The Influence Of Byzantium In Eastern Europe

The Byzantines had a major impact on Christianity. "The Byzantines withstood years of siege by the Arabs hitherto considered irresistible, and in doing so … saved Western Civilization." (A Short History of Byzantium, Document A). There were early attacks on Constantinople that the Byzantines were able to hold off. In holding off the various attacks, the Byzantines kept Western Civilization Christian instead of it being converted to Muslim. The Christian Church of Constantinople and the Christian Church of Rome also split due to an argument over some spiritual interpretations of the Bible. If it was not for the Byzantines most of Western Civilization would be Muslim and not Christian.

For nearly 200 years, Christians engaged in a series of holy wars with the Muslims in what is now known as the Crusades. The First Crusade is marked by a specific act on November 27, 1095. In an open field, outside the city of Clermont in Auvergne, Pope Urban II gave an impassioned speech to the people gathered. In this speech, Urban II urged his hearers to take part in a military expedition to the East. As a result, the mighty papal-sanctioned armies captured Edessa, Antioch and Jerusalem. The Second Crusade besieged Damascus yet failed to capture it. The Third Crusade was launched to retake Jerusalem from Muslim commander Salah al-Din but was unsuccessful. However, Salah al-Din was willing to make peace with the crusaders by guaranteeing the safety of

The Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy began in 726 CE when Emperor Leo III issued a decree against the worship of icons.1 This action resulted in the removal and destruction of icons in churches and monasteries.2 There had been tensions rising between the church and the state over the use of icons for some time, but the culmination of these tensions along with the pressure of Muslim armies attacking the borders of Byzantium lead to the explosive Iconoclastic Controversy. The iconoclasts ardently believed that the creation of images depicting holy people was making God angry. The iconophiles believed that these images were sacred and used them as a means of worshiping God. This theological battle lead to the meeting of several ecumenical councils in order to resolve the controversy between the church and the state. This paper will examine the arguments for and against the use of icons from iconoclasts and iconophiles in the Byzantine Empire.

Some historians claim that there are as many as a hundred political and non-political interweaving reasons that led to the collapse of Roman Empire. One of the important political causes is the division of the Empire into two empires, the west (Latin) and the eastern (Greek, later known as the Byzantine empire) in 284 A.D. by Diocletian. This division was adopted to protect the over-expanding empire and to defend its borders against the Barbarian attacks. This was achieved initially as the two empires synchronized responsibilities and strengthened each. However, over successive years, there were religious and linguistic barriers that prevented further cooperation and inhibited any trials for re-union. Furthermore, the eastern province became more powerful and fortified its boundaries and this diverted the barbarian attacks towards the western empire.

The Middle East is a place that was the birthplace for many cultures and religions such as Christianity and Islam. As they expanded from this region, both of these religions had good impact on history. However, Christianity and Islam have their similarities in religious beliefs and their differences in expansion between the two religions. Within the time period c. 600 CE to 1250 CE and 1st century to 1000 CE Islam and Christianity began to spread around the world. The two religions spread socially and economically similar but politically different. While both Islam and Christianity were spread Christianity had more governments in control than Islam.

Throughout history, there has been many battles in which two large and powerful empires fought to maintain land, fought over religion, or to gain an abundance of resources. These empires, the Greek and the Persian, were hostile towards each other at the time. Although these empires were quite similar, they were near direct opposites at the time.

The development of Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire were different due to government, economies and religion. The Byzantine Empire was ruled by an Emperor instead of a King, while Western Europe was separated into different countries by the language spoken. Western Europe had social systems of feudalism in place to serve the people. Christianity played a major role in both of the developments of Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire was influenced by Romans, but Western Europe considered the Pope to be of high influence and guidance. Both empires’ economies were very different. The Byzantine became one of the wealthiest empires ever, while the Western economy was an agricultural based with little trading with

The two religions relied heavily on trade routes to grow and expand. Christianity spread almost accidentally by word of mouth through the silk road, the largest trade route in Eurasia at the time. Traders and other travelers spread the word of Christianity through the silk road and all of Europe, subsequently. Meanwhile Islam spread through the Indian Ocean trade route, a trade route created thanks to the development of larger ships, which allowed for much faster trade and spread of ideas, such as Islam, on the sea’s rather than across land. If these trade routes had never been allowed to develop or flourish, it can only be assumed that both Islam and Christianity would have remained very isolated and that their spread would have remained very limited. Another significant similarity in the spread and development of these beliefs is that both faiths would experience a split that would change history forever. In 1054, a combination of political tension, theological differences, and leadership disputes between Rome and Constantinople caused what become known as the “Great Schism”. The Great Schism created two separate churches, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. These two churches remained under a state of excommunication from 1054 until 1965 when the leaders of the two churches finally agreed to meet and resume dialogue after

Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece were very powerful and influential forces around the time that Christianity had began to spread. In Rome’s society, people followed under an emperor, who had strict rules about religion and the type of beliefs one should have. At the time, Rome’s official religion was pagan, but later converted to Christian. Ancient Greece had different religious beliefs than those that Christianity consisted of, but these countries were both powerful and helpful in spreading this new religion. Greece and Rome were impactful on Christian doctrine as well as helping this religion thrive and continue to expand to new areas. With these type of factors in mind, this paper will answer the question “How did Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome impact Christianity?”.

The Great Schism also referred to as The East-West Schism, divided "Chalcedonian" Christianity into Western Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in 1054. The East-West Schism was the result of an extended period of separation between the two bodies of churches. It was the historic sundering of Eucharistic relations between the see of Rome – now the Roman Catholic Church, and the sees of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem – now the Orthodox Church. It divided medieval Mediterranean Christendom into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively.

Another challenge the principal might face if finding time to listen to the opinions of the students because he is extremely busy.

The Byzantine Empire was a successful maritime-based civilization that connected Europe and Asia. There is much debate on whether the Byzantine Empire was a new empire or a continuation of the Roman Empire. Although the Byzantine Empire is made up of old parts of Eastern Rome, it was it’s own new civilization because of different religious beliefs, new advancements in technology, and a far superior economy to that of the Romans.

With the goal of reconquering the Holy Lands of the Middle East, many Western Europeans supported a series of military conquests called the Crusades. As seen in the documents the religious figures who supported the Crusades had an idealized vision of the unification and religious zeal the Crusades would bring to the Christian faith, but for many of the actual crusaders, the cause of the crusades was a hope for economic gain through pillage. Although one of the original causes of the Crusades, according to religious figures, was to support the Byzantines and perhaps reunify the Eastern and Western churches, they resulted in increased feelings of tension in the Christian churches and actually aided creating a closer connection between different

The Ottomans where an Islamic ruled empire which brought about a certain ideology that gave them the God given rights to the earth. Catholic Europe also had this ideology from where God gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven and endowed upon them earth as well (Matt 16: 19). The catholic church in Europe seemed to have their hands in the cookie jar of European Medieval Government and some what controlled the kings and nobles. On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire was completely controlled by Islamic warriors. These two ideologies

The Ottoman Empire had been around for hundreds of years. However it began to weaken. The weakness was from the Ottomans struggle to modernize. Greece got its independence and Serbia was allowed to govern itself, two countries who were previously under the reign of the Ottoman Empire. Countries in Europe noticed the weakening Empire, however so did Russia. Russia and the Ottomans began a war. This war was called the Crimean war. France and Britain took the side of the Ottomans because they didn 't want Russia controlling that land. The Ottomans, Britain, and France won the war. However, after the war countries from mainly Europe, but also Asia began taking the Ottomans land. An Ottoman leader, Muhammad Ali broke away from the Ottoman Empire and began having his people harvest cotton. His grandson continued to modernize and helped the French with building the Suez Canal, which connected the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. However when they didn 't pay their debt to British banks, so the British took over the canal. The Suez Canal was very important because it allowed quicker access to different parts of Asia and Africa.