immediately after the conquest, which included the repair of the walls,
construction of the citadel, and building a new palace.
Mehmed issued orders across his empire that Muslims, Christians, and
Jews should resettle the city; he demanded that five thousand households
needed to be deported to Constantinople by September. From all the Empire, war prisoners and deported people were sent to the city: these people were called "Sürgün" in Turkish (Greek: σουργουνιδες). Two centuries later, Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi
gave us a list of the groups which were deported in the city with the
respective provenience. Still now, many quarters of Istanbul, like Aksaray, Çarşamba, and others get their names from the town of provenience of an group.
However, many people escaped again from the city, and there were
several outbreaks of plague, so that in 1459 Mehmet allowed the deported
Greeks to come back to the city. This measure apparently had no great success, since French voyager Pierre Gilles
writes in the middle of 16th century that the Greek population of
Constantinople was unable to mention any name of the ancient Byzantine
churches transformed in mosques or abandoned. This shows that the
population substitution had been total.
By 1459 the Sultan promoted a lot of energy to bringing prosperity to
Constantinople. In several quarters of the city pious foundations (Turkish: waqf) were created; these areas consisted of a theological college, a school (or a Madrasa, usually connected to the mosque, a public kitchen, and a mosque. These actions lead Constantinople to become a once again thriving capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Suleiman the Magnificent's
reign over the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 was a period of great
artistic and architectural achievements. The famous architect Mimar Sinan designed many mosques and other grand buildings in the city, while Ottoman arts of ceramics and calligraphy also flourished. Many tekkes survive to this day, some in the form of mosques while others have become museums such as the Cerrahi Tekke and the Sünbül Efendi and Ramazan Efendi mosques and türbes in Fatih, the Galata Mevlevihanesi in Beyoğlu, the Yahya Efendi tekke in Beşiktaş, and the Bektaşi Tekke in Kadıköy, which now serves Alevi Muslims as a cemevi.
Culture
Constantinople was the largest and richest urban center in the
Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the late Eastern Roman Empire, mostly
as a result of its strategic position commanding the trade routes
between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. It would remain the capital of
the eastern, Greek-speaking empire for over a thousand years. At its
peak, roughly corresponding to the Middle Ages, it was the richest and
largest European city, exerting a powerful cultural pull and dominating
economic life in the Mediterranean. Visitors and merchants were
especially struck by the beautiful monasteries and churches of the city,
in particular, Hagia Sophia,
or the Church of Holy Wisdom: A Russian 14th-century traveler, Stephen
of Novgorod, wrote, "As for St Sophia, the human mind can neither tell
it nor make description of it."
It was especially important for preserving in its libraries
manuscripts of Greek and Latin authors throughout a period when
instability and disorder caused their mass-destruction in western Europe
and north Africa: On the city's fall, thousands of these were brought
by refugees to Italy, and played a key part in stimulating the
Renaissance, and the transition to the modern world. The cumulative
influence of the city on the west, over the many centuries of its
existence, is incalculable. In terms of technology, art and culture, as
well as sheer size, Constantinople was without parallel anywhere in
Europe for a thousand years.
International Status
The city provided a defence for the eastern provinces of the old
Roman Empire against the barbarian invasions of the 5th century. The
18-meter-tall walls built by Theodosius II were, in essence, impregnable to the barbarians coming from south of the Danube river,
who found easier targets to the west rather than the richer provinces
to the east in Asia. From the 5th century, the city was also protected
by the Anastasian Wall, a 60-kilometer chain of walls across the Thracian peninsula. Many scholars argue that these sophisticated fortifications allowed the east to develop relatively unmolested while Ancient Rome and the west collapsed. With the emergence of Christianity and the rise of Islam,
Constantinople became the last bastion of Christian Europe, standing at
the fore of Islamic expansion, and repelling its influence. As the
Byzantine Empire was situated in-between the Islamic world and the
Christian west, so did Constantinople act as Europe’s first
line-of-defence against Arab advances in the 7th and 8th centuries. The
city, and the Empire, would ultimately fall to the Ottomans by 1453, but its enduring legacy had provided Europe centuries of resurgence following the collapse of Rome.
Architecture
The Byzantine Empire used Roman and Greek architectural models and
styles to create its own unique type of architecture. The influence of
Byzantine architecture and art can be seen in the copies taken from it
throughout Europe. Particular examples include St Mark's Basilica in Venice, the basilicas of Ravenna, and many churches throughout the Slavic East. Also, alone in Europe until the 13th century Italian florin, the Empire continued to produce sound gold coinage, the solidus of Diocletian becoming the bezant prized throughout the Middle Ages. Its city walls were much imitated (for example, see Caernarfon Castle)
and its urban infrastructure was moreover a marvel throughout the
Middle Ages, keeping alive the art, skill and technical expertise of the
Roman Empire.
References
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- Gibbon, Edward (2005). The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-0-7538-1881-7.
- Hanna-Riitta, Toivanen (2007). The Influence of Constantinople on Middle Byzantine Architecture (843–1204). A typological and morphological approach at the provincial level. Suomen kirkkohistoriallisen seuran toimituksia 202 (Publications of the Finnish Society of Church History No. 202). ISBN 978-952-5031-41-6.
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- Janin, Raymond (1964) (in French). Constantinople Byzantine (2 ed.). Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines.
- Mamboury, Ernest (1953). The Tourists' Istanbul. Istanbul: Çituri Biraderler Basımevi.
- Mansel, Philip (1998). Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453–1924. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-312-18708-8.
- Müller-Wiener, Wolfgang (1977) (in German). Bildlexikon zur Topographie Istanbuls: Byzantion, Konstantinupolis, Istanbul bis zum Beginn d. 17 Jh. Tübingen: Wasmuth. ISBN 978-3-8030-1022-3.
- Phillips, Jonathan (2005). The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople. Pimlico. ISBN 978-1-84413-080-1.
- Runciman, Steven (1990). The Fall of Constantinople, 1453. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-84413-080-1.
- Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2630-
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