Crumbs from the Table

The homeland of the Slavic peoples was originally in the area near to the present town of Pripyat , between Belarus and Ukraine. It was from here that, from the 500s, the Slavic peoples spread westwards and southwards (and also in a north-easterly direction). For example, according to Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos of Constantinople, the ancestors of the Croats and Serbs settled in the area now known as Bavaria, later relocating to their present homeland in the Balkans. What became the Moravian people settled in what is now Czechia, and in the early 800s formed the first Slavic state (Great Moravia) with its capital in Velihrad. Other Slavic tribes migrated as far south as what is now Greece in the Empire of Constantinople.  Particularly in the early 800s (but also for some time before that), the Empire of Constantinople reclaimed territories settled by Slavs, re-establishing government control and re-introducing Greek language and the Orthodox Christian faith. This is known as t...

From the late 500s, non-Christian populations of Slavs, Avars and other non-Christian peoples had moved into large areas of the Balkans right down into what is now Greece. As a result, the system of bishoprics collapsed (e.g. the bishopric of Sirmium in modern-day Serbia), 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 ...