The Byzantine Empire and The Division of Christianity

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The Byzantine Empire and the Division of Christianity

I. THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE


A. After the Pax Romana, the Roman Empire entered an era of _____decline___________
1. Romans had a large ______trade______ _____imbalance____________ (they bought more than they produced)
2. The Roman Empire had a series of ____weak _____ ___emperors__________
3. As Rome went deeper into debt, the _____________military_______ became weak and began using foreign mercenary
soldiers
4. Emperor Diocletian then tried to save the Roman Empire by ____________dividing________ it to make it more
manageable
B. The _________western_______ ____side_______ of the Roman Empire continued to grow weak
1. Emperor Constantine moved the Roman capital to ___Constantinople_________________in the Eastern side of the
Roman Empire
2. By 476, __________Germanic______ ______Barbarians_____________ conquered the Western Roman Empire
3. The Western Roman Empire fell into the _______middle________ ___ages_______ (or “Dark Ages”) from 500 to 1300
CE

II. THE RISE OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE


A. While the
________Western_________ Roman
Empire was in
_____decline__________… the
______Eastern__________ Roman
Empire remained
____strong__________
1. The Eastern Roman Empire later
became known as the
_______________ _____________
2. Constantinople was a crossroads
for ______trade________and
business between Europe, Asia,
and Africa because of its location;
this trade made the Byzantine
Empire very
_______wealthy_________
3. Its location on the water
(connecting the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea) made it more ____easily________ ____________defended____
from outside invaders than most cities
4. The Byzantines had ______many____ _______enemies_________ including neighboring Arabs and some Germanic
tribes, but they were able to ____survive___________
B. Citizens of the Byzantine Empire thought of themselves as ___________Romans_____; they shared some
_________________smiliarities____ with the Roman Empire
1. GRECO-ROMAN CULTURE PRESERVED BY BYZANTINES
a. The Byzantines kept ___Greco________-____Roman__________ ___culture_____________alive while the Western
side of the Roman Empire was plunged into the Middle Ages
b. By preserving Greco-Roman culture, Constantinople became a major center of __learning_______________
c. Schools taught philosophy, _________medicine_________, geometry, and Greek and ____Latin_________ grammar
d. Constantinople featured _____Roman__________-_____style_______ architecture (using arches and
________domes______)
e. Like the Romans, Byzantine cities had _____forums______for business and trade and built _____arenas_______ for
entertainment
f. The most impressive work of Byzantine architecture is the ___Hagia ____________ ____Sophia____________, which
was originally a Christian ______Church_________ in the year 360; later, the Hagia Sophia (which means
“_____Holy_______ ______Wisdom_________” in Greek) became a _____mosque__________ and today is a
museum in present-day Turkey
g. Though the official language of the Roman Empire was Latin, most people on the Eastern side spoke which became
the Byzantines’ ____official________ _____language____________

C. BYZANTINE LEADERSHIP
1. EMPEROR JUSTINIAN
a. Both the Roman and Byzantine Empires were ruled by ___emperors____________ who had absolute power over
their empires
b. ______Justinian_____________ was the most famous of the Byzantine emperors
2. About 50 years after the ________fall_____ of Western Rome, Justinian came to power in the East; he began
__________reconquering____________Roman territories lost to the Germanic tribes
3. THE JUSTINIAN CODE: to oversee his empire, Justinian ordered ______legal________ ______experts___________ to
consolidate Roman laws into a single law code
a. It was called the “_______Justinian____________ ______Code______” and served as the legal basis for criminal
justice, ______marriage____________, property, ____slavery____________,and women’s rights
b. This law code served as the basis for law for the next ___900_______ __years_____________ and was one of the
most important _______legacies_________ of the Byzantine Empire
c. The Justinian Code had four components:
THE LAW CODE: nearly 5000 Roman laws that the Byzantines still considered ______useful________
THE DIGEST: summarized Romans’ ___________opinions______ about laws
THE INSTITUTES: textbook on how to ____use______ the laws
THE NOVELLAE (NEW LAWS): contained all news laws that were ________passed_______ after the year 534
4. Justinian ordered the start of many massive ____building____________ ______projects____________; including the
Hagia Sophia (to show the importance of the Church)
a. He built hospitals,
_____________aqueducts____, public baths, and
___________courts____
5. EMPRESS THEODORA
a. Justinian’s wife, the
________Emporess______
____Theodora___________, had a lot of
_______power_______ and influence in the
Byzantine Empire
b. She dealt with ____foreign_________
_______leaders_______, meeting with and writing
to them
c. She helped her husband pass new laws
and ______advised___________him in
matters dealing with other nations
d. Theodora encouraged the
_______building_________of Christian
churches and cathedrals
e. Theodora was a woman of _____great______ ___beauty____________ and did many things to help her husband
Justinian, but she had a dark side to her
f. Theodora _____fiercely________ _______guarded________ her husband’s regime and her own personal power,
ruthlessly ordering __murders_________ of those she thought were enemies
g. When a _________rebellion________ against Justinian rose up (the “Nika Riots”), she sent the army to
___________slaughter______ 30,000 people
6. JUSTINIAN & THEODORA
a. Justinian is remembered as one of the Byzantine Empire’s ________greatest__________emperors while Theodora is
one of the most ___________notorious________ women in history
b. Nevertheless, their _________partnership_____________ worked and the Byzantine Empire mostly thrived under
their rule

III. THE GREAT SCHISM: THE DIVISION OF CHRISTIANITY


A. Because of its location close to _________Judea______, most Byzantines had __________coverted_________to
___________Christianity________ before people in the Western Roman Empire did
B. However, Christianity developed __________differently___________ in the East due to the
______distance_____________ and lack of contact between the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire
1. All Christians, both in the East and the West, based their faith on ___Jesus_________ ____Christ_______ and the
_______Bible______
2. However, there were many ___differences_________________ in Eastern and Western religious
________practices___________
3. Christianity was _________organized__________ the same way on both sides of the Empire
a. Archbishops and _________bishops________ oversaw regions where Christianity was practiced
b. _______priests_________led individual churches
B. However, Christians in the East and West disagreed over the _________leadership___________ of the Church
1. WESTERN EUROPE:
a. Christians in Western Europe believed that a leader called the __pope____ (Latin for “father”) should oversee the
bishops
b. Christians in Western Europe accepted the Pope as the top ______authority__________ _____figure_________ of
the Church
2. EASTERN EUROPE:
a. Eastern European Christians believed that the _______Byzantine________ ______emperors________ had authority
over Church matters
b. The emperors relied on a religious leader called a ______Patriach____________ to oversee Church operations, but
the emperors had _______final________ authority
c. Byzantine Christians did _____not____ _________accept_____ the authority of the Pope
C. ICONOCLAST CONTROVERSY: The biggest ____________conversancy_____________ between Christians of the West and
East was over the use of ____icons________
1. Icons were _________religious______ ____images________ (paintings, statues) that Christians would have during
prayers and worship
2. Some Christians thought icons were “_____idol____ ____worship_______” (worshipping false
images of God)
3. In the year 730, the Byzantine emperor ________banned__________ all icons and many
Christians reacted _________violently_________
a. Emperor Leo III ordered the ________destruction_____________ of icons in the
Byzantine Empire
b. _____riots________ broke out between people who wanted icons and
_________iconoclasts_________ (those who wanted to ban icons)
4. The ________Pope_____in Western Europe supported the use of icons and called Leo III a
_________heretic________(a believer of false religious ideas)

5. The Pope _______excommunitcated_________________the Byzantine emperor (formally banned him from the Church)

D. These disagreements led to _________deep___ _______decisions__________ between Christians; the


______Great_______ _______Schism______ (split) occurred in 1054 CE
1. Christians in Western Europe became the _____Roman________ _____Catholic___________ _____Church_________
2. Christians in Eastern Europe became the _______Eastern______ _____Orthodox____________ ____Church__________
E. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians practice their religions differently:

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