Oxford history of the christian church

2. The imperial advance in the East: the Muslims and the non- Chalcedonian Churches.

The close co-operation between church and state during the years 933-5 was in general exemplified in the frontier conquests though on occasion modified by political needs. In the east, it was a period of steady advance against the Muslims bringing the Christian forces into contact with various ecclesiastical problems. First the conversion of the Muslims and here Byzantium, in contrast to its work in other fields, ¹² had no real success. There were of course individual or group conversions but that could work both ways often as a matter of expediency. When Curcuas captured Melitene in 934 whole Muslim families turned Christian because they did not wish to be deported. There was inevitably considerable cross-fertilization in the eastern marcher lands. The fortunes and activities of the Christian marcher lords are well illustrated in the epic poem Digenis Acritas, the frontier warrior of 'dual origin', the son of a Christian mother and a converted Muslim emir father. But in general the failure of the Orthodox Church to make genuine conversions on any large scale among Muslims was a feature of Byzantine history (in contrast to its success with the South Slavs and Russia). On the contrary during the course of the middle ages the tenacity with which the Islamic world clung to its faith intensified. As it extended its conquests it continually drew the conquered native Christians into its fold, ¹³ though some (as the Church recognized) maintained a kind of crypto-Christianity beneath apparent acceptance of Islam.

The advance in the cast inevitably brought renewed contacts with the separated Christian monophysite Churches. The achievements of the Byzantines in extending the eastern frontiers into Mesopotamia, North Syria, and Armenia during the tenth and early eleventh centuries are much lauded. But ultimately disastrous consequences are scarcely recognized. ¹⁴ The fertile Mediterranean coastal strip with its citrus trees below the rugged Cilician Gates was ruthlessly devastated to facilitate the capture of Tarsus. This scorched earth policy applied everywhere, and together with the panic flight eastward of Muslims, and the forced transportation into slavery of captives, meant the depopulation of the frontier regions. To make good this situation the Syrian Jacobites (monophysites) were encouraged to expand into the newly instituted themes, and they overflowed into the regions around Melitene, Marash, and Edessa. This influx of wealthy Syrian families and merchants brought back prosperity to the devastated regions. The establishment of the separated non-Chalcedonian Jacobite Church was accompanied by the foundation of new bishoprics as well as monasteries which became flourishing centres of activity. The Syrian migration seems to have been buoyed up by a promise of religious toleration from Nicephorus II. Such an attitude towards heterodoxy was a matter of urgent political expediency. Even so, it was entirely contrary to the deep-rooted Byzantine conception of the Emperor as a pillar of orthodoxy. It roused continual opposition both from ecclesiastical circles in Constantinople and from the local Chalcedonian minorities. Nevertheless this policy was generally continued by Nicephorus's powerful successors John Tzimisces and Basil II († 1025). It was reversed by the weaker and less-able eleventh-century rulers from 1028 onwards with disastrous results. It was however noticeable that this tolerance was not uniformly applied. Again for political reasons, further south in the key city of Antioch orthodoxy was strictly enforced and the consequent diversion of Syrian Jacobites to northern regions was welcomed as reducing heretical influence in a particularly sensitive political area. ¹⁵

A migration similar to that of the Syrians took place among the Armenians. The eastward expansionist policy of Constantinople involved the gradual absorption of Armenia. Ani, the last independent region fell to Constantine IX in 1045. As various areas were conquered or acquired, leading families were offered privileges and estates in Cappadocia, or in south-east Asia Minor where in the later eleventh century the kingdom of Lesser Armenia was to emerge and become an important factor in crusader politics. This Armenian migration introduced a monophysite element into orthodox regions, though not in so powerful and compact a form as in the case of the Jacobite Church. But it meant friction. Though for centuries individual Armenians had held high positions in Byzantine service (presumably paying lip-service to orthodox belief), they were disliked by the Greeks. The presence of considerable numbers of monophysite Armenians in the Asia Minor themes was felt to be a challenge to the Byzantine Church and was to lead to an unwise religious policy in the critical years after 1025.