Byzantine Real History

A NEW WITNESS IN LEBANON

This afternoon, Father Pierre Raï was killed by Israeli bombs in southern Lebanon. Some days before, Father Pierre, the Maronite priest of Qlayaa, along with many Christians of his village, refused to leave the village and declared their would to stay on their lands.

As usual, Levantine Christian populations are taken hostage in this clash between extremists. Will any "international community" be interested in protecting the oldest Christian communities in the world?

ارتقى الأب بيار الراعي، كاهن رعية القليعة، جنوب لبنان، إلى ديار النور متأثرًا بإصابته في قصف استهدف منزلًا في المنطقة. وكان الكاهن قد توجّه مع عدد من الشبان لإسعاف أحد أبناء الرعية المصابين إثر غارة أولى، قبل أن يتعرّض المكان نفسه لقصف ثانٍ أدى إلى إصابته بجروح قاتلة. وقد نُقل إلى أحد مستشفيات المنطقة، لكنه فارق الحياة عند وصوله، عن نحو خمسين عامًا.

الراحة الأبدية أعطه يا رب، والنور الدائم فليضئ له.

⚜️HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANCE!⚜️
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On the 25th of December in a year between 496 and 508 AD Clovis, the chief of the Franks, was baptised in the city of Rheims. The baptism was performed by Remi/Remigius, the Roman archbishop of Rheims. A tribal chief becomes an Orthodox Catholic monarch: Clovis was recognised by the Roman Empire as a legitimate monarch of his time and as "representative" or ally of Constantinople to the lands of the fallen Western Roman Empire. Much later, this event was conventionally considered as the birth of the French Nation and of the French State.

⚜️BAPTISED FOR WIFE AND POLITICS

Clovis was the chief of the Franks in a world so far from ideal: The Western Empire fell, and the old Roman Senate abolished the administrative division between East and West. Thus, Emperor Zeno found himself, despite him, emperor of lands on which he had not whatsoever power. The defunct part of the Empire was now under Barbarian chiefs following the A***n heresy... And here came Clotilde, a Burgundian princess and an Orthodox Catholic Christian herself. Clovis married Clotilde. Then and maybe after a series of military victories, he agreed to get baptised in her Church: Remi, orthodox archbishop of Rheims baptised him. The Frankish king continued most likely to practice his traditional beliefs.

It could also be speculated that Clovis' baptism was out of a certain Imperial policy: Anastasius, the Roman emperor in Constantinople, wanted some Orthodox Catholic Christian chiefs to the north of the Alps. First to back the local Christians who reached out to Constantinople, and secondly to counterbalance the A***n Goths in Italy and Spain. Later, Anastasius wrote to monarchs of Georgia and Ethiopia, amongst others, sharing with them the news of a new Orthodox (non-A***n) monarch in the land of the Franks.

Another orthodox woman had a strong influence on Clovis: the valiant Genevieve of Paris was the leader of Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris). She kept her city away from problems and managed to feed the starving population under siege and famine, thus Paris was never occupied by Barbarians but the Frankish kings agreed to enter the city in peace where they built a royal residence. Genevieve and Clotilde are saints East and West, they are "apostles" to the Franks by their missionary works to re-Christianise the post-476 West.

⚜️CLOVIS THE ROMAN CONSUL

Emperor Anastasius was quite content with the baptism as now there was an orthodox monarch to the north of the Alps. After Clovis' victory over the A***n Visigoths Emperor Anastasius bestowed the consular dignity ornaments upon him. This last received it in Tours, near the shrine of Saint Martin, patron of Gaul: he wore purple and was greeted by Roman proclamations. Yet no Clovis is mentioned in official consular lists. At the same time Gregory of Tours, a faithful to the Roman Empire and of the kings of his time, couldn't lie in the matter. Clovis was made an honorary Roman consul, not an effective one: honorary consulship was a way to legitimise Roman allies.

⚜️THE BASILICA OF THE HOLY APOSTLES... IN PARIS

Between AD 500 and 510 Clovis and Clotilde, under the guidance of Genevieve, had an "apostolic" gesture in the example of Constantine the Great: the three edified an abbey and a church under the name of the Holy Apostles inside Paris, where they wanted to be buried. It was built near the residence of Genevieve of Paris who supervised the new church. In AD 511 Clovis passed away and was buried there. He was followed by Genevieve in 512, thus the abbey was later known as the abbey of Saint Genevieve. Three decades later Clotilde followed them to repose in the Parisian Holy Apostles: the new foundation was undoubtedly inspired by the Imperial one of Constantinople.

⚜️THE ELDEST DAUGHTER OF THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE

After Clovis' baptism, it took centuries for a French collective identity to be born. But this event was considered the symbolic beginning, the "birth" that precedes the conscience. In commemoration of the Clovis' baptism Frankish then French monarchs continued to be crowned in Rheims, in the heart of the French province of Champagne. In the 1200s Frankish kings dropped their Frankish titles and officially became "Kings of France." The name of Clovis was adopted by 17 French monarchs, rendered as "Louis" and counting from Clovis as their first.

French historiography has considered the event as the birth of the French Nation. Thus in the west, the King of the Franks came to be known as "the eldest son of the Church" and from the 19th century, the whole country was called "the Eldest Daughter of the Church" thanks to the baptism.

But it was not only the Church: before all, it was the Roman emperor Anastasius who legitimised the new polity and bestowed the consular dignity upon Clovis. Yes, it is not only the eldest daughter of the Church but also the eldest daughter of the Roman Empire.

THE CROWN OF THE EGG: THE GLORIOUS DAYS OF THE LASKARIDS

☁️ It was on the 3rd of November, in the year 1254, when John III Doukas Vatatzes—one of the greatest rulers Romaniae ever knew—passed from this world in Nymphaion of Asia Minor. You know well who he was. This account is written in his honor.

🐎 We journey back to the age of the Empire of Nicaea (1204–1261). In truth, we speak of the very same Roman Empire, the realm later called “Byzantine.” The state itself endured unchanged; only its heart was displaced. The ecclesiastical throne rested in Nicaea of Bithynia, while the seat of power stood at Nymphaion, where the palaces of the Laskarids rose. Constantinople, after all, lay in Latin hands.

The deeds of Vatatzes were many. Not without cause has he been remembered as the “father of the Greeks.”
In brief:

🔥 In 1224 he broke the Latin armies at Poimanenon, and by the end of his reign not a single Latin fortress remained in Asia Minor. Every crusading host sent by the Papacy to succor the Latins of Constantinople was driven back.

🔥 He reclaimed wide lands of Macedonia and Thrace. Thessalonica—the second city of Romania—was surrendered in 1246 to the armies of Nicaea by its own archons, amid solemn celebration.

🔥 He brought an end to Bulgarian supremacy in the Balkans, raising Nicaea as the mightiest military power of the region.

🔥 He drew the ring tight around Constantinople and laid the foundations for its reconquest in 1261. Without Vatatzes, there would have been no second Constantinople.

🔥 Above all, the lands of Asia Minor were shielded from Turkoman raids—that ancient curse of the East. Vatatzes restored a frontier force, an echo of the old akritai, keen and relentless against Turkish incursions. The once-dreaded Seljuks would even beg his aid against the Tatars—the Mongols themselves.

⚡ Under the Laskarids, Roman Asia Minor lived days of abundance and quiet strength. From this age comes a curious tale preserved by the Paphlagonian-Pontic chronicler Nikephoros Gregoras.

🍞 A grievous famine once fell upon the Turks. Bread failed them, milk ran dry. Hunger stalked their lands. What was a curse for them became a blessing for the Romans.

🌾 Men and women, elders and children crossed the borders in supplication. Even Turkish nobles came as beggars. And what prices they paid—for a handful of wheat, for a loaf of bread. Poultry, goats, and meat of every kind became riches beyond reach.

🪙 Greek peasants, shepherds, and merchants filled their homes with gold, silver, fine cloth, and precious things given in exchange for food. The royal treasuries overflowed with wealth flowing from the Sultanate. Perhaps Romanos Diogenes smiled in his grave. The Seljuks had fallen—from conquerors to supplicants.

👉🏼 Not long after, the Mongols would come, and the Turks would be made their dependents.

☀️ In those years, those who kept many hens prospered greatly. From egg to coin, fortune grew. And so the breeders resolved to offer a gift to the empress. Irene Laskarina Doukaina—the eldest daughter of Theodore Laskaris. Through her hand, Vatatzes had risen to the imperial throne.

🏰 Irene and John were bound by true affection. Their union rivaled that of Justinian and Theodora. She ruled in her own right, endowed monasteries, upheld learning, built fortresses, and was dearly loved by the people, who saw in her the living promise of dynastic continuity.

🥚 From the wealth earned through eggs, the breeders fashioned a crown adorned with pearls and precious stones. When John placed it upon her head, he named it ōáton—the Crown of the Egg.

🐐🐑 It stood as a lesson in self-sufficiency. Vatatzes forbade Italian imports, trusting instead in Roman production. Vineyards, flocks, horses, poultry—he possessed them all, and commanded his nobles to do likewise. Greed toward the weak would not be endured. Gregoras writes that animals and birds crowded the streets and alleys, the yards and the stables alike.

📜 With a crown born of eggs, Roman Asia Minor paved the way for the liberation of Constantinople after fifty-seven years of Latin rule—a triumph of the Laskarids of Nicaea. Nowhere in that age stood a grander pair than Irene and John. The Frankish king of Cyprus would call them, in admiration, “the most blessed rulers.”

And truly—they were.

WAS SANTA REAL?

Again, we read about that debate: "is Santa Claus real?". We are astonished by the question, we can give a simple answer:

OF COURSE SAINT NICHOLAS IS REAL! He was a real Greco-Roman person who lived in Myra of Lycia, in 3rd-4rth Centuries, and was a real social justice champion who struggled for the poor, for slaves, for wronged women, and for other marginal people.
Real Nicholas knew the difference between Homoousios ὁμοούσιος and homoiusios ὁμοιούσιος, that very small difference of a iota! At the Council of Nicaea, says the popular story, he lost his temper and hit Arius because this last blasphemed against the Son. Nicholas was no easy person.

Today, the personnage of Santa Claus is loosely based on Nicholas' labours and character. It is based on a real person. Tell your children that Saint Nicholas is real, that he lived 17 centuries ago, that he was an authentic and ferocious warrior of justice and equity. Tell them that today some representations of Santa are so far from the spirit of Christmas because Christmas is NOT about gifts and commercialism, and it is not abuse of the environment and money: these representations of Santa are fake. Tell them that real Santa is a part of the real spirit of the blessed times of Advent and Christmas.

A very happy feast of Saint Nicholas to all our friends who bear his name!

HAPPY NAME DAY TO ALL MARIES!

Happy name day to all Mary, Maria, Mariah, Marie, Mariam, Myriam, Meryem, Marielle, Marianne, Maribel, Marilou, Maylis, Molly, Marion, Mania, Masha, Maika, Mariette, May, Marylin, Marika, Marisol, Manette, and all other variants of the name!

Also happy name day to every Despoina, Parthena, Panagiota, Panagiotis, Sayde, Soultana, Khatun, Hatun, Regina, Soymela, Tsabika, Malika, Basilissa, Mario, and Tina! Many other derivatives share their origin in Mary of Nazareth: who would think that the name of a Jewish woman of the House of King David of the Tribe of Judah would become the most famous personal name ever?

EMPEROR MAURICE AND THE MARIAN FEAST

The beginning of the feast was in the Roman Empire, when Emperor Maurice introduced the 15th of August as the major feast of Mary, mother of Jesus. The origins of the choice of the date are still to be debated but most probably it is the consecration date of the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary in Jerusalem during the Fifth Century, based on a local Jerusalemitan tradition (may be taken by empress Eudocia). It could also be because Maurice became a sole augustus upon the death of his father in law, Tiberius II, on 14/15 August 582.

Later in the Seventh Century, the feast was officialised in the West by Pope Theodore, himself a Roman citizen from Jerusalem (+649.) Later, it was introduced to France and to the rest of the West to become the main summer holiday: in France, it is the "real" feast of the French Nation, not some arbitrary day decided by the mob, but the devotion of the people. Today the Assumption/Dormition is a major feast and public holiday in a big number of countries and places throughout the world.

We wish you great summer and harvest times, our friends!

NEW MARTYRS IN DAMASCUS

This is Mtanios (Anthony) and Engy, among the killed in the terrorist attack on the Greek Orthodox church of Saint Elias in Damascus, this afternoon.

New witnesses, who give their testimony by their own blood, like "Antipas, my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth" (Revelation 2:13). We greet them by the martyrs' troparion:

O holy Martyrs, who have fought the good fight and have been crowned, intercede with the Lord, that mercy be granted to our souls.

Memory eternal, Αἰωνία ἡ μνήμη.

The statement of the Patriarchate of Antioch on the terrorist attack against a Greek Orthodox church near Damascus:

First pictures of the Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox church near Damascus, after the terrorist attack.

The martyrs' might be more than 30 persons, new witnesses of the Faith that was declared in the Bible and confirmed in Nicaea.

A VERY CONCERNING SITUATION IN MOUNT SINAI

The statement of the Church of Jerusalem on the situation of the Monastery of Saint-Catherine of Sinai, following an Egyptian court's rule to seize the monastery's lands.