ORTHODOXY: EAST AND WEST

Western culture did not grow out of nothing. It grew out of post Schismatic Roman Catholicism in 1054, its rejection by the Protestants, followed by the Enlightenment. Which in turn was founded on the synthesis of Old Testament Judeism, Greek philosophy and Roman law. 
What Purpura describes in the tweet above is in essence a coup d'état. The year 800AD revealed where the rivalry between Eastern and Western Rome went off the rails. By that time Rome proper and much of the rest of Western Europe had fallen to a host of Germanic tribes like the Visigoths, the Ostragoths, the Vandals, the Lombards, etc. The two and a half centuries prior has seen the Franks come to rule most of modern-day France and much of Germany. Their tribal leaders had accepted Christianity and were active supporters of the Bishops of Rome, which was the seat of the Western autocephalic Church (the other Sees being Jerusalem, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch).

The Carolingian dynasty ruled Western and much of Central Europe at the time. The Carolingian Empire stretched from Francia as far as modern Italy, Spain, and Hungary. Charlemagne (747-814) was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. He was crowned king of the Franks in 768 following his father's death and was initially co-ruler with his brother Carloman I until the latter's death in 771.

Looking with envy to the power and wealth of Eastern Rome based on Constantinople, Charlemagne got the idea of copying the Eastern Empire in the West with himself starring as Emperor. Ostensibly Charlemagne sought to intervene in Italy to safeguard the Pope against his enemies, the Lombards. But it is much more likely he was simply after power. Calling his empire simply the Roman Empire was not enough. A usurper seeks validation. So it was called the Holy Roman Empire, but is was holy nor Roman. 

As we have seen Emperor Constantine VI of Constantinople died in 797. Constantine had named his mother, Empress Irini his official co Emperor in 792, as had been the custom in Rome. Based on the notion that a woman could not be Empress in her own right, Charlemagne opened negotiations with Constantinople to marry the Empress Irini, but the talks broke down. Upon which he laid the foundations of a new polity, independent of the East, that became the Holy Roman Empire.




HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE EASTERN AND WESTERN CHURCH

Orthodox deacon Fr. Ezra of St. Elijah Church in Oklahoma explains the history of Western and Eastern culture in a unique way, comprehensible by most lay people with some basic knowledge. Shock alert: some of this may blow your mind!

Orthodox Christianity 101 by Fr. Ezra: Finding The Church Jesus Built - Seminar 1 : History of the Church.

In the West we have no idea of the actual continuation of history. Of the ancients we know nothing, of the classics we know some. After the hiatus we call the Dark Ages, there's the medieval period followed by the Renaissance topped up by the Enlightenment. And that's about it. Ezra is filling gaps for us. 

By design or by ignorance (Church) historians in the West have ignored the entire existence of the Eastern Roman Empire, obfuscatingly referred to as Byzantium. It is where culture and progress lived during the so called Dark Ages, until well into the 16th Century when it finally succumbed to the Turks.

A case can be made that the Greek Empire has never been able to restore itself to its former glory after the Venetian sacking of Constantinople during the 4th Crusade in 1204.  

Those who yearn for original Christianity (or even a religion that takes itself seriously) are well advised to watch all of Fr. Ezra's videos instead of dabbling in nonsense like the Gnostics, the Kaballah or Islam. Save yourself some time and effort. 

Even for Anti Deists the series contain interesting nuggets from the historical or philosophical perspective. 

Once you start to get an inkling of the real history it becomes clear where, starting with Roman Catholicism and after it, the Protestant denominations, the West began to stray from the original sources, often out of political considerations. 

Ezra explains:

➤ Western thought is analytical (what are the elements?)
➤ Eastern thought is ontological (which is this?) It is synthesis, integration. 

  • New Roman Catholicism is Augustinian + Aquinas (Aristotle)
  • Protestantism is Augustinian + Plato
  • Orthodoxy is Christ + Aristotle


Here's another sampling from the series "Paradise has Two Trees."

Fr. Ezra: Paradise Has Two Trees - Week 12 (excerpt).|


Deacon Ezra's playlists (often loaded upside down; please re-arrange manually 😜):


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