Imperial Unity And Christian Divisions: The Church from 450-680 A.D.

The Church in History #2

by John Meyendorff

Includes 30 photos and index. Almost without exception, the histories of the Church available in print are, in fact, histories of Western Christianity, with only brief and superficial mentions of the East. This volume - the second in a planned series of six - attempts to achieve a more balanced approach. Filling the needs of students, but also of a wider readership, it describes the expansion of Christianity in the East and the West in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries - from Ireland and the Indian Ocean and from Germany to Nubia. It exposes the tensions which arose between the inevitable cultural pluralism and the needs of Church unity - an issue which stands at the center of modern ecclesiological concerns. It discusses the debates on the identity of Christ, formally solved by the decrees of the great ecumenical councils, but which left Christendom divided. It defines the problems raised by the arbitrariness of Eastern Roman emperors and by the gradual development of Roman primacy.

Genres: History, Church History, Theology, Religion, Christianity, Christian

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Fr John Meyendorff (1926-1992) was a Professor of Church History and Patristics at St Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary, and a professor of History at Fordham University, NY. He was a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1976-77), and a Guggenheim Fellow. He held honorary doctorates from the University of Notre Dame and General Theological Seminary, was a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, and a Senior Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks. In 1990 The Diploma of Honorary Member of the Leningrad Theological Academy was bestowed upon him.

Reviews

[Lucas Sipe · Rating 2 out of 5]

A history of the Church from a little before Chaceldon to the 6th ecumenical council, John Meyendorff presents an Orthodox perspective on the time period. It's focus is primarily the east, so Constantinople, Alexandria, and Jerusalem are the centers of this work. There is a lot of material on Rome but the west as a whole is kinda treated poorly. In many ways, this is a good history. It covers a controversial period well, goes into complexities, and enlightens a period we can often forget about. That being said, it's far more mediocre than anything else. He doesn't ever try to give a reason why people acted as they did. In the era of the Hentakion, for example, Meyendorff just assumed the emperors pushing for it wanted unity so badly but never gave a reason for why beyond Church unity is good. While maybe not untrue, it does gloss over important info like how Egypt was the breadbasket of the empire and a popular revolt there might mean famine. Small stuff like that. His obvious Orthodox sympathies meant the Chapters on Rome/ the West were more about dunking on Catholics than anything more. The chapters ranged from ok to just annoying. Overall, not the worst account of an interesting period but far from authoritative in my opinion. On a good note, this was really well sourced and will be good for references. There were also more than a few editorial mistakes like extra spaces, weird commas in the middle of sentences, and other sloppy mistakes.

[Navel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My main takeaways.

Church politics have always been messy and rumors of "glorious byzantium" are anachronistic.

It is extremely moving when traditions we take for granted are placed in their historical context. Some examples the trisagion prayer ("Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal...") being first sung at the Council of Chalcedon. St. Justinian placing an epitaph to his deceased beloved in a beam at St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai.

Schismatic groups have very similar patterns of behavior to one another.

Extremely recommended for lovers of Church History.

[Mikhail Belyaev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Иоанн Мейендорф, как обычно, демонстрирует уникальную патрологическую и историческую эрудицию, внимание к деталям и, в то же время, способность представить определенный концептуальный взгляд на ситуацию.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good and exhaustive. Fr John covers 230 years in 380 pages. The book was excellent but took awhile to get through because it is filled with a lot of dates and historical information. Would recommend to anyone who wants to go deeper as to what happened during Chaceldon.

[Mauberley]

The learning is breathtaking but the writing and editing are abysmal. I found it nearly impossible to read this from cover to cover although I know that I will regularly consult it as a reference work.

[Dominicus · Rating 5 out of 5]

yeah