For over a thousand years, Eastern Christendom had as its center the second capital of the Roman Empire-Constantinople, the New Rome, or Byzantium. The geographical division between the Eastern and Western Churches was only one manifestation of deeper rifts, characterized by a long history of conflicts, suspicions, and misunderstandings. Although the art, monasticism, and spirituality of Byzantium have come to be recognized as inspirational and influential in the shaping of Eastern European civilization, and of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as well, the West has been in the main...
For over a thousand years, Eastern Christendom had as its center the second capital of the Roman Empire-Constantinople, the New Rome, or Byzantium. Th...