The capital of Byzantium probably housed the greatest number and most important relics of Christianity. Throughout the centuries, the emperors have taken the effort to collect these sacred relics in the numerous churches in the city and to assure that they were properly venerated. The vast collection of of Constantinople has a diverse history - some of the relics were stolen, others were devastated, donated or sold.

The dynasty of the Komnenoi (1081-1185) was confronted not only with the external threats menacing the empire, but also with internal conflicts, often involving ecclesiastical or religious controversies. The most crucial of these conflicts related either to older heresies (Paulicianism, Messalianism etc.) or contemporary issues that emerged during the Komnenian period (dispute over the sacred vessels, John Italos etc.).

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During the Palaiologan period there was a renewed significance of religious and ecclesiastical debates, which had faded somewhat in the previous periods of Byzantine history, after the end of the Iconoclastic dispute. These religious and ecclesiastical controversies became major political issues and extended to political correlations and conflicts. The three most significant of them, in the order of appearance, are: the Arsenite schism, the issue of the Union with the Roman Catholic Church and...

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The Mandylion, a piece of cloth on which, according to the legend, the image of Jesus Christ had been miraculously imprinted, was initially kept in Edessa of Syria as an acheiropoietos (not made by human hands) icon of Christ. On August 15th, 944 it was transferred to Constantinople as a precious holy relic and its cult assumed a political meaning too. The arrival of the relic in the capital became a religious feast and was celebrated each year on August 16th.

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The patriarchate of Constantinople developed closely along with the city itself; thus, the bishop of New Rome gradually developed to the ecumenical patriarch. Ideally, the patriarch worked with the emperor under the principle of symphonia, close and peaceful cooperation. Although individual patriarchs sometimes found themselves completely pushed over by forceful emperors or struggling in confrontation with imperial will, for most of its history the patriarchate cooperated closely with the...

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Статья посвящена возникновению и первому периоду истории монашества в Константинополе. Первые монахи и монастыри появляются здесь достаточно поздно — в сер. IV в., однако православное монашество начинает развиваться только со времени правления императора Феодосия I (379-395). В V и VI вв. столичное монашество становится одним из главных оплотов православия и борцом против ересей, в первую очередь, несторианства и монофизитства, эта идея глубоко укореняется в его самосознании.

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