The Fall of Constantinople - 1453
Today is the 554th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks and Paul J. Cella III pays homage here.
As he points out, at that moment, the centuries of bitterness between Greek and Latin Christians simply evaporated:
A mass was said at Holy Wisdom on Monday, May 28; at last, in this final hour, Catholic and Orthodox joined together in worship of the Risen Lord. Greeks who had sworn oaths never to darken the doors of a church contaminated by Romish heretics heard liturgy next to Italians who had declared the Orthodox more loathsome than the infidel Turk. There, in that last agony of the Roman Empire, Christendom was unified, and the Church breathed with both her lungs. There, in the person of the ragged remnants of Constantinople's defenders, the sons of the Church Universal joined in true fellowship. There, in this greatest of tragedies, and only at the bitter end, was a true Christian brotherhood of Greece and Rome.
The lineaments of the Emperor's final speech are known to us. John Julius Norwich gives us perhaps the most moving construal:
He spoke first to his Greek subjects, telling them that there were four great causes for which a man should be ready to die: his faith, his country, his family and his sovereign. They must now be prepared to give their lives for all four. He for his part would willingly sacrifice his own for his faith, his city and his people. They were a great and noble people, the descendents of the heroes of ancient Greece and Rome, and he had no doubt that they would prove themselves worthy of their forefathers in the defense of their city, in which the infidel Sultan wished to seat his false prophet on the throne of Jesus Christ. Turning to the Italians, he thanked them for all that they had done and assured them of his love and trust in the dangers that lay ahead. They and the Greeks were now one people, united in God; with his help they would be victorious. Finally he walked slowly round the room, speaking to each man in turn and begging forgiveness if he ever caused him any offense.
Why must we wait for the bitter end to embrace our brothers and sisters?
posted by Sherry W @ 1:25 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Good question, Sherry. I guess the answer is, Original Sin, or, People are jerks.
I often think about that whole vast area of the Byzantine Empire, which was the cradle of Christianity (outisde the Holy Land itself), completely lost as a social-cultural complex to the Moslem conquests.
I've heard it suggested that so much of the Byzantine territory fell so quickly to the Islamic forces (in the seventh century) because much of the populace was basically demoralized by the intellectual dissensions within Chrisianity at the time, and willingly converted to a religion that was simpler, more unified and self-confident. The Islamic conquest was not only a military conquest.
It wouldn't be the first time that Christianity suffered because of one kind of internal corruption or another in its institutions.
Which is why I became a Catholic and would rejoice to feel the divine wind of those two lungs working together in earnest. And wouldn't it be a fine thing if Christians from east and west could worship again in one of the world's greatest churches (some would say the greatest), Hagia Sophia?
But that would take more than Christian unity, since Moslems regard the same building as one of the world's greatest mosques!
Dave
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