Orthodox Church Quotes

The city was besieged by the Ottoman Turks. The Emperor stayed and died in the siege. Ironically, if he had escaped earlier and allowed the city to surrender to the Sultan and his troops, very few of the city residents would have died, and the rapine and pillaging never would have occurred. The negative result is that the Muslims would have controlled what was regarded by many Christians as a holy Christian city. But that is exactly what occurred.

The church attempted to retain its role as the premier Russian religion, and maintain its traditional influence and autonomy. It was not to be.

The Christian Roman Empire was split in two—a Western (Latin) Empire led by the Roman Catholic Church in Rome, and the Eastern (Greek) Roman Empire led by the Orthodox Church headquartered in Constantinople (Byzantium). The two churches were not only in a theological conflict but violence broke out and the armies of the two religious empires attacked each other now and then. In 1439, leaders of the two versions of Christianity met in Florence, and they agreed to reunuion in which the Eastern Orthodox would again acknowledge the authority of the Pope. This was not a popular agreement with the majority of the Eastern Orthodox people and some of the clerical leadership. Constantine, realizing that he did not have pubic support at home for the end to the schism and the acceptance of the authority of the Pope, kept stalling on officially announcing and implementing the unity treaty. The Pope’s patience was wearing thin. Constantine did not adhere to ther treaty and the two churches have been apart ever since.

The Christian Roman Empire was split in two—a Western (Latin) Empire led by the Roman Catholic Church in Rome, and the Eastern (Greek) Roman Empire led by the Orthodox Church headquartered in Constantinople (Byzantium). The two churches were not only in a theological conflict but violence broke out and the armies of the two religious empires attacked each other now and then. In 1439, leader of the two versions of Christianity met in Florence, and they agreed to reunuion in which the Eastern Orthodox would again acknowledge the authority of the Pope. This was not a popular agreement with the majority of the Eastern Orthodox people and some of the clerical leadership including Gennadios who had dissented in 1439 and voted against unification. In this speech, and in {634755}, he argued against unification to a public that was mostly opposed. The leadership was interested because they were facing the Muslim Ottoman Turks who were getting more powerful each day. The Eastern Emperor, Constantine XI, more of a soldier and politician than a cleric, wanted the military strength of the Franks and other Western European Christian armies to help protect the Eastern Empire and Byzantium and were willing to reunite under the Pope to get it. Gennadios and his faction were not. They prevailed and the next year, the Muslims conquered Byzantium which had little help from the armies of the Western Roman Empire.

Rome & the Roman Catholic Church Islam, led by the Ottoman Turks, were in a constant state of tension against the Christian World of Europe. However there had been a huge schism in Christianity where the Christian Roman Empire was split in two—a Western (Latin) Empire led by the Roman Catholic Church in Rome, and the Eastern (Greek) Roman Empire led by the Orthodox Church headquartered in Constantinople (Byzantium). The two churches were not only in a theological conflict but violence broke out and the armies of the two religious empires attacked each other now and then. This was a great advantage to the Muslims who were essentially unified under the Ottoman Turkish Sultan. Manuel knew that the reunification of Christianity was about the worst thing that could happen from the geopolitical view of the Ottomans and they always placed a high priority on doing whatever they could to magnify the stress between the two Christian empires. Manual and the Orthodox hierarchy were absolutely opposed to union as the schism had been precipitated by them to begin with. However, Manuel knew that the hatred of the East and the Orthodox Church was so great amongst the Latins that even if some of the Roman Catholic leadership might be interested in healing the schism and having a “unity in Christ”, the kings and nobles of the Western European nations would never accept unity and would scuttle the negotiations. This quotation is an excellent example of the kind of complex, foreign policy and political intriguing that caused our language to have an adjective—byzantine—which is in common use today.

Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.

In this speech, and in {634756}, he argued against unification to a public that was mostly opposed. The leadership was interested because they were facing the Muslim Ottoman Turks who were getting more powerful each day. The Eastern Emperor, Constantine XI, more of a soldier and politician than a cleric, wanted the military strength of the Franks and other Western European Christian armies to help protect the Eastern Empire and Byzantium and were willing to reunite under the Pope to get it. Gennadios and his faction were not. They prevailed and the next year, the Muslims conquered Byzantium which had little help from the armies of the Western Roman Empire.

In one of the most bizarre events in the History of Christianity, the Christian Crusaders of the 4th Crusade diverted from their destination in Egypt and attacked Constantinople—the Christian seat of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church. At the time Byzantium was a much larger city than any in France. (Istanbul still is.) This event is the major historical barrier that maintains the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In some countries, although not theocracies, the religious establishment had an automatic right to sit in the parliament. In this particular case it was essentially only the majority church. Catholics had 1 seat and the various protestant denominations, Jews, and others had no automatic religious representation in the legislature.

The Eastern Orthodox church fathers were, like most Christian sects at the time, very wary and suspicious of freedom and liberty.