Christianity in its present form came into being after the
eleventh century schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church.
Before that, it used to be an exclusively Byzantine affair and most of Western
Europe followed pagan customs. The reason why Catholic historians fabricated the
history of ancient Roman civilization was to dissociate Christianity from its
Byzantine heritage.
The theory that Christianity spread into Europe, and also in
Russia, from the Byzantine Empire is validated by the fact that early Middle
Ages – from 5th to 10th century, when the Byzantine
Empire reached its zenith and a split occurred between the Eastern Orthodox and
the Roman Catholic churches in 1054 – are referred to as Dark Ages, whereas the
period between 8th century BC and 6th century AD is
rather ironically called Classical Antiquity.
There appears to be clear historical bias because in
descending order, as we go back in time, the reliability of information reduces
proportionally. Thus, the 11th century recorded history of the Roman
Catholic Church is comparatively credible, whereas Before Christ folklore transmitted
mainly through oral traditions of fabulists is simply implausible.
Historically, on Christmas Day 800 AD, Pope Leo III crowned
Charlemagne the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, forming the political and
religious foundations of Christendom and establishing in earnest the French
monarchy's longstanding historical association with the Roman Catholic Church.
Thus, ninth century appears to be a watershed moment of
increasing proselytization of Europe to Christianity, which obviously had its
impact in Britain and Germany later. After that, the influence of the Byzantine
Empire, lasting from 4th to 15th centuries, waned and a
rival power center emerged in the form of Roman Catholic Church patronized by
kings of Franks and Lombards in Italy.
Evidently, Christianization of Eastern Europe and Russia is
attributed to the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe to the Holy Roman Empire.
Thus, the history of ancient Romans, whose empire purportedly fell in 476 AD to
Germanic tribes, is nothing more than folklore and the history of the Roman
Catholic Church in earnest began after the coronation of Charlemagne as the
Holy Roman Emperor.
The title of Holy Roman Emperor remained with Carolingian
family of Charlemagne, the ruler of Franks, up to 840, and then it passed on to
Germans when Otto I was declared Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope in 962. Thus,
the Frankish Empire constituted the Holy Roman Empire during the early 9th
century, and then the title was assumed by the Germanic Empire for the next
eight centuries.
The Germanic decentralized phase of the Holy Roman Empire
never reached the glory of the Frankish Empire under Charlemagne and his
successor Louis the Pious. They adopted Latin as the official language of the Empire
to forge a political identity distinct from the Byzantine Greeks.
Carolingians jointly ruled over Franks and Lombards in
Italy, thus the Roman Catholic Church was under their suzerainty, which at the
time was nothing more than a diocese of the Eastern Orthodox Church. During the
period of the Byzantine Papacy from 6th to 8th centuries,
the title of the Pope was equivalent to the bishop of Rome.
Although according to oral traditions, the Roman Catholic
Church was founded by the apostles of Jesus, St. Peter and Paul, and was recognized
by Byzantine Emperor Constantine, it’s not proved by credible history and many
secular historians doubt the assertion.
In the medieval era, the theological creed of the Eastern
Orthodox Church was vilified as Arian heresy by the Roman Catholic Church to
establish a monopoly over Christian faith in Western Europe. Arius was a
theologian of the Antioch school in Hatay province of modern Turkey in 270 AD. Most
of the Germanic tribes who in the following centuries invaded the Roman Empire
had adopted Christianity in its Arian form, which later transformed into German
Protestantism.
It is generally claimed that Byzantine Emperor Constantine legalized
Christianity and reorganized the Empire from 324 to 337 AD. Moreover, it is
also alleged, albeit mistakenly, that under the reign of Heraclius (610–641),
three centuries later, the Empire adopted Greek for official use in place of
Latin.
Fact of the matter, however, is the Byzantine Empire wasn’t
a monolith, as it had myriad dynasties of usurpers from Macedonia, Armenia etc.
which spoke several East European dialects, but Latin was never introduced into
the Byzantine Empire. In fact, the Byzantine Empire appears to be a
continuation of Alexander’s Hellenistic Empire, as both had their arch-foes in
the ancient kingdoms of Persia – Achaemenids and Sassanids.
The Justinian dynasty is generally regarded as the Golden
Age of the Byzantine Empire that lasted from 518 to 602 AD. During the reign of
Justinian I (527–565), the Empire reached its greatest extent after
reconquering much of the western Mediterranean coast, North Africa, Italy, and
Rome itself, which it held for two more centuries.
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