From the late 500s, non-Christian populations of Slavs, Avars and others moved into large areas of the Balkans right down into what is now Greece. As a result, the system of bishoprics collapsed, although some Christian presence remained. From the point of view of Constantinople, this became a "Scythian wilderness." The process of reclaiming this area for the Empire and also for the Christian faith is sometimes referred to as "Reconquista". These lands were Hellenised, imperial control reasserted, and the Eastern Orthodox faith spread. This took place from as early as the mid-600s and continued into the 800s, particularly under Emperor Nicephorus I. Later, evangelist-monk Nikon Metanoite (d. 998) continued the work of reclaiming and re-evangelising Orthodox areas inside the boundary of the Empire ("limes") such as southern Greece, as well as areas where Orthodox had converted to Islam. It was this "internal" mission of "reconquest" which lay the groundwork for the later missions beyond the borders of the Empire to Moravia and Bulgaria, subsequently also reaching, for example, the Serbs and the people of Kyivan Rus. It is also interesting that, during this period, Emperor Constantine V (r. 741-775), an iconoclast, married Chazar Princess Tzitzak, who converted to Christianity, taking the name Irene. The same Emperor was also the sponsor at the baptism of a Bulgar ruler called Telerig.
A second, less aggressive phase of the iconoclastic controversy came 814-843. This time, it was Theodore of Studium (753-826) who rallied support for the iconodule cause. Theodore wrote, "The fact that the human person is made in the image and likeness of God means that the making of icons is in some way a divine work." The role of monks like Theodore in this controversy is reflected in his words that "monks are the sinews and foundations of the church". The first Sunday in Lent in 843 Empress Irene re-established the veneration of icons; this is celebrated as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy".
Emperor Michael III come to the throne in 842, followed by Basil I and the Macedonian dynasty which lasted into the eleventh century. Photius the Great, a former high-ranking civil servant, served as Patriarch (860s), later followed by Nicolas Mysticus (tenth century). During this period Constantinople held her enemies at bay and expanded her influence. Having, by 842, won won over the Slavic peoples within the Empire (above), by far the greatest achievement of the period from 842 onwards was the successful missionising of the Slavic peoples outside the Empire. The invitation from Moravian ruler, Rastislav, came from a nation that had already embraced Christianity, but which preferring to join the ecclesiastical orbit of Constantinople (instead of Rome), and which specifically requesting a Slavonic liturgy. Cyril and Methodius, Enlighteners of the Slavs, were dispatched in 863. Bulgaria was Christianised about the same time, first via the medium of Greek, and then likewise adopting the Slavonic liturgy. After Cyril's death at Rome in 867, it was Methodius who continued the work. And his followers, the Five, took refuge in Bulgaria. The Cyrillic alphabet, simpler than the Glagolithic script, is probably the work of one of the Five, Clement of Ohrid. It was from Ohrid (photo), and also Preslav, centres of Orthodox Christianity in Bulgaria, that men were sent out to teach and convert the Serbs. The metropolitan bishop of Ohrid in the twelfth century, Theophylact (1050-1107), was a leading Bible scholar, and produced a commentary on the whole Bible. Bulgaria also exercised influence on Kievan Rus, whose rulers Olga and her grandson Vladimir were converted in the 900s, followed by the whole nation.
The missionary work of the church became a bone of contention between the western Catholic church of Rome and the Eastern Orthodox church of Constantinople, each competing with the other for "spheres of influence". Many areas switched allegiance several times - and the line which divided the eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire moved back and forth over time. In fact, Moravia ended up within the orbit of the western Catholic church, as did Hungary - not to mention Poland and Croatia, which had never been Eastern Orthodox. By contrast, Bulgaria and later Kievan Rus became centres of Eastern Orthodoxy.
Having clarified the major issues of Christology by 843, the church turned its mind and attention to the mystic knowledge of God and the process of theosis (participation in the divine energies, akin to sanctification-glorification). In the words of Irenaeus, "God was "humanised", so that humans might be made be deified." A leading figure in this was Simeon the New Theologian (949-1022). By the practice of "mental prayer" he sought and attained the "vision of light", a mystical experience of knowing God in a way transcending understanding. He wrote, "... it is through death and the resurrection that God in His foresight has given us the Kingdom, incorruptibility, the totality of life eternal. Given these conditions, we unquestionably become partakers of the good things to come, that is, incorruptible, immortal, sons of God, sons of the light and of the day, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, since we carry the Kingdom within."
In contrast to the mystical approach of Simeon the New Theologian was that taken by Michael and Italus Psellus, who applied reason to theology, taking a philosophical approach along the lines of Platonism. This led them to speak of the eternity of the soul and to deny a material resurrection of the body. Italus' condemnation by the church in 1076/7 and 1082 reflects the difference between Eastern Orthodoxy's more mystical approach to theology as opposed to the Western Catholic church and its support for scholasticism (e.g. Thomas Aquinas).
The differences between east (Constantinople) and west (Rome) over missionary fields were symptomatic of broader ranging and deeper seated divergence between the two. A major theological difference was over different understandings of the Trinity (does the Spirit proceed from the Son as well as from the Father?). The west viewed the Roman Pope as the head of the whole church, while the east saw him only as "first among equals". There were other differences in practice, e.g. the bread used at communion or the place of the prayer of invocation (epiclesis). These differences led to the temporary Photian schism 863-867 and then to the permanent schism of 1054.
The military defeat at Manzikert in 1071 marked a turning point in the fate of Constantinople with the rise of the Turks as the dominant power in the Middle East, eclipsing the Arabs. By 1176 Constantinople was clearly in decline and in 1204 it was sacked by the western Christian Crusaders, an event which made the schism even more permanent.
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