Oxford history of the christian church

3.Thirteenth century rival Byzantine churches: Nicaea and Epirus.

Not all of the East Roman Empire fell to the Latins in 1204 and for 250 years a brave attempt was made to maintain the Byzantine imperial tradition in church and state. An essential step was considered to be the recovery of the capital City which symbolized the imperial authority and in 1261 Constantinople was regained. Equally important in the minds of the majority was the Orthodox faith which together with the Hellenic tradition was in the long term all that was to survive Latin and Ottoman dominations. The maintenance of Byzantine continuity was at first bedevilled not only by Latin aggression but by rival Orthodox claimants to the imperial succession, namely, the Greek rulers of Trebizond, Epirus, and Nicaea, as well as the rising Serbian and Bulgarian princes. Trebizond on the Black Sea was never a serious rival. The struggle really lay between Epirus and Nicaea, though the Balkan rulers were often powerful enough to turn the balance.

Nicaea however had certain advantages. Here in Asia Minor Theodore Lascaris, son-in-law of the dispossessed Alexius III, claimed to be the imperial successor to the Angeli and set up his court. To establish his position he needed patriarchal coronation and the support of the Orthodox Church. The old patriarch, John X Camaterus, refused to join him in Nicaea. ⁴⁸ Theodore's opportunity came with the death of John in 1206 and the impasse in Constantinople when the Latins refused to allow the Greeks in the capital to elect a new Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople. Then, as foreshadowed by Nicholas Mesarites in the fruitless discussion with the papal legate and the Venetian Patriarch, the frustrated Byzantines turned to Nicaea. Already a number of high Byzantine ecclesiastics and others had taken refuge here. Theodore prepared for the election by addressing himself to the bishops of the Empire, the higher clergy of Hagia Sophia, and the heads of the Constantinopolitan monasteries, summoning them to attend a synod in Nicaea in the third week of Lent 1208 to elect a new patriarch. ⁴⁹ Michael IV Autorianus, a learned man, was duly elected on 20 March in time to consecrate the chrism on Maundy Thursday for the coronation of Theodore on Easter Sunday 1208, ⁵⁰ three years after he had been acclaimed Emperor. ⁵¹ This gave Theodore the advantage of the customary imperial coronation as well as the support of the head of the Orthodox Church, though the archbishop was seated in Nicaea (temporarily it was hoped) and not in Constantinople.

From the outset the Patriarch worked closely with the Lascarids. There was no doubt about the value of his support for the Nicaean imperial claims. He issued a stirring letter exhorting the army to stand by their monarch and granted absolution to those soldiers who fell in battle. ⁵² The tenor of the letter is a reminder of the initial struggles of Theodore who had to check the advance westward of the Greek Trebizond ruler, to keep back the Seljuks on his eastern border and to bargain with the Latin Emperor in Constantinople for the north-west coast of Asia Minor which was for a time in Latin possession. Further, his authority — and that of his Patriarch — was challenged by a formidable enemy in the rapidly expanding principality of Epirus in north-west Greece; and on the flanks were the two Balkan states, Bulgaria and, at this time the rather less dangerous, Serbia. Both Epirus and Bulgaria had in mind the recapture of Constantinople and with it the resumption of the imperial title now claimed by Nicaea.

While Theodore Lascaris was steadily building up his Nicaean kingdom as a base from which his successors were eventually to advance into the lost European provinces, his rivals in Epirus were cleverly expanding their territory. Theodore Angelus (1215-30), the most adventurous of the dynasty, successfully attacked the Latin kingdom of Thessalonica and captured its chief city. Here in 1224 he was crowned Emperor (basileus and autocrator) by Demetrius Chomatianus, the autocephalous archbishop of Ochrida, since the metropolitan of Thessalonica had refused to act. This coronation was a direct challenge to Theodore Lascaris. The weak and ineffective Latin Empire of Constantinople was unable to check either of its Greek opponents. It was indeed only the fierce antagonism between the two contestants for the imperial throne that enabled the Latin Empire to survive until 1261. Had the rulers of Epirus and Nicaca combined, the Latin Empire could hardly have resisted them, particularly had they won over the Bulgarian ruler to their side. As it was, the struggle between the Lascarids and Angeli had to be fought out and in so doing the Orthodox Church was split within itself. ⁵³

Both Epirus and Nicaea were firmly supported by their own ecclesiastics. Both were Orthodox, although Epirus, purely for political advantage, once or twice vacillated in the direction of Rome, and Theodore Lascaris, equally for political reasons, put out feelers towards union with the Latin Church. The real root of the Epirote-Nicene trouble lay in political rivalry which, given the Byzantine view of Empire, inevitably involved the Church. For the Epirote Church to submit to the control of the Patriarch of Constantinople (temporarily in exile at Nicaea) was to admit the imperial claim of the Lascarids. From the outset difficulties of communication, Latin hostilities, towns captured from the Latins needing Greek bishops — all these factors provided an excuse for independent action. In 1213 the Epirote synod appointed to the sees of Dyrrhachium and Larissa, but the Patriarchs Michael IV, Theodore II, and Maximus II gave no approval. At this time the able Theodore Angelus was successfully advancing into Thessaly and Bulgarian Macedonia. Ecclesiastical problems in Macedonia were settled independently of Nicaea in a synod (1219) in which Demetrius Chomatianus played a leading part. He had been made autocephalous archbishop of Ochrida after Theodore Angelus had captured the city in 1217. This Bulgarian see claimed special privileges by reason of its link with the see of Justiniana and All Bulgaria and it was from here that Chomatianus, a distinguished canonist, became the driving force in the movement to set up an independent Epirote Church and to exercise some control over Serbia. Nicaea attempted to counter this by creating an autocephalous Church in Serbia where in 1220 Stephen II's brother Sabas was recognized as archbishop of Ζ+̆ic+̆a and All Serbia. ⁵⁴

The growing independence of the Epirote ecclesiastics roused the Patriarch in Nicaea to make formal protest. In 1222 Manuel I tried to assert his authority. He did confirm the two irregular appointments under protest, but firmly stipulated that in future canonical procedure must be followed. Further, in an unconciliatory letter he unjustifiably stigmatized Demetrius Chomatianus as an uncultured foreigner, ⁵⁵ which produced a fiery reply from John Apocaucus, the metropolitan of Naupactus. The rift had already been further widened by the Epirote refusal to take part in a meeting of the bishops of the four eastern patriarchates which Theodore Lascaris was planning to hold in Nicaea in 1220 to discuss an approach to Rome and church union. ⁵⁶ Coupled with the refusal was the suggestion that if such a meeting were held Epirus would be a more suitable venue, followed by a warning to Nicaea against overfraternization with the Latins. The tone of the letter clearly indicated the attitude of Epirus.

The struggle came to a climax during the patriarchate of the determined and forceful Germanus II (4 January 1223-June 1240). Epirote bishops continued to be appointed and the Patriarch's nominees rejected. The special claims of the metropolitan of Ochrida were upheld. The Epirote episcopate firmly supported Theodore Angelus' imperial claims and his coronation by Chomatianus. A synod held at Arta in 1225 made its position clear in a letter to Germanus. Epirus would choose its own bishops and it was hoped that the Patriarch in Nicaea would approve such appointments. The Patriarch's spiritual authority was recognized and his name was on the diptychs. But if he did not accept this situation, which had full imperial approval (a provocative addition), and send a reply within three months, then an approach to Rome might even be considered.

This double challenge to the authority of Patriarch and Lascarid Emperor was met. In a synodal letter drawn up after an emergency meeting of about forty bishops, apparently held in the vicinity of the imperial army quarters in Bithynia, Germanus swiftly called on Theodore Angelus to lay aside the imperial purple. ⁵⁷ But the Patriarch's most stinging retort was reserved for Demetrius Chomatianus, who had written to Germanus in an attempt to smooth over and justify the situation, stressing the well-being of the western Greek Church and the advantages to Orthodoxy of Theodore's successes against the Latins. What precedent was there, Patriarch Germanus asked, for a mere Bulgarian archbishop to crown a Roman Emperor? Why did he continue to undermine the unity of the Church? The Patriarch concluded by announcing the dispatch of an envoy, Nicholas Kaloethes, the metropolitan of Amastris, commissioned to rectify the situation. ⁵⁸ The legate reached Thessalonica but achieved nothing. Schism ensued and the Patriarch's name was now no longer commemorated in the Divine Liturgy. ⁵⁹ Correspondence however did not cease. The Epirote Church had able exponents of its cause. Both Demetrius Chomatianus and George Bardanes of Corfu eloquently defended their Emperor and Church, and Bardanes at least pleaded for a peaceful acceptance and compromise.

The rift was brought to an end by hard political facts. Theodore Angelus was defeated and blinded by the Bulgarians and Epirote power declined, while Nicaea under John III Vatatzes steadily ate into the European lands of the Latin Empire. Manuel Angelus (1230-7) found it expedient to turn to Nicaea, particularly in view of the danger of falling under the control of Bulgaria where the metropolitan of Trnovo had obtained autocephalous and patriarchal status, ⁶⁰ thus diminishing the ecclesiastical authority of the archbishop of Ochrida and All Bulgaria. For a time Manuel Angelus had thought of getting papal protection and had approached Gregory IX in 1232, but when his Bulgarian father-inlaw broke his country's alliance with Rome, he thought it prudent to call this off. However rather than submit to possible control by the Bulgarian (and Orthodox) Church he turned to Nicaea. The Patriarch's right to approve Epirote episcopal elections was accepted, though the hazardous nature of communications was also put forward as a reason for being allowed to continue making local appointments. Germanus however ridiculed Manuel's reasoning -the perils of travel are as difficult for us as for you. Then in 1233 he sent his legate Christopher, bishop of Ancyra with the title of the Exarch of the Western Church, to break down the wall between the two parts of the Byzantine Church and to set in order ecclesiastical affairs, including a close investigation into the status claimed by various monastic houses. ⁶¹