Submission 2


 * Submission 2: Christianity on the Eve of Submission
 * by Anthony Mayer
 * 9 October 2001


 * "You have gold and silver,
 * It's going to rot!
 * And that rot is going to eat away at your heart.
 * All of you. "


 * - The Prophet (CJ Bolland), samples from The Last Temptation of Christ

Christianity (World Religion) Political History of Christendom... by the first century before the standard era Christianity had become well established throughout the Roman Empire and the kingdoms of the Roman periphery. During this period, the eve of the era of Submission, Christendom became ever more centred on the Mediterranean, which provided easy access for a resurgent Roman Empire in the west and enabled closer cultural ties between the dispersed kingdoms which border this inland sea. This emphasis on the sea was accentuated by the gradual collapse of central religious authority in the more northern kingdoms in Francia and Britain, a collapse associated with the slow degradation of trade, communication and political relationships between the kingdoms and the Roman Empire. We can consider Christendom in this period as consisting of 6 major areas, the central Imperial territories, the western territories, the eastern periphery, Francia, Britain, and the Balkans. However artificial such a division was in reality (especially over the length of a century -- a short time during such a dynamic period), it remains an instructive distinction. While Ghassanid Persia was formally Christian, the Asian Nestorian Church had little contact with Imperial Christianity due to the complete absence of large scale political entities in Mesopotamia, and as such is discussed elsewhere (see Persia, History of).

The central Imperial territories essentially included all of southern Greece and the islands, together with Anatolia. Despite the revolts on the eastern periphery and sporadic fighting with the newly independent Kingdoms of Antioch, Syria and Egypt, Anatolia itself remained prosperous and unmilitarised. There was no attempt by Antioch to extend her power to the north, as the Banu Amar well understood the risks involved with provoking Imperial wrath. This territorial integrity resulted in a large measure of freedom for the development of Christian expression in these central territories (unlike the West, there were no military themes or exarchates). Together with the explosion of mysticism from Arabia this proved to be a fertile ground for the further development of monasticism. Successive Emperors were remarkably tolerant of often extreme monastic movements, as they provided a useful release for some of the more revolutionary elements of the church and aided in the extension of Imperial authority into the Jezirah and Armenia.

Concerning the eastern Kingdoms themselves, the Emperor Artavasdus the Great adopted the role of 'Protector of the Orthodox'. Following the initial fighting the Arab dynasties curried favour with the Emperor, guaranteeing rights for their Orthodox subjects in exchange for formal recognition. They needed access to the Mediterranean (where the Empire retained massive naval superiority) in order to gain the stability needed to face rivals at home and the continuing menace of the Bedouin raids. The kings of Syria and Egypt validated their rule through control of the Patriarchs, and the principle of 'Divine Authority' (temporal power passed from God through the Patriarch to the King, and then dispersed to his subordinate nobility) became a watchword. In this the Emperor was forced to acquiesce, though the Imperial claim of the absolute temporal power over the world was retained. In fact the Kings of Egypt and Syria deferred to the Emperor as their senior, though not superior power. In Antioch events moved more in the Empire's favour. The triumphal march of Artavasdus was greeted with some trepidation by the Cilicians, but the conflict was resolved peacefully (the Banu Amar were eager to avoid a long and bloody siege of Antioch), and a deal was struck whereby the Jacobite Patriarch was retained, but King Yazid swore fealty to the Emperor, in return being anointed Grand Domestic. Antioch thus became the frontier province of the Empire, semi-independent, but allowing extension of imperial policy into areas abandoned since the Persian wars.

Egypt also willingly came to terms with Artavasdus, following the stalemates of the earlier wars. King Hisham was more interested in extending his power into Axum and confronting the ascendant naval strength of the Yemenis. Thus in both the centre and the eastern periphery the political situation was such that a wide variety of Christian interpretations flourished, some with powerful temporal protection (those represented by a Patriarch), others thriving in rural isolation. Throughout these areas the Orthodox remained under Imperial protection - which the local rulers were happy to allow. On matters of doctrine the Orthodox faith itself was struggling with renewed bouts of iconoclastic fervour, much of which may be ascribed to Arabian influence. This often served as a pretext for political infighting between the nobility and the Emperor.

In the West the Empire's influence grew with to an extent unrivalled since the days of Justinian. The crushing rout of the Lombards at Ravenna led to the re-establishment of the Exarchate across central Italy, ending in Paulicius's capture of Rome. The return of Imperial influence to Italy effectively ended the independence of the traditional Latin church and resulted directly in the Great Schism. Pope Zachary fled Rome and allied himself with the Carolingian 'Mayors of the Palace'. A successful dynasty in their own right, victorious in numerous wars in Aquitaine and Burgundy, Charles the Mayor sought the throne proper. The Pope, citing divine authority in a similar fashion to the eastern Patriarchs, anointed Charles King of Francia and in return obtained his support in Italy against both the Emperor and Astulf the Lombard. Artavasdus responding by forcing through the election of a new Patriarch of Rome (or anti-Pope). Thus the Great Schism began, which did much to weaken the unity of northern Christendom.

Throughout the final years of the 1st century BSE those Frankish nobles who fought against King Charles or his successors often claimed they would follow the Roman faith, while the 'Papist' doctrine became identified with royal power. The Pope himself was established at Lyons. While the effect on Francia was devastating, resulting in the entrenchment of numerous heretical sects driven from Romania proper, the schism had much wider effects. The Second Synod of Whitby (31 BSE) [741 CE] declared the allegiance of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms to the Roman Church. Given the separation between Rome and Britain, this in effect meant independence, and a gradual compromise with the Celtic churches which the first Synod had decried.

The victory in Italy was followed by expansion in the Western Mediterranean, including the Iberian Exarchate. While the Roman Catholic faith was suffering in Francia and northern Italy, it was adopted throughout the Iberian territories, including the semi-independent Visigothic Kingdoms, which had been forced to come to terms with the Empire. This period sees the founding and rise of the cities that would later form the League of Fraxinetum. Barcelona, Genoa, Amalfi, Naples, Palermo and Carthage were all under nominal Imperial control and were paying taxes to support the Italian and Iberian themes, but in practice governed themselves.

The North was the weakest and most highly militarised part of the Empire. The Balkans were ravaged by highly destructive wars with first the Avars and later the Bulgars, who had adopted the stark and minimalist Arianism of St. al-Mubarak (a convert from Shi'at Ali), which later became known as Jabarism, probably from the Arabic. This highly heretical interpretation of Christianity was remarkably successful, as it appeared to be a religion of both victory and simplicity and was suited to the 'barbarian' values of the Bulgars and Avars. With no ecclesiastical structure and a strong missionary tradition converts were made in scattered locations throughout southern Germany and Hungary. The Lombards' conversion to Jabarism followed their defeat at Ravenna. It was a gesture of defiance against the Emperor (who hoped they would accept the Orthodox faith), nevertheless their conversion ended any hope of further formal Jabarist expansion -- the Lombards added their own structures to the religion and altered many of the doctrines. Like many of the pre-Submission religions Jabarism lacked the coherence to spread far beyond its early territories. Much of the energy of Jabarist scholars and mystics was spent in internal quarrels between the Lombard and Bulgarian versions. Nevertheless their uncompromising Arianism prevented the spread of the orthodox faith beyond the confines of the land the Empire could permanently garrison.

Thus we can see that though the Roman Empire and its religion of Christianity became incomparably more stable and secure in the Mediterranean basin in the 1st century BSE, this stability had been bought at a price. Of the six major areas discussed, the centre remained secure and wealthy, the east had become decentralised and independent, though predominantly peaceful, and the west militarised. The Balkans were impoverished and under the Jabarists, Francia violently anti-Imperial and Papist, and Britain isolated and drifting towards a more local Christianity. We know in hindsight that the western Mediterranean would prosper, but the roots of that prosperity were the free cities, outside real Imperial control. Much of the old Roman territories of Francia and Britain were completely outside the new order, being lost to both the political power of the Empire and excluded by politics from the diversity of Christendom witnessed in the east. Thus we can see much of the ground being cleared for the rise of Submission, and its phenomenal success in the 1st century SE.