Celebration of 1700 Years from Milan’s Edict

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Celebration of 1700 Years from Milan's Edict

Celebration of 1700 Years from Milan’s Edict in Belgrade and Nish.

ABOUT CONSTANTINE I THE GREAT

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustusreign, better known in History as Constantine I the Great, was born in the village of Naissus, the modern city of Nish in Serbia. At that time Naissus belonged to the roman province of Moesia (later Dacia Ripensis) and during the last century all the region had been under the menace of Goths and barbarians. What is more, a great battle took place near the city in 264, when the emperor Claudius II (268-270) defeated a great army of Goths. Thousands of barbarians died in the countryside near Nish.

Constantine was one of the children of Constantius Chlorus and Helena. According to the Thetrarcy, his father had been elected by Diocletian as Caesar in 293. A few years later, in 305, Constantius became into emperor, but in 306 he suddenly died after a war against Picts, in Britain. As he was dying, he asked his soldiers to accept his son as emperor. Consequently, Constantine was proclaimed emperor at York but he had to fight a lot to impose himself over the others rivals.

The reign of Constantine the Great, apart from producing some military and fiscal reforms of particular importance, was marked by two fundamental and foundational facts. On the one hand, the Council of Nicaea after the famous Edict of Milan, which proclaimed religious freedom in 313 and on the other hand, the rise of the new imperial capital in the East: Constantinople (ex Byzantium). Both of them would shape the epidermis and the core of the Roman state in just a few decades.220px-Byzantinischer_Mosaizist_um_1000_002

-FIRST DAY OF EVENT, MAY 31ST, CONFERENCE IN BELGRADE: “1700 YEARS FROM MILAN’S EDICT”-

Conference is dedicated  to 1700 years from Milan’s Edict and his influence of today’s world.

Introducing speach: Branimir Kuzmanovic,City of Belgrade;

Opening Conference: Debora Serracchiani, Italy, member of European Parliament;

Speakers:

-Protojerej Predrag Milanovic, Priest in Saint Sava Temple, Serbia

-Silvia Ronchey, Byzantologist, Italy

-Guilhem Walter Martin,Byzantologist, Argentina

-Galo Garces Avalos, Byzantologist, Peru

-Carmine Monaco, Writter, Italy

On the Conference will be shown the film “Constantine the Great and Milan’s Edict”

After Conference, there will be organized visit of Saint Sava Temple, Vracar, Belgrade, with certifite tourist guide with explanations.

The Cathedral of Saint Sava or Saint Sava Temple  in Vračar, Belgrade, is an Orthodox church, the largest in the Balkans, and one of the 10 largest church buildings in the world.The church is dedicated to Saint Sava, founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and an important figure in medieval Serbia. It is built on the Vračar plateau, on the location where his remains were burned in 1595 by the Ottoman Empire’s Sinan Pasha. From its location, it dominates Belgrade’s cityscape, and is perhaps the most monumental building in the city. The building of the church structure is being financed exclusively by donations. The parish home is nearby, as will be the planned patriarchal building.

It is not a cathedral in the technical ecclesiastical sense, as it is not the seat of a bishop (the seat of the Metropolitan bishop of Belgrade is St. Michael’s Cathedral). In Serbian it is called a hram (temple), which is in Eastern Orthodoxy another name for a church. In English, it is usually called a cathedral because of its size and importance, though basilica may be a more appropriate name.

St. Sava Church12Hram_Svetog_Save___Beograd_by_quRCEnje

Common lunch

Visiting of Belgrade (Singidunum), included:

KALEMEGDAN – BELGRADE FORTRESS is the core and the oldest section of the urban area of Belgrade and for centuries the city population was concentrated only within the walls of the fortress, thus the history of the fortress.                 First mention of the city is when it was founded in the 3rd century BC as “Singidunum” by the Celtic tribe who had defeated Thracian and Dacian tribes that previously lived at the fort and around. The city-fortress was later conquered by the Romans, became known as Singidunum and became a part of “the military frontier”, where the Roman Empire bordered “barbaric Central Europe”. Singidunum was defended by the Roman legion IV Flaviae which built a fortified camp on a hill at the confluence of the rivers the Danube and the Sava. In the period between AD 378 and 441 the Roman camp was being repeatedly destroyed in the invasions by the Goths and the Huns. The legend says that Attila’s grave lies on the confluence of the Sava and the Danube (under the Fortress).                In 476 Belgrade again became the borderline between the empires:Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), and the Slav-Avar State in the North.   The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I rebuilt the Fortress around 535. In the following centuries a fortress suffered continuous destruction under the Avar sieges. The Slavs (Serbs) and Avars had their “state union” north of Belgrade with the Serbs and other Slavic tribes finally settling in the region of Belgrade as well as the regions west and south of Belgrade in the beginning of the 7th century. The name Belgrade (or Beograd, in Serbian), which, not just in Serbian but in most Slavic languages means a “white town” or a “white fortress”, was first mentioned in AD 878 by Bulgarians. The Fortress kept changing its masters: Bulgaria during three centuries, and then again the Byzantines and again Bulgarians. The fortress remained a Byzantine stronghold until the 12th century when it fell in the hands of a newly emerging Serbian state. It became a border city of the Serbian Kingdom, later Empire, with Hungary. The Hungarian king Béla I gave the fortress to Serbia in 11th century as a wedding gift (his son married Serbian princess Jelena), but it remained effectively part of Hungary, except for the period 1282-1319. After the Serbian state collapsed after the Battle of Kosovo, Belgrade was chosen in 1404 as the capital of the principality of Despot Stefan Lazarević. Major work was done to the ramparts which were encircling a big thriving town. The lower town at the banks of the Danube was the main urban center with a new build Orthodox cathedral. The upper town with its castle was defending the city from inland. Belgrade remained in Serbian hands for almost a century. After the Despot’s death in 1427 it had to be returned to Hungary. An attempt of Sultan Mehmed II to conquer the fortress was prevented by Janos Hunyadi in 1456 (Siege of Belgrade). It saved Hungary from an Ottoman invasion for 70 years.

In 1521, 132 years after the Battle of Kosovo, the fortress, like most parts of the Serbian state, was conquered by the Turks and remained (with short periods of the Austrian and Serbian occupation), under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until the year 1867 when the Turks withdrew from Belgrade and Serbia. During the period of short Austrian rule (1718–1738) the fortress was largely rebuilt and modernized. It witnessed two Serbian Uprisings in the 19th century, the Great Serbian Migration in the 17th century, the Turkish Period. The fortress suffered further damages during the First and the Second world wars. After almost two millennia of continuous sieges, battles and conquests the fortress is today known as the Belgrade Fortress. The present name of Kalemegdan Park derives from two Turkish words, kale (fortress) and meydan (battlefield) (literally, “battlefield fortress”).kalemegdan_pobednik_nocukalemegdan-wallpaper2

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Visiting of Saint Marko Church, parliament, Skadarlija, etc…

St. Mark’s Church is a Serbian Orthodox church located in the Tašmajdan park in Belgrade, Serbia, near the Parliament of Serbia. It was built in the Serbo-Byzantine architectural style by the Krstić brothers, completed in 1940, on the site of a previous church dating to 1835. It is one of the largest churches in the country. There is a small Russian Orthodox church next to St. Mark’s. It is copy of Monastery Gracanica, Serbian Orthodox Monastery on Kosovo and Metohia.

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Common dinner in Skadarlia, Belgrade bohemian street.

Sleeping in hotel ****

-SECOND DAY OF THE EVENT, JUNE  1ST , VISITING SERBIAN MEDIEVAL MONASTERIES IN BYZANTINE STYLE-

 -MILESEVA MONASTERY-

bandjeotp51Mileseva monastery 1234.
Serbian Orthodox monastery located near Prijepolje, in southwest Serbia. It was founded by King Vladislav, in the years between 1234 and 1236. The church has frescoes by the most skillful artists of that time, including one of the most famous in Serbian culture, the “White Angel”, which depicts an angel on Christ’s grave.
The first group of frescoes were produced in the 1230s. The other groups include works from the Turkish period, to be found in the exonarthex. These thirteenth-century frescoes may be considered to be the supreme achievement of all the painting in Europe of that time. The portraiture deals with bishops (altar space), warrior saints and martyrs (nave), as well as monks (narthex). The upper registers in the narthex represent Christ’s earthly life. Below the resurrection composition on the south wall of the west bay, King Vladislav is depicted as being led to Christ by the Mother of God. The Nemanjić family is portrayed in the northeastern part of the narthex: Stefan Nemanja as the monk Simeon, Sava as the first archbishop, Stefan the First-Crowned as king, and his sons Radoslav and Vladislav. The frescoes in the narthex and the adjacent chapel were presumably painted in the 1230s and 1240s. They illustrate the last Judgment and the lives of some saints. In the second half of the sixteenth century, the church was repainted with a new layer of frescoes of which only fragments of the Last Supper under the dome and the Forty Martyrs in the north choir have survived. These frescoes were damaged in a fire, but they happened to save (acting as a protective layer) the earlier and more valuable paintings from the thirteenth century.

-STUDENICA MONASTERY-studenica01

The Studenica monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery situated 39 km southwest of Kraljevo, in central Serbia. It is one of the largest and richest Serb

Orthodox monasteries.

Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the medieval Serb state, founded the monastery in 1190. The monastery’s fortified walls encompass two churches: the Church of the Virgin, and the Church of the King, both of which were built using white marble. The monastery is best known for its collection of 13th- and 14th century Byzantine-style frescopaintings.

Studenica was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia, and in 1986 UNESCO included Studenica monastery on the list of World Heritage Sites.

-ŽIČA MONASTERY-Unregistered RawShooter essentials 2005 1.1.2 bld 14

Žiča  is an early 13th century Serbian Orthodox Monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first King of Serbia, Stefan the First-Crowned and the first Head of the Serbian Church, Saint Sava.

Žiča was the seat of the Archbishop (1219–1253), and by tradition the coronational church of the Serbian kings, although a king could be crowned in any Serbian church, he was never considered a true king until he was anointed in Žiča.

Žiča was declared a Cultural Monument of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Serbia. In 2008, Žiča celebrated 800 years of existence.

-Common lunch-

-SOPOCANI-sopocani_11

The Sopoćani monastery, an endowment of King Stefan Uroš I of Serbia, was built in the second half of the 13th century, near the source of the Raška River in the region of Ras, the center of the Serbian medieval state. It is a designated World Heritage Site, added in 1979 with Stari Ras.

History

The church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity and completed around 1265, with interior decorated shortly thereafter. Archbishop Sava II, who became the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1263, is represented in the procession of archbishops in the area of the altar. The frescoes of Sopoćani are considered by some experts on Serbian medieval art as the most beautiful of that period. On the western wall of the nave is a famous fresco of the Dormition of the Virgin. In the 16th century the monks had to temporarily leave the monastery on several occasions due to the Ottoman threat. Finally, during one of the raids in 1689 the Ottoman Turks set fire to the monastery and carried off the lead from the church roof. The brotherhood escaped with some important relics to Kosovo – but did not return to Sopoćani; it remained deserted for over two hundred years, until the 20th century. The church slowly decayed: its vaults caved in, its dome fell down, and the remains of the surrounding buildings were covered with rubble and earth.

Finally, during the 20th century the monastery was restored and today it is settled by a thriving brotherhood of dedicated monks. The fact that most of the Sopoćani frescoes still shine with radiant beauty – surviving more than two centuries of extreme exposure to the elements – many consider nothing less than a divine miracle. Sopoćani was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.

-PROHOR PČINJSKI- Monastery on the South of Serbia

Prohor Pčinjski is an 11th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery in the deep south of Serbia, located in village Klenike, Pčinja District near the border with Macedonia. It is situated at the slopes of Kozjak at the left side of the Pčinja river.

According to tradition, it was founded 1067–1071 by the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV in honour of Saint Prohor Pčinjski, who prophesied that Romanus would become the emperor. Within the monastery there is a theological school and iconography is taught there.

The monastery was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.

Dinner and sleeping in hotel ****

-THESE ARE SOME OF FRESCOS WHICH CAN BE SEEN IN THESE MONASTERIES-

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Sopocani, Saint Emperor Constantine and Empress Jelena.

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Mileseva Monastery, White Angel

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Studenica Monastery, Crucifixion of Christ

THIRD DAY OF EVENT, JUNE 2ND, VISITING CITY OF NISH AND CELEBRATION 1700 YEARS FROM MILAN’S EDICT-

 

The Main Celebration of 1700 Years from Milan’s Edict will be held in Nish in Saint Emperior Constantine and Empress Jelena in Nish.

After Celebration, and common lunch it is planed visiting City of Nish28967665

It is one of the oldest cities in the Balkans and Europe, and has from ancient times been considered a gateway between the East and the West. It was named Navissos by the Scordisci in 279 BC, after an invasion of the Balkans. The city was among several taken in the Roman conquest in 75 BC; the Romans built the Via Militaris in the 1st century, with Naissus being one of its key towns; it is also the birthplace of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor and the founder of Constantinople, and Constantius III and Justin I. It is home to one of Serbia’s oldest churches, dating to the 4th century, located in the suburb of Mediana.

Return to Belgrade at evening.

-WELCOME-

Logo serbyzantine

 

For more informations:

 

Katarina Sekularac

e-mail: treneri@sezampro.rs

web: www.byzantine.org.rs

cell: +381 63 7074578

office: +381 11 3984988

 

Church-Mosque: the church without memory

Church-Mosque: the church without memory.

General information:

The church-mosque is situated in a difficult neighborhood of Istanbul (old Constantinople): drugs and poverty hit there in a strong way. The Ottoman Turks could not add information about the history of the church before the falling of Constantinople in their hands. That is why it is known as the Church of the lost memory (according to Francisco Aguado Blázquez). The tourists can get the place of the Kilise Camii through Katip Selebi Street if they come from the Theodosian forum or from the church of St. Mary Kiriotisa. There is no information about the name of the Byzantine architect who built the church. But according to some ornamental and architectonic elements, it seems that the building belong to the Palaeologus period. When Constantinopla fell in 1453, Ottoman Turks transformed the church into a mosque: the “mahalle” of Seyf Befa (perhaps thanks to the orders of the ulama Gürânî). An occidental painter, Charles Texier, painted the Kilise Camii in 1833 (The images stored at ICFA are mostly drawings of Hagia Sophia, Kariye Camii, Kilise Camii, Zeyrek Camii, Tekfur Saray and the Sea Walls of Constantinople), but unfortunately a fire burnt the building a few months after. Acording to his draws, we can conjecture that the church belonged to a larger construction, possibly a monastery. Miltiades Nomidis made archeologic works in the church, but the local autorithies interrupted them in 1940.

The Church-Mosque view from Katip Çelebi Sk Street.

View of the church from Divan Efendi Street.

The Church-mosque is situated in a difficult neighborhood of Istanbul.

Church-Mosque. The narthex. Doors and columns.

Another view of the entrance to the nartex.

View of the church from Katip Çelebi Sk.

Column and capital in the nartex.

Column, pedestal and Christian symbols chiseled. Nartex.

Columns and capitals (corinthian style) in the nartex.

Church-mosque: mosaics with saints figures in one of the nartex dome.

Southern Dome Mosaics.

Northern Dome Mosaics.

Main dome mosaics.

Kilise Camii acording to the painter Charles Texier (drowing from RIBA)..

Kilise Camii acording to the painter Charles Texier (on the left). The building today (on the right side).

A great chiseled cross outside the nartex. Intolerant people used to do that in the past.

Byzantine ruins located very close to the structure of the church-mosque. Probably in the past they have been integrated with the main structure, possibly a monastery.

Powered by Guilhem W. Martin ©

The last Serbian queen: Helena Palaiologina (*1431- +1473)

Versión en español.

Serbian version.

The last Serbian queen:

Helena Palaiologina (*1431- +1473)

Galo Garcés Ávalos / University of Lima

“In October of the same year [1446],Lady Helene, Lord Thomas’ daughter, departed from Glarentza to travel to Serbia in order to marry Lazar, the son of despot Lord George. The marriage was celebrated.” (George Sphrantzes, Chronicle).[1]

 

Helena Palaiologina

This was not the first time a Byzantine married a Serbian. On February 7, 1392, the young lady Jelena Dragaš arrived in Constantinople, the bride-to-be of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1391-1425). A grand-niece of the great Serbian Emperor Stefan Dušan, and daughter of one of the last great lords of the remnants of the Serbian Empire in Central Greece, she would be the last empress-mother of Byzantium, and the mother of the last Palaeologi.[2] Her granddaughter, following her example, would become the last Despoina of Serbia.[3]

Helena’s father, Thomas, was the youngest son of Manuel II Palaiologos and the last Byzantine Despot to rule over the Morea, as well as a fierce advocate of the Union between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, which he considered was the path for the ultimate salvation of Byzantium. Her mother, Aikaterine Asanina-Zaccaria, was the daughter of the last ruler of Latin Achaea, Centurione Zaccaria, vassal of Ladislas d’Anjou-Durazzo, King of Naples and lord of what remained of Frankish Morea.[4]

Serbo-Byzantine marriages had occurred many times in the past years, when the Empire was still vast and powerful. Eudokia, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos (1195-1203), had married Stefan II Nemanja, “The First Crowned” King of Serbia, and divorced him after a shameful event that took place in June 1198.  Two Kings of Serbia married daughters of the Komneno-Doukai princes of Epiros and Thessaly. Perhaps the most famous Byzantine Queen of Serbia was Simonis Palaiologina, daughter of Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282-1328) and wife of the famous King Milutin (1282-1321) at the age of 8-years-old. Finally, Maria Palaiologina, daughter of the rebellious Panhypersebastos John Palaiologos, grandson of Michael VIII, first Palaeologi emperor, become the stepmother of Stefan Dušan due to her marriage with Stefan III Dečanski (1322-1331), when she was merely 10-years-old.[5]

The marriage between Helena Palaiologina to the Serbianprince Lazar Branković, heir to the Serbian Despotate, was orchestrated by her uncle, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos (1425-1448). During her travel, the Byzantine ambassador, George Philanthropenos, bestowed upon Lazar the Byzantine court title of Despot, only second to that of Emperor.  Thus, Helena became consort to the heir of one of the lasts Christian outposts in the Balkans, during the period of the Ottoman conquest.[6]

After two years of reign (1456-1458), Lazar died for unknown reasons. He and Helena had three daughters: Maria, who would become the last Queen of Bosnia due to her marriage with King Stephen Tomašević; Milica, who would become wife of Leonardo III Tocco, count of Cephalonia and Zante, as well as ruler of what remained of the Despotate of Epiros; and Jerina, who married the son of Skanderbeg, hero of the Albanian resistance to the Ottoman invasion.[7]

After her husband’s death and the Ottoman invasion to Serbia, Helena seized the power with the help of her brother-in-law, Stephen. Trying to maintain the independence of Serbia from the Ottoman onslaught, she allied with the King of Bosnia, and married her eldest daughter to the latter’s heir. Despite all her political maneuvers to keep a Free Serbia, the Despotate fell on 1459 after the conquest of Smederevo by the armies of Mehmed II, who had previously laid waste to the hinterland.[8]

With all hopes already vanished, Helena took the path of exile. In 1462, when her father Thomas, returned to Venetian territory after being at the Papal Court, he found her daughter already established in Ancona, and stayed with her for a few days, before he departed to Rome and Helena to Ragusa. That same year, Aikaterine Palaiologina, mother of Helena, died at Corfu, due to an illness.[9]

The second haven for Helena during her exile was the Isle of Santa Maura (now Leukas, Greece), with her son-in-law Leonardo III Tocco, who was also lord of the island, in the year 1467. The following year, the dispossessed Queen of Serbia travelled to Venice, and in front of the Senate she presented charges to those who had appropriated her property at Corfu, according to Sphrantzes, and by 1472, she had already taken the veil under the name of Hypomone, which means “Patience,” following the example of her venerable grandmother, the Saintly Empress Helena. [10]

What can be said about the last Serbian Queen? It is a fact that the last Palaiologoi had a mixture of bloods and breeds, being descendants through an unbroken male line of the Byzantine Emperors from old, and through their female lines, to the most prestigious noble houses of Europe, like the Árpads, Montferrats, Savoys, and others. Thanks to Jelena Dragaš, they even had a blood relation to the famous Dušan, the mightiest Serbian ruler in history![11]

For that reason, perhaps, due to her grandmother’s Serbian blood, Helena Palaiologina adapted well to the Serbian costumes and culture, and she definitely was an ardent supporter of Serbian Independence against the Ottoman threat. The alliances she forged were destined to prevent Serbia’s ultimate fall, but in the end the Ottoman manpower and resources granted the victory to the so-called “sons of Hagar.”

Author: Galo Garcés Ávalos. 20/10/12

Serbian Byzantine Society


[1] SPHRANTZES, G

eorge. The Fall of the Byzantine Empire: A Chronicle by George Sphrantzes, 1401-1477. Translated by Marios Philippides. University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst, 1980), p. 56.

[2] REINERT, Stephen. “Political Dimensions of Manuel II Palaiologos’ 1392 Marriage and Coronation: Some new evidence,” Novum Millenium: Studies of Byzantine history and culture dedicated to Paul Speck. Edited by Claudia Sode and Sarolta Fakács. Ashgate Publishing (Aldershot, 2001), pp. 291-304.

[3] Despoina is the female version of the title Despotes (Despot), second to the Imperial title (Basileus). For more references on Byzantine Courtesy Titles, see PSEUDO-KODINOS. Pseudo-Kodinos: Traité des Offices. Introduction, texte et traduction par Jean Verpeaux. Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris, 1966), pp. 133.

[4] NICOL, Donald M. The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 399-400.

[5] For general references, I suggest OSTROGORSKY, George. History of the Byzantine State, translated by Joan Hussey (Oxford, 1968).

[6] SPHRANTZES, Chronicle, p. 56.

[7] For Helena’s children with Lazar, see NICOL, Last Centuries, p. 400.

[8] For the fall of Smederevo, see BABINGER, Franz. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ, 1978), pp. 163-165.

[9] SPHRANTZES, Chronicle, 85.

[10] SPHRANTZES, Chronicle, 89-90, 93-94.

[11] PAPADOPOULOS, Averkios. Versuch eine Genealogie der Palaiologen 1259-1453. Adolf Hakkert Verlag (Amsterdam, 1962). This book was a thesis by Archimandrite Papadopoulos in the year 1932, in the University of Munich, a year before Hitler’s ascension to government in Germany.

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Constantino I el Grande

English version.

Serbian Version.

Constantine I el Grande.

1- Quién fue Constantino I el Grande: un breve resumen sobre su vida.

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustusreign, mejor conocido  como Constantino I el Grande, nació en la ciudad de Naisuss, la actual Nish (Serbia). Por entonces, Naissus pertenecía a la provincial romana de Mesia, luego llamada Dacia Ripense, y durante el último siglo toda la región había estado bajo la amenaza de los bárbaros en general y de los Godos en particular. Lo que es más, una gran batalla había tenido lugar muy cerca de Naissus en el año 264, cuando el emperador Claudio II (268-270) había derrotado a un gran ejército de godos. Miles de bárbaros perecieron entonces en la campiña en torno a dicha ciudad.

Constantino era hijo de Constancio Cloro y de Helena. Acorde con el sistema gubernamental de la Tetrarquía, su padre había sido electo por Diocleciano como César en 293. Pocos años después, en 305, Constancio se transformó en emperador, pero en 306 murió después de batallar contra los Pictos al norte de Inglaterra. Sin embargo, antes de expirar se ocupó de hacer que sus soldados aceptaran a su hijo como emperador. En consecuencia, Constantino fue proclamado emperador en York, aunque debió luchar contra otros aspirantes y rivales para lograr imponerse finalmente.

El Imperio Romano tras la abdicación de Diocleciano (305).

2- El concilio de Nicea, Constantinopla y el triunfo del Cristianismo: Constantino I el Grande.

El reinado de Constantino I el Grande, además de producir algunas reformas castrenses y fiscales de singular importancia, estuvo signado por dos hechos fundamentales sino fundacionales. Por un lado, el Concilio de Nicea (posterior al famoso edicto de Milán, que proclamaba la libertad de cultos en 313) y por el otro, el desplazamiento de la capital imperial hacia Oriente. Uno y otro moldearían la epidermis y el carozo del estado romano en cuestión de unos pocos decenios.

Mosaico de Constantino I el Grande y Justiniano con la Virgen y el Niño. Santa Sofía, Constantinopla (Estambul), Turquía.

En el año 325 Constantino tuvo la oportunidad de recrear bajo su égida el papel de cabeza del paganismo, Pontifex Maximus en otras palabras, pero ahora presidiendo un cónclave cristiano celebrado en la ciudad de Nicea, en calidad de concilio ecuménico. A la cita acudieron, además del emperador, unos trescientos obispos con la misión de examinar y dirimir la tesis del arrianismo que estaba minando por dentro la unidad de la nueva Fe. Entre los principales asistentes se hallaban el delegado papal Osio, obispo de Córdoba, y San Atanasio, llamado “el campeón de la ortodoxia”. Bajo la atenta mirada de Constantino fue abordada la espinosa cuestión de la consubstancialidad del Hijo con el Padre. El sacerdote Arrio, procedente de Alejandría, tuvo la ocasión de defender su tesis que tanta disensión había sembrado en las provincias orientales. En virtud de la misma, Dios y Jesús eran sustancia diferente, con lo que el presbítero alejandrino negaba la divinidad de Cristo. Luego de reñidas y agotadoras discusiones los obispos proclamaron la naturaleza trinitaria de Dios. Constantino apoyó la decisión y la doctrina arriana fue tildada de herética y condenada. La fórmula nicena, en tanto que dogma, se sancionó oficialmente poco tiempo después[1].

Lejos de aportar una solución definitiva al conflicto, la sentencia del primer concilio ecuménico azuzó el descontento entre los seguidores de Arrio. Los defensores de la ortodoxia, encabezados cuando no por Atanasio, habían subestimado el problema lo mismo que el poder de los arrianos, y muy pronto tuvieron que hacerse la idea que la extirpación de la herejía llevaría mas tiempo que el deseado. Hasta el mismo emperador llegó a la conclusión que era imposible eliminar el arrianismo de un solo golpe, y para pacificar al menos superficialmente al Imperio, exigió a la Iglesia que volviese a admitir al sacerdote de Alejandría en su seno, todo lo cual no hizo más que generar resquemores y rechazo en las filas ortodoxas. Atanasio, completamente disgustado con el emperador, pasaría el resto de sus días, hasta su muerte, acaecida en 373, luchando a favor del dogma niceno.

La columna de Constantino I bajo restauración, en 2009. Constantinopla (Estambul), Turquía.

La importancia del concilio del año 325 radica en el hecho de que, a través de su participación, Constantino sentó las bases del “cesaropapismo”. Desde entonces, existiendo un precedente como el de Nicea, los césares se atribuirían el derecho de convocar concilios para resolver diferendos en el seno de la Iglesia, lo que equivalía en otros términos a subordinar al estado los asuntos internos de aquélla. La intromisión del poder político a través de la figura del emperador, daría un trámite más expeditivo a las decisiones sobre cuestiones de dogma, pero al mismo tiempo el estado romano se vería envuelto en las disputas teológicas que, esporádicamente, arreciarían a todo lo largo y ancho de su territorio. Naturalmente, tanto el poder político como el religioso cosecharon beneficios del nuevo sistema de relaciones planteado entre ellos; de pronto el emperador encontró en la religión cristiana la vía ideal para unificar el Imperio y aumentar, al mismo tiempo, su poder absoluto. Como contrapartida, la Iglesia obtuvo ingentes medios materiales y, lo más importante, el apoyo del estado contra el arrianismo y otras herejías que no tardarían en aparecer (Donatismo, Priscilianismo, Pelagianismo, Nestorianismo, Monofisismo, etc.).

El Cuerno de Oro. Constantinopla (Estambul), Turquía.

En cierta manera, las consecuencias del concilio de Nicea también dejaron notar su influencia en la política de estado implementada por Constantino. En la tercera década del siglo considerado, el peligro godo en la provincia danubiana de Mesia y la mayor vitalidad del Oriente romano, indujeron al emperador a mudar el centro político del Imperio hacia el Este. Después de reunificar el país, Constantino escogió a la ciudad de Nicomedia para instalar su gobierno. Pero disconforme con el sitio elegido, empezó a construir una nueva capital sobre la ciudad griega de Bizancio, una antigua colonia fundada por Byzas entre el Cuerno de Oro y la Propóntide o Mar de Mármara, en la orilla europea del Bósforo. La capital quedó terminada hacia comienzos del año 330 y el 11 de mayo fue inaugurada con toda solemnidad. El soberano la bautizó con el nombre de “Nueva Roma”, denominación que, con el paso del tiempo, habría de ceder ante la “Konstantinou polis” de los griegos y la “Constantinopolis” de los latinos.

El Imperio Romano en 337 (a la muerte de Constantino I).

Situada estratégicamente en la encrucijada entre Europa y Asia, Constantinopla no tardaría en opacar la grandeza de Roma. Varios factores contribuirían a ello: la urbe ocupaba un solar clave para dominar con comodidad el tráfico comercial entre Oriente, la antigua Escitia, y Occidente, sin considerar que era la llave de paso entre el Mar Negro y el Mediterráneo. Por otra parte, el lugar escogido era fácil de defender lo que, sumado a una muralla acorde al rango de la ciudad, ponía a la nueva capital en una situación inmejorable para despegar económicamente y convertirse, al cabo, en una metrópoli. Constantino se había percatado de ello, por lo que no escatimó en gastos cuando mandó a levantar un muro protector de varios kilómetros de largo que encerraba todo el perímetro de la flamante capital. Dentro del recinto amurallado, las obras comprendieron la erección de un foro, del edificio del senado y del palacio imperial, todo lo cual se logró gracias al trabajo de los esclavos. En las instalaciones del foro, el emperador hizo edificar una columna rematada en lo alto con una estatua de Apolo que fue muy pronto reemplazada por una suya propia, dado el avance implacable del cristianismo.

Aguila batallando contra una serpiente. Mosaico del Gran Palacio. Constantinopla (Estambul), Turquía.

Muy cerca de allí, a menos de un kilómetro de distancia en dirección sudeste, fue marcado y construido un hipódromo que se destinó a las carreras de carros. Se dotó también a la ciudad de los correspondientes baños, teatros, graneros, cisternas, plazas, jardines, embalses, muelles y malecones, echándose inclusive mano a estatuas y monumentos de otros sitios con tan de embellecer la Nueva Roma. La fe cristiana que venía ganando terreno al paganismo tras la batalla del Puente Milvio facilitó a su vez la rápida proliferación de iglesias. Habitada en su mayoría por griegos y abierta a un formidable proceso de cristianización, Constantinopla pronto se moldearía bajo el símbolo de la cruz convirtiéndose en la primera capital cristiana del mundo antiguo.

Guilhem W. Martin ©

Serbian Byzantine Society

Con la colaboración de:

http://imperiobizantino.wordpress.com/

Fuentes documentales:

Marc Bloch, Cómo y porqué terminó la esclavitud antigua, Annales (E.S.C.), 1947, págs. 30-43 y 161-170. Traducción del francés por Antonio Malpica Cuello y Rafael Peinado Santaella.

Aurelio Bernardi, Los problemas económicos del Imperio Romano en la época de su decadencia, Studia et Documenta Historiae et Juris, vol. XXXI, 1965.

Franz Georg Maier, Bizancio, Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 6ta. Edición, 1983, ISBN (volumen trece) 988-23-0496-2.

E. Patlagean, A. Ducellier, C. Asdracha y R. Mantran, Historia de Bizancio, Crítica Barcelona, 2001, ISBN 84-8432-167-3.

Warren Treadgold, Breve Historia de Bizancio, Paidós, 2001, ISBN 84-493-1110-1.

Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Stanford University press, Stanford, California, 1997, Estados Unidos de América.

Carlos Diehl, Grandeza y Servidumbre de Bizancio, Espasa-Calpe SA, Colección Austral, 1963.

John Julius Norwich, Breve Historia de Bizancio, Cátedra Historia Serie Mayor, 1997, ISBN 84-376-1819-3.

Joseph M. Walker, Historia de Bizancio, Edimat Libros S.A., ISBN 84-9764-502-2.

Emilio Cabrera, Historia de Bizancio, Ariel Historia, 1998, ISBN 84-344-6599-X.

Georg Ostrogorsky, Historia del Estado Bizantino, Akal Editor, 1984.

Georg Ostrogorsky, Para una historia del feudalismo bizantino, Bruselas, 1954, Traducción de Juan Calatrava, extracto págs. 9 y sigs. y 187 y sigs. Biblioteca U.N.C., escuela de Filosofía, Historia y Humanidades.

Alexander A. Vasiliev, Historia del Imperio Bizantino, Volumen I, Libro dot.com, versión digital.

Norman H. Baynes, El Imperio Bizantino, Breviarios, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1974.

Salvador Claramunt, Las Claves del Imperio Bizantino 395-1453, Universidad de Barcelona, 1992, ISBN 84-320-9227-4.

E. E. Lipchits, El fin del régimen esclavista y el nacimiento del feudalismo en Bizancio, trabajo publicado por primera vez en V.D.I., 1955, fascículo 4, págs. 64-71 y publicado en francés en “Recherches internacionales à la lumière du marxismo, Féodalisme à Byzance”, nº 79, París, 1974, traducción de Antonio Malpica Cuello.

Perry Anderson, Transiciones de la Antigüedad al Feudalismo, Siglo XXI, México, 1986. Segunda Parte: Europa oriental.

Pierre Dockes, La liberación medieval, F.C.E., México, 1984.

William C. Bark, Orígenes del mundo medieval, Temas, Eudeba, Buenos Aires (Argentina), 1978. Cap. II, El problema de los principios del Medioevo y Cap. III, ¿Qué ocurrió con la preponderancia romana en Occidente?, págs. 7 – 81.

Z. V. Udaltzova, A propósito de la génesis del feudalismo en Bizancio (cómo se plantea el problema), trabajo publicado por primera vez en “Vizantiskie otcherki” Moscú, 1971, págs. 3-25; publicado en francés en “Recherches internacionales à la lumière du marxismo, Féodalisme à Byzance”, nº 79, París, 1974, traducción de Juan Calatrava.

Santiago Montero, Gonzalo Bravo y Jorge Martinez-Pinna, El Imperio Romano, Visor Libros, ISBN 84-7522-497-0, España.


[1] Del concilio ecuménico de Nicea se conservan veintidós cánones, las anatemas, una carta para la Iglesia de Alejandría y la fórmula del Credo.

Constantine I the Great

Versión en español.

Serbian version.

Constantine I the Great

1- Who Constantine I was: a brief summary of his early life.

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustusreign, better known in History as Constantine I the Great, was born in the village of Naissus, the modern city of Nish in Serbia. At that time Naissus belonged to the roman province of Moesia (later Dacia Ripensis) and during the last century all the region had been under the menace of Goths and barbarians. What is more, a great battle took place near the city in 264, when the emperor Claudius II (268-270) defeated a great army of Goths. Thousands of barbarians died in the countryside near Nish.

Constantine was one of the children of Constantius Chlorus and Helena. According to the Thetrarcy, his father had been elected by Diocletian as Caesar in 293. A few years later, in 305, Constantius became into emperor, but in 306 he suddenly died after a war against Picts, in Britain. As he was dying, he asked his soldiers to accept his son as emperor. Consequently, Constantine was proclaimed emperor at York but he had to fight a lot to impose himself over the others rivals.

2- The Council of Nicaea, Constantinople and the triumph of Christianity.

The reign of Constantine the Great, apart from producing some military and fiscal reforms of particular importance, was marked by two fundamental and foundational facts. On the one hand, the Council of Nicaea after the famous Edict of Milan, which proclaimed religious freedom in 313 and on the other hand, the rise of the new imperial capital in the East: Constantinople (ex Byzantium). Both of them would shape the epidermis and the core of the Roman state in just a few decades. 

Mosaic of Constantine I the Great and Justinian with the Virgin and Child. Hagia Sophia. Constantinople (Istanbul).

In 325 Constantine had the opportunity to recreate the role of paganism´s headunder its aegis, that is Pontifex Maximus, but now chairing a Christian assembly, an ecumenical council, in the city of Nicaea. Not only the emperor did attend the meeting but also about three hundred bishops. The mission of the conference was hearing and settling the thesis of Arianism, which was undermining the unity inside the new Faith. Among the main participants were the papal delegate Hosius, bishop of Corduba, and St. Athanasius, who was called “the champion of orthodoxy”. The thorny issue of the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father was tackled under the watchful eye of Constantine. The priest Arius, from Alexandria, had the opportunity to defend his thesis that had sown much dissension in the eastern provinces. According to this thesis, God and Jesus were different substances. Therefore the Alexandrian priest denied the divinity of Christ. After large and exhausting discussions the bishops proclaimed the Trinitarian nature of God. Constantine supported the decision and the Arian doctrine was considered as heretical and condemned. The Nicene formula, as a dogma, officially was sanctioned shortly after.

Far from providing a definitive solution to the conflict, the verdict of the first ecumenical council incited discontent among the followers of Arius. The defenders of orthodoxy, led by Athanasius, had underestimated the problem as well as the power of the Arians. Soon, they had to get the idea that the extirpation of heresy took longer than what they desired. Even the emperor realized that it was impossible to eliminate Arianism in one fell swoop. So he demanded to the church the readmission of the priest of Alexandria in his breast just to pacify the Empire at least superficially. But his decision only generated resentment and rejection in the orthodox ranks. Athanasius, completely disgusted with the emperor, would spend the rest of his days, until his death in 373, fighting for the Nicene dogma.

The column of Constantine being restored in 2009. Constantinople.

The importance of the council of 325 AD lies in the fact that, through his participation, Constantine laid the foundations of “Caesaropapism”. Since then the Caesars would attribute the right to call councils to resolve disputes of the Church. In other words, the emperors started to subordinate the internal Church affairs and matters under the authority of the state. The intrusion of political power through the figure of the emperor would give a more expeditious process for decisions on dogma matters. However, the Roman state would suffer a lot because of theological disputes that sporadically appeared in its territory. Naturally, both the political and religious power got benefits from the new established system. Suddenly the emperor found in the Christian religion the ideal way to unify the Empire and increase, at the same time, his absolute power. In return, the Church got enormous financial resources and, most importantly, state support against Arianism and other heresies such as Donatism, Priscillianism, Pelagianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, etc.

The consequences of the Council of Nicaea also left their influence on state policy implemented by Constantine. In the third decade of the IV century, the Goth’s menace in the province of Danubian Moesia and the major vitality of the East Roman induced the Emperor to move the political center of the Empire to the East. After reunifying the country, Constantine chose the city of Nicomedia to install his government while his engineers started to build a new capital over the Greek city of Byzantium, an ancient colony founded by Byzas. The capital was finished at the very beginning of 330 and on May 11th it was finally inaugurated with great solemnity. The king called it “New Rome”, a name which, over time, would yield to the “Konstantinou polis” of the Greeks and “Constantinople” of Latinos.

The Golden Horn. Constantinople.

Located strategically at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, Constantinople would soon overshadow the greatness of Rome. Two important factors contributed to this: first of all the city occupied a crucial place to rule over the commercial traffic between the East, the ancient Scythia, and the West, without considering that it was also the key passage between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Apart from that, the site chosen was easy to defend against barbarians and Persians. So Constantinople had got the potential advantage to become itself in a metropolis bigger than Rome. Constantine had noticed it and did not pay attention to expenses when he ordered to erect a protective wall several miles long enclosing the entire perimeter of the brand-new capital. Within the city walls, the works included the erection of a forum, the building of the senate and the imperial palace, all of which was achieved through the labor of slaves.

An eagle attacking a snake. Great Palace Mosaic Museum. Constantinople.

On the surface of the forum, the emperor built a column with a statue of Apollo at its top that was soon replaced by his own, when the advance of Christianity started to overshadow Paganism. Near this column, less than a mile south-east, a racetrack that was used for chariot races was marked and built. Not only the emperor built baths, theaters, barns, cisterns, squares, gardens, dams, docks and piers but also many statues and masterpieces were carried from Rome to beautify the new capital. The Christian faith, wining over Paganism after the Battle of the Bridge Milvio, also helped the proliferation of churches. Inhabited mainly by Greeks and open to a formidable process of Christianization, Constantinople would be molded soon under the symbol of the cross.

      Guilhem W. Martin

Serbian Byzantine Society

In collaboration with:

http://imperiobizantino.wordpress.com/

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