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An Eastern Church Amid the Struggles of Rome and Constantinople: the Patriarchate of Antioch During the Crusades Sergei P

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An Eastern Church Amid the Struggles of Rome and Constantinople: the Patriarchate of Antioch During the Crusades Sergei P The walls of Antioch, 19th century litho- graph. THE CHURCH ACROSS TIME An Eastern Church Amid the Struggles of Rome and Constantinople: The Patriarchate of Antioch During the Crusades Sergei P. Brun The Age of the Crusades is by far one and a threat to the traditions and spiri- Note: Based on a of the most popular subjects in the Or- tuality of the East that is protected and paper delivered at the international thodox-Catholic dialogue (or rather, harbored by Byzantium. conference “History in the ongoing Orthodox-Catholic po- and Theology: His- lemics), a time period which constantly Yet in the case of the Patriarchate of An- torical consciousness arises in the field of historical as well as tioch in the age of the Crusades (11th to as a way to Church th Unity” in Bose theological deliberation. The Christian 13 centuries) we see an Eastern Ortho- Monastery, Italy on East, suffering from the aggression of dox Church that was beset equally by October 23rd 2015. the Latins, is indeed a popular image, prolonged, intensive periods of Latin constantly present in the Orthodox and Byzantine intervention, episodes perception of history and in Orthodox that had immense consequences for its historical memory. This image is, in history and tradition. The position of fact, one of the principal generators of the Chalcedonian Orthodox Church of the ‘victim complex’ in the Eastern and Antioch during the period of the Sec- Oriental Orthodox mindset. In many ond Byzantine (969–1084) and Latin ways, this complex derives from the rule (1098–1291) in Syria is often en- fear of change: the fear to be changed tirely overlooked, since most authors by the other and, ultimately, by com- concentrate exclusively on the conflicts munion with the other. That is why in of Rome and Constantinople, seeing the the Eastern Christian communities one latter as the single voice of Orthodoxy. may find an overly protective attitude But is the Orthodox Church bound to in which the Catholic West is perceived the position of Constantinople, and as a force of subjection, latinization, the Orthodox world to the Byzantine THE WHEEL 5 | Spring 2016 41 Empire? This is a fundamental ques- among the clergy of Hagia Sophia.2 tion, pertaining to Orthodox Christians’ Until the late 11th century, Orthodox identity and perception of history. Patriarchs were sent to Antioch from Constantinople. The last of these was In the seventh century the Byzantine Patriarch John V the Oxite, imprisoned Empire lost immense territories to by the Seljuks and reinstated with honor Arab conquerors, including Egypt, by the Papal Legate Adhemar of Le Puy Palestine, and Syria. The end of the 10th and the leaders of the First Crusade in century marked the start of the Byzan- 1098.3 In 1100, John was forced to abdi- tine Reconquista in the Levant; under cate by the first Norman Prince of Anti- the emperor Nicephoros II Phocas and och, Bohemond I, and was replaced by a 1 In this period, the his successors, Byzantium reclaimed Latin Patriarch. In the following century, designation “Melkite” the lost cities and vast regions of Cili- a line of titular Orthodox Patriarchs of refers to Eastern Chalcedonian Chris- cia, Cyprus, and Northern Syria (with Antioch persisted in Constantinople, yet tians allied with the Antioch and Edessa). For more than a these patriarchs never left the imperial Chalcedonian Byz- century these lands were safely held capital and had little or no contact with antine church, rather by the Empire. At the end of the 11th their flock in the East. Meanwhile, Byz- than its contemporary application to Eastern century, Byzantine Northern Syria antines, Syriac- and Arabic-speaking Rite Middle Eastern and Cilicia were briefly lost to the Sel- Melkites, Georgians, and Chalcedonian Christians in commu- juk Turks, only to be reclaimed by the Armenians in Antioch, northern Syria, nion with the Roman “armed pilgrims” of the First Crusade, and Lebanon remained under the juris- Catholic Church. who established Frankish states and diction of Latin Patriarchs. 2 This subjugation Latin Patriarchates in the East. Thus, of the Church of the coastal regions of the Levant, as The revival of the truly local Church of Antioch to Constan- tinople is described well as some inland territories, re- Antioch was made possible only under in detail by Nikon of mained a predominantly Christian re- the patronage of the Crusader Prince the Black Mountain, gion, under Frankish and, in the north, of Antioch-Tripoli, Bohemond IV, in one of the most Armenian rule. The fall of these Cru- 1206. This fact is often overlooked by prominent Byzantine ascetic writers of the sader States to the Mameluke sultans, contemporary church historians, who late 11th century. who personally oversaw and initiated prefer to focus exclusively on the tra- See Willem J. Aerts, the destruction of numerous Christian ditional Byzantine imperial patronage “Nikon of the Black cities and monasteries, marks one of over all the Orthodox in the East. Try- Mountain, Witness to the First Crusade?” the greatest tragedies and cultural ca- ing to appease the Orthodox popula- in East and West in the tastrophes in Medieval History. tion of Antioch, Bohemond allowed Medieval Eastern Med- for an Orthodox Patriarch—a Syrian, iterranean I (Orientalia Now, to the question of the Church of Simeon ibn Abu Saib—to be elected Lovaniensia Analecta 147; Leuven: Peeters, Antioch in this time period. Orthodox and consecrated as Patriarch, and 2006), 164. theologians and church historians of- transferred the Byzantine and Syriac ten remind us that the Crusaders im- Chalcedonian Rite parishes and mon- 3 The reinstatement of the Orthodox posed a foreign, Latin hierarchy in the asteries to his care. Throughout his Patriarch as the sole Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Antioch. long tenure (1206–ca. 1242), Simeon canonical “Prince Seldom do they remind us that during proved to be an able politician, ready of the Church of the second period of Byzantine rule in to make alliances with any Christian Antioch” by members 1 of the First Crusade is Syria (996 onwards), Syrian Melkites ruler that proved to be the most potent described in: Historia and even the Metropolitans of the An- patron of the Church of Antioch. He of- Ierosolimitana: History tiochian Church had neither the right fered Holy Communion to Bohemond of the Journey to Jeru- to vote in patriarchal elections nor the and his nobles (all excommunicated by salem, trans. and ed. Susan B. Edgington chance to become the Patriarch of An- the Latin Church) in 1206–1208. From (Oxford: Clarendon tioch, since their primate was always 1210 onwards he sought refuge in the Press, 2007), 338. selected directly by the Emperor from Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and won 42 the patronage of its king, participating in ceremonial processions alongside allegedly “heretical” Armenian and “schismatic” Latin clergy. Yet on arriv- ing at the Byzantine imperial court at Nicaea in the 1220’s, he changed his policy, opposing any idea of reconcil- iation with Rome. Simeon’s successors (with one exception) were all elected in the East, either in the Crusader Princi- pality of Antioch-Tripoli or in the Ar- menian Kingdom of Cilicia. These Pa- tive than the ecclesiastical dominance Coin of St. Peter, triarchs were elected and consecrated of the Latin Patriarchs. For if the Latins minted in Antioch were focused primarily on questions during the reign of by Metropolitans of the Church of An- the second Norman tioch; only after ascending the patriar- of ecclesiastical (or more precisely, Prince Tancred chal throne would they seek recogni- administrative) unity, the Byzantines (1100–1112). tion from the Byzantine Emperor and yearned for the complete assimilation the Ecumenical Patriarch. of the liturgical life and traditions of their Eastern brethren to the rite of the Thus, the resurrection of the Church of Great Church of Constantinople. It was Antioch as a local Church was made only in Frankish, Armenian, and Mus- possible only due to the initiative and lim-ruled territories that the Chalcedo- political action of the Crusader Princes nian Orthodox were able to preserve of Antioch-Tripoli and their Armenian their ancient Eastern rites—most nota- rivals. Even after the fall of the Crusader bly the Antiochian Rite and the origi- States, the Patriarchate remained in the nal Liturgy of St. James. East, with Syrian (or Greek Cypriot) Patriarchs ascending to the throne of This precious part of the Eastern li- Antioch and sustaining complete in- turgical heritage was tolerated by the dependence from Constantinople. This Franks, yet despised by Byzantine can- changed only in the 18th century, with onists and reformers such as Patriarch the so-called Melkite Schism of 1724. Theodore IV Balsamon of Antioch, who would become one of the key fig- The periods of Byzantine and Latin ures in Byzantium’s war against the domination in Syria can, in many non-Byzantine rites within the Chal- ways, be seen as periods of great pros- cedonian Orthodox Church. Balsamon perity for the Church of Antioch. Ca- was a brilliant scholar and codifier of thedrals, churches, and monasteries canon law, a cleric and the librarian were founded or rebuilt; Greek and of the Great Church (Hagia Sophia) Syrian iconographers worked on mu- who became Patriarch of Antioch in rals, mosaics, and panel paintings; exile, and whose entire life (including books were filling the monastic librar- his patriarchal tenure) was spent in ies, being copied and translated in the the heart of the Byzantine Empire in scriptoria; religious houses enjoyed Constantinople. For him, the only true a steady and generous income from and acceptable practice was that of their gardens, wineries, villages, and the Church of Constantinople and he city property.
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