.:: Orthodoxy - The Savior of Hellenism
While the proposal of E.G. Vallianatos ( as published in the National Herald Greek NY Daily newspaper) for the establishment of a university by Greek-Americans to concentrate on the study of the Hellenism within the context of American ideals has merit, several of his underlying premises do not. They are based on assumptions that are so seriously flawed that following them would jeopardize the true appreciation of the Hellenism that the author claims to greatly cherish.
The blatantly false statements by Vallianatos center on the following: “Christianity has been the worst enemy of Hellenism for the last 1600 years... it is irresponsible to think that Orthodoxy and Hellenism can work together.”
To support his case, the author uses distortions and fragmentary evidence while generalizing to his conclusions. Thus, in a follow up article he claimed that emperor Saint Constantine the Great “proscribed” the pagan Greek religion by “violent policies.”
The truth is otherwise. St. Constantine the Great never made a general prohibition of the old religion. He was essentially tolerant of a wide degree of religious practices, while undoubtedly favoring Orthodox Christianity. Early in his career the emperor joined in supporting the first known edict of religious toleration. Religious freedom was something that Western European culture would not see until more than one thousand years later, after the fall of the western portion of the empire. St. Constantine’s toleration of ancient religious practices is well documented and should be known to anyone calling themselves a scholar. George Ostrogorsky in his History of the Byzantine State was certainly aware of it when he wrote about the founder of Constantinople, “He continued to permit pagan practices and even took part himself in some of these….” As Head of State, he felt obligated to attend diverse religious observances, just like the American President might do today regardless of his own beliefs.
It is true that St. Constantine did close some temples for political reasons or because they practiced some particularly offensive activity like temple prostitution. However, these were not many. Also, the emperor did not limit such prohibitions to the pagan religions. Christian institutions which threatened public order by violence or disturbances were also prevented from functioning.
Vallianatos is even more wrong in challenging the ability of Orthodoxy to coexist with Hellenism. While some Orthodox Fathers have condemned Hellenic culture, the general trend is to the contrary. It is in fact the Roman or ‘Byzantine’ Orthodox Empire that preserved Hellenic culture for the world. This is certainly the greatest secular cultural legacy of that more than thousand year old civilization.
Today it is politically correct to say that the West received the legacy of Hellenism through the Islamic or Arab world. This is partly true, but where did the Muslims and Arabs receive this legacy? Quite simply: They received it through their conquest of the Eastern Roman Empire where it had been painstakingly preserved for centuries.
A more direct route existed for the transmission of Hellenism (a transmission that sparked the Renaissance.) What is largely forgotten, but historically incontestable, is the fact that long before the Western Renaissance there was a Renaissance of classical learning in Constantinople within the Orthodox Roman nation. Emperor Constantine IX Monomachus, whose reign was predicted during a difficult period of his life by a holy man on Chios, gathered around him a circle of brilliant advisors and scholars. In A.D. 1045 these men, including Michael Psellos, John Xiphilinos, Leichudis and poet and scholar John Mavropoulos, established the first real modern university in Europe. This was many years before such famous institutions like the university of Paris, Oxford or Bologna were founded. Indeed, it is highly probable that the European University movement was inspired by the University of Constantinople.
The University of Constantinople had divisions of Philosophy and Law. Psellos, who had the title of Leader of the Hypatus or Philosophers, headed the Faculty of Philosophy. Its main purpose was to revive classical Hellenic culture and learning. Students learned grammar, rhetoric/dialectic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and philosophy in the traditional sense of a final “synthesis of all knowledge.”
The Law school was devoted to Roman law. As Ostrogorsky wrote, “in this way a new centre was built up for the promotion of Greek learning and Roman Law, both of which were indebted to Byzantium for their preservation and development.”
Orthodoxy did not prevent the greatly reinvigorated study of classical culture. The Church easily accepted the University. Psellos and Xiphilinos, the Head of the Law school, were deeply religious Orthodox Christians and had lived in a monastery together.
For centuries afterwards Orthodox scholars in the eastern Roman Empire labeled mightily to preserve the classical Hellenic culture. We may quote Ostrogorsky’s conclusion: “The Byzantine State was the instrument by which Greco-Roman antiquity survived through the ages, and for this reason Byzantium was the donor, the West the recipient…it has saved from destruction Roman Law, Greek Literature, Philosophy and Learning, so that this priceless heritage could be passed on to the peoples of western Europe who were now ready to receive it.”
That this accomplishment was possible in an Orthodox Christian society makes it clear that Vallianatos’ fundamental tenet that Orthodox Christianity is an enemy of Hellenism and cannot coexist with it is totally without historical merit and is quite erroneous.