The term Byzantine commonwealth was coined by 20th-century historians to refer to the area where Byzantine general influence (
Byzantine liturgical and
cultural tradition) was spread during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
by the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and its missionaries. This area covers approximately the modern-day countries of
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
,
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...
,
Montenegro
)
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, capital = Podgorica
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,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistri ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, southwestern
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
, and
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
(known as the region of ''
Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe
The Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe constitutes the second largest Christian denomination. European Eastern Orthodox Christians are predominantly present in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and they are also significantly represented in diaspora t ...
'' or the ''
Orthodox civilization
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
''). According to
Anthony Kaldellis
Anthony Kaldellis ( gr, Αντώνιος Καλδέλλης; born 29 November 1971) is a Greek historian who is Professor and a faculty member of the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago. He is a specialist in Greek historiograph ...
, the Byzantines in generally did not have a ecumenical outlook, nor did they think about the notion of an panorthodox commonwealth, which he describes as "Roman Chavinism".
The Obolensky model
The most important treatment of the concept is a study by
Dimitri Obolensky
Sir Dimitri Obolensky (19 March/1 April 1918, in St Petersburg – 23 December 2001) was a Russian-British historian who was Professor of Russian and Balkan History at the University of Oxford and the author of various historical works.
Biogra ...
, ''The Byzantine Commonwealth''. In his book ''Six Byzantine Portraits'' he examined the life and works of six persons mentioned in ''The Byzantine Commonwealth''. He also described the commonwealth as the international community within the sphere of authority of the Byzantine emperor, bound by the same profession of
Orthodox Christianity
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Chu ...
, and accepting the principles of Romano-Byzantine law.
There are scholars, however, who criticize this conceptualization, disputing the notion of an unchallenged superiority of the Byzantine empire. It is argued that the complex and multi-faceted dynamics of documented cultural exchange was not aligned with the theory that Constantinople was the superior core while those in periphery understood their marginal position and merely imitated their superiors. Instead of Byzantine commonwealth, historian Christian Raffensperger, proposed that it be recast as the "Byzantine ideal".
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
was a constant and powerful rival to the Byzantine empire during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
.
[Dimiter G. Angelov, ''Byzantinism: The Imaginary and Real Heritage of Byzantium in Southeastern Europe'', in Dimitris Keridis, ]Ellen Elias-Bursać
Ellen Elias-Bursać (born 1952) is an American scholar and literary translator. Specializing in South Slavic literature, she has translated numerous works from Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian.
Early life
Ellen Elias was born in Cambridge, Massa ...
, Nicholas Yatromanolakis, ''New approaches to Balkan studies'', Brassey's, 2003,
Google Print, p.3
/ref> Here, the empire maintains its belief in the traditional hierarchy and the imperial authority while its reach and sway were already considerably diminished.
See also
*Byzantinism
Byzantinism, or Byzantism, is the political system and culture of the Byzantine Empire, and its spiritual successors the Orthodox Christian Balkan countries of Greece and Bulgaria especially, and to a lesser extent Serbia and some other Orthodox ...
*Byzantine culture
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
*Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
*Eastern Orthodoxy by country
Based on the numbers of adherents, the Eastern Orthodox Church (also known as Eastern Orthodoxy) is the second largest Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church, with the most common estimates of baptised members being ap ...
*Rum Millet
Rūm millet (millet-i Rûm), or "''Roman nation''", was the name of the Eastern Orthodox Christian community in the Ottoman Empire. Despite being subordinated within the Ottoman political system, the community maintained a certain internal auto ...
* Succession of the Roman Empire
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*Billinis, Alexander.
The Eagle Has Two Faces: Journeys Through Byzantine Europe
'' AuthorHouse Publishing, 2011. .
*
*Meyendorff, John (1983), ''The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church''. St Vladimir's Seminary Press, .
Foreign relations of the Byzantine Empire
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
Cultural regions
Eastern Orthodox ecumenical and interfaith relations
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