Byzantine Influence On Russia

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The impact of Byzantine heritage on the Russian ideology and churches Byzantine heritage refers to ideologies, culture, art and practices of the Byzantine Empire that influence current practices, especially in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. Byzantine heritage influenced many cultures and the church politically, religiously and culturally during their reign before it fell in 1453 (The Greek Thesaurus, 1). The Byzantines had a great influence on the Slavs, who were the people of Eastern Europe and they shaped politics as well as culture and influenced their religious practices by promoting Christianity (Meyendorff, 22). Russia traded with the Byzantines, which is an avenue for the exchange of cultures and ideas and led to influence on…show more content…
Unlike other Romans, Byzantines created the Eastern Orthodox Church rather than follow the Roman Catholic Church, which was practiced by the rest of Europe. The Byzantines led to the splitting of the church by practicing different ideas from those of Roman Catholic Church. The Byzantines formed a great civilization based in Constantinople, and this led to cultural diffusion hence the impact of the Byzantine heritage on Russian ideology. The leaders in Russia adopted most of the practices of the Byzantine Empire because they admired their practices that led to the rise of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Russia. Russian ideologies are also influenced by the Byzantine heritage because the monks of Orthodox Church created Cyrillic Alphabet, which is used today in writing Russian. Russia accepted from Byzantium, its art, religious faith, literature translation, political ideology and ecclesiastical hierarchy which influence Russian…show more content…
The church leaders were urged to convey messages that encouraged obedience to the government and supported an imperial policy. The system created by Byzantine Empire led to the current association between states and churches. In the empire, there was no clear distinction between secular and religious. Therefore, the state and the church functioned as a unit (n.a, 1). Byzantines split from Roman Catholicism called the Great Schism that also formed a basis for the future split of churches which has created various denominations each with their set of beliefs. Byzantine also has an influence on the arts and architecture of churches as some of their models have been adopted to build modern day churches. Byzantine heritage led to differing theological ideologies that are practiced by churches. They made their Christian cultures and traditions based Greek foundations different from those of Roman Catholic, which are still used by churches today. Byzantium orthodoxy was largely influential in churches and the modern day Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian church
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