Circumspectio Ad Oikonomia Modes Of Religious Accommodation In The Era Of The Latin Empire Brendan J Mcguire by Brendan J. Mcguire instant download after payment.

It is universally acknowledged that the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 created a new religious situation in the territory of the shattered Byzantine Empire. Nevertheless, the precise nature of that situation has often been misunderstood and oversimplified. It is the contention of this dissertation that the traditional paradigm of oppression and resistance is inadequate, and that religious accommodation figured prominently among the strategies pursued by both Greek and Latin leaders in the era of the Latin Empire (1204-1261).
Religious accommodation took various forms, and was pursued for many different reasons by a wide variety of different constituencies. Popes, Latin Emperors, Frankish lords, rulers of Greek successor states, and high-ranking clerics on both sides engaged in religious accommodation during the period in question. This dissertation therefore examines: (1) evidence of liturgical accommodation in the early years of the Latin Empire, (2) accommodation on the structure of the ecclesiastical hierarchy (which was intertwined with theological debates) in the Latin Empire and its dependent territories, and (3) attempts at theological and political accommodation that took place as the Latin Empire began to decline, and as the rival Nicene Empire grew in strength and confidence.
The argument for liturgical accommodation rests on a reinterpretation of liturgical texts which had traditionally been seen as evidence of Latin proselytism. It is argued here that these texts were in fact created by Greeks. Accommodation on the structure of the ecclesiastical hierarchy was pursued by both sides; the papacy often displayed a concern to protect the ecclesiastical rights and immunities of Greek bishops, parish priests, and monasteries, while the Greek clergy (along with Latin Emperor Henry) sought Pope Innocent's sanction for a dual patriarchate in the conquered capital. Finally, efforts at theological and political accommodation accelerated as the strength of the Latin Empire began to wane in the 1230s; the Latin Empire's political circumstances led the Nicene Emperor John Vatatzes to offer theological concessions and submission to papal authority, in the hopes of a peaceful handover of Constantinople.