Exploring Christian Identity from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages

Book excerpt: This book challenges the popular understanding that all Byzantines regarded the Christian faith, Hellenic cultural legacy, and Roman imperial tradition as inextricably linked. To this end, it outlines and explores the patristic resistance to the emperor’s involvement in ecclesial affairs as evidenced by the writings of St. Maximus the Confessor and his disciples, in addition to their martyrial and monastic influences. It therefore considers what the orthodox Christians of the Early Byzantine period perceived as their identity capital, including the virtues defined by the New Testament and such Late Antique texts as the Acts of Justin and the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Factoring in the theological crisis of the seventh century, this investigation highlights how the Confessor’s clerical and lay accusers reclaimed the Greek legacy to distinguish themselves from the defenders of Christ’s two wills residing in “Old Rome”. Contrary to the conviction of many scholars, this book discloses that many Byzantines did not recognise anything holy about the office of the emperor (with the church fathers especially rejecting imperial trappings).