The Byzantine Chant is one of the most iconic aspects of the Orthodox Church today and it is an important part of the Byzantine Empire’s continuing influence upon Western culture. Christianity, as it known in the West, owes much to the Byzantine Empire. The chant is simply one part of this great heritage that we in the West seem to forget about too easily. However, it seems that there seems to be a disconnect as to what Christianity really means for the West these days.
One of the major issues that Western Christianity has these days, especially in the United States, is that it seems to be more of a way to engage with their local social group than having anything to do with spirituality or what it means to be a Christian. In America, probably one of the most religious countries in the West, the meaning of being a Christian is tied up in its subservience to suburban ideology and lifestyles. While Americans may think that being Christian means going to church and that is it but there is more to being a follower of Christ than that.
In the Byzantine Empire, there was an aesthetical continuity between secular life and the church. The many farmers in the Byzantine Empire would have understood what the meaning of Church meant to them. The peasant’s life and that of his family would have seen the church as a symbol of hope in a world that was unpredictable but also one that made sense. The churches that were built across the Eastern Roman Empire were built by people who understood their culture and where they came from. It wasn’t simply just a place to go to church, but it was integrated part of cultural life. The Ancient Greek tradition of the polis was still quite strong in the Byzantine Empire and the people in the rural areas would have seen this and understood its meaning.
In the urban areas of the Byzantine Empire, the same cultural continuity was there.
Unlike in America, where everything is designed for its monetary value and whether people can make profit off of it, the Byzantine state was interested in the spiritual well-being of its people. While there was a social hierarchy and it was expected that nobility would not marry lowborn individuals, the Byzantine state was nothing like the Levithan of American Capitalism. The Byzantine nobility, while it was full of passionate humans who were capable of great accomplishments and great ills, were not a ruling class that secular in its mindset.
The American ruling class, especially after World War II is not interested in the spiritual uplifting of its people but only really in the wealth acquisition and strip mining of the working class and middle classes. The American mentality and the character of Capitalist thought seems to be about putting on a smile while they steal your hard-earned cash out of your pocket. Just look at how advertising has changed since the end of World War II towards the present day of Hyper capitalism. In the 1940s and 1950s, advertising generally seemed to explain the products in detail to the public. These days, companies like Walmart are literally making tv series to put themselves in a good light in order to continue justifying them uprooting small town America with their all-encompassing stores.
The same attitude can be said about American Christianity today. Most of it is just overly glorified pseudo-therapy masquerading as Christianity. This is not to say there are not genuine churches in America but even those are infected by this Capitalist mentality. These churches, whether they be Catholic, Protestant or Non-Denominational are all about emphasizing the self over Christian humility. Much of what Christianity talks about in churches today is largely in service of creating capital in the American economy with some more ethics thrown in. Religion is subservient to Captialism.
Unlike the American or Anglo world’s pretensions of being morally superior to the past, the Byzantine world wrestled with many moral questions and its Christianity was more genuine, The nature of Christ was hotly debated amongst the people of Constantinople and many cities of the Empire. There is a reason why when Emperor Anastasius became emperor in 491 AD, people in the city of Constantinople were outraged by his miaphysitic allegiance. Unlike today, where Jesus is more of a self-help guru, the savior of mankind was seen as powerful figure who had bestowed god’s blessing upon the Romans.
The importance of the Byzantine Monastic movement cannot be understated in a discussion about Byzantine Christianity.
The rise in the Monastic Christianity, would play an important role in the government and influence the morality of many emperors.
American Christianity is mostly a lifestyle rather than a true adherence to moral principles. Monastic Christianity’s influence on Byzantine politics was so great that many Emperors were literally made to retire to monasteries. They were seen as places of great moral integrity and centers of wisdom that people would aspire to emulate.
American Christianity, while in the earlier ages of the Republic was more sincere, has been taken over by the Capitalist system and has become little more than a self-help group. This goes for many of the other denominations in the country. While some of the more conservative groups, such as the Baptists and the Pentecostals may seem to be more genuine, they have been largely infiltrated by a malaise that seems to infect every part of American society. American culture is largely performative and mostly bends its will to the marketplace in the country.
In the Byzantine Empire, the marketplace was subordinate to the church and the state. It is important to remember how important Christianity was to the emperors. Even with all the machinations and bloody reprisials in the many dynasties of the Empire, they all understood the importance of following the example of Christ. The Empire was the earthly nature of god’s heavenly kingdom and while the Byzantines were not a prefect people, they were more interested in the spiritual growth than in how the economy was growing year after year. The merchants who were great in the presence in the city of Constantinople were an important part of what kept the empire running but their interests in commerce were not allowed to take over the state.
Christianity and Capitalism in America are intertwined, and this is a big reason why it is not an institution that has as much clout as before. While America is more religious than most modern nations in the West, its devotion to Christianity in my opinion is more of a veneer than an actual world view that actually informs the culture.
The Byzantine Empire was more Christian than America ever could hope to be. That is another reason why I love reading and writing about the Byzantines.
Byzantine-Empire.com 