The
Church as the source of Holy War
The Byzantine state differed from the
Latin and Islamic worlds in its retention of a powerful administration that
alone had responsibility for the military. The Byzantine Church had no
authority to interfere in military matters and held those who transgressed this
rule accountable through rigorously enforced canon law.[1]
The separation of the sacred nature of the Church and the profane duty of the
imperium to wage war had meant that no Byzantine Patriarchs had pursued
military ends as the Popes had done.[2]
Byzantine churchmen supported the military activities of the empire as envoys
and by their presence at army encampments without ever taking part in combat. A
prominent example of the role carried out by Byzantine churchmen is Patriarch
Nicholas Mystikos (901-907, 912-925) by his letters of mediation with Symeon of
Bulgaria (893-927). In these letters he appeals for peace between Bulgaria and
Byzantium and reminds the Archbishop of Bulgaria that his obligation “beyond
all else (was) to serve the cause of peace’.[3]
The mixture of the two spheres of society was considered abhorrent in Byzantium
as witnessed by the damning accounts of Latin clergy participation in the
crusades vividly described by Anna Komnene.[4]
The
Byzantine understanding of violence
The main obstacle in attaching a
religious meaning to Byzantine wars is that the Byzantines viewed war as a
symptom of the fallen world a tragedy and always sinful[5].
As a consequence of its perception of violence the Byzantines never developed a
concept of meritorious killing, on the contrary Constantine Porphyrigenitos
ridicules jihad in his De Administrando Imperio categorizing the belief “he who slays an enemy or is slain by an
enemy enters into paradise” as “nonsense”.[6]
Constantine’s repulsion at the idea of meritorious killing is representative of
the Byzantine perception of Jihad and violence for the entire span of Byzantine
history. “If, then, it has been demonstrated that all murder, insofar as it
is murder, is bad, it is evident that it is also not licit.”[7]
Niketas Byzantios’s (9th
Century) dialogue with an “Agarene” is a polemical yet typically Byzantine
explanation of the nature of killing (here murder). The segment above is a
response to his Muslim correspondent’s letter explaining the Islamic belief in
both licit and illicit murder. The criterion for licit murder according to the
Muslim correspondent is the will of God.[8]
As discussed above Byzantines attributed the existence of violence to the fall
and therefore the devil, to attribute any war or killing to the will of God
would have seemed completely alien.
[1] We have decreed that those who have been enrolled in the
clergy or have become monks sheall not join the army or obtain ant secular
office, Let those who dare do this and will not repent..be anathama, Chalcedon
7 RP 2;232
[2] A clear statement defining the roles for the classes of
people in Byzantine society is found in “Holy orders have been established for
the worship of God..through whom all things came into being and are governed in
the ways of goodness known to him alone. Legal institutions are established to
bring about justice.. laws and judges have been established to pronounce
judgement .. to aid people in living together in peace.” Dennis, George T., ed. Three Byzantine Military
Treatises,
(Washington, 1985). p.13.
[3] Nicholas I, Patriarch of Constantinople, Letters. Trs. R. J. H. Jenkins, L. G. Westerink, Washington: Dumbarton Oaks,
1973. p. 82.
[4] Comnena, Anna, The Alexiad, ed. E. R. A. Sewter.
(London 2009), p. 285. Regarding the battle
between Marianos and a priest defending count Prebentzas “The Latin customs
with regard to priests differ from ours. We are bidden by canon law and the
reaching of the Gospel, “touch not, taste not, hanfle not- for thou art
consecrate’. But your Latin barbarian will at the same time handle sacred
objects, fasten a shield to his left arm and grasp a spear in his right. He
will communicate the Body and Blood of the Deity and meanwhile gaze on
bloodshed and become himself “a man of blood”. Thus the race is no less devoted
to religion than to war”…. “It was as if he were officiating at a ceremony,
celebrating as though war was a holy ritual.”
[6] Porphyrogenitus Constantine, De Administrando Imperio, Trans. R j.
Jenkins (Washington 1985),p 79.
[7] Krausmüller, Dirk. “Killing at god's command:
Niketas Byzantios' polemic against Islam and the Christian tradition of divinely
sanctioned murder.” Al-Masaq: Journal of
the Medieval Mediterranean, 16:1, (Carfax, 2004), p. 167
p. 207 “Then, when the sacred months are drawn away, slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush.”)
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