The State-Church relationship in early Byzantium and the role of philosophy
The State-Church relationship in early Byzantium and the role of philosophy

Summary/Abstract: Since the time of Constantine, a very difficult task was to be accomplished in Byzantium: the reshaping of imperial institutions, starting with the Emperor‟s powers, and this was achieved following the new message of the Gospel. Byzantium was the only pre-modern society that can be described as a state, having, among others, a vast bureaucratic mechanism and an ideology. Also, a new relation between State and Church was established, even if this new relationship wasn`t always smooth. But this social and political construction had a number of assumptions related not only to the Christian message, but also to Philosophy. Yet, invoking Early Byzantine Philosophy in such an analysis must be done with caution, because there was a different meaning of philosophizing as well as different ways to do it. My paper discusses the significance of philosophical assumptions for the edification a new identity of the Byzantine State and argues for the existence of a genuine political and social model in the Christian Byzantine Empire as a result of this process.

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