CHAPTER 6 THE NEW CHRISTIAN ROMES: BYZANTIUM, EAST EUROPE, AND RUSSIA

The Transition from Rome to Constantinople The Roman Crisis of the Third Century Official Recognition and Acceptance of Christianity The Germanic Tribes The Germanic Invasions The End of the West Roman Empire C.E.

Byzantium: The East Roman Shining Fortress The Latin Phase The Greek Phase: Heaclius and the Redefined Empire Iconoclasm and Schism Byzantium’s Golden Age, Decline and Crusades

Eastern European and Russian Romes The Roman Catholic and Orthodox Orbits. Kiev Rus’ Novgorod, Moscow, and the Mongols

YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND The political and religious circumstances into which Jesus was born, the efforts and persecutions of his early converts, and their eventual success in shaping the early church. The role of Christian monasteries and missionaries in preserving and extending Greco-Roman civilization.

YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND The growth of Slavic nations in eastern Europe under Byzantine tutelage. The origins of Russia and its links with the Byzantine Empire.