Raportarea Bisericii față de război în imnografia bizantină
Church's Attitude to War in Byzantine Hymnography

Summary/Abstract: The Byzantine Church’s approach to war is a recurring topic. The close relationship between the Byzantine Church and the Eastern Roman Empire gave the latter a Christian identity, but at the same time determined the Church to support the State’s various interests and its preservation. Thus, the Empire was perceived as an expression of God’s authority on earth. Hymnographic texts, used in liturgy, were sometimes means of promotion of theso-called political orthodoxy. However, there is still no exhaustive study dedicated to Byzantine hymnographic texts as means of transmitting the Churchʹs vision on war. This study does not aim to fully cover this topic, but rather to highlight the main ideas comprised in atenth century akolouthia performed by the Byzantines before the battle, a commemorative service for dead soldiers, perhaps from the same century, and a parakletikos kanon, from theeleventh century, dedicated to the Theotokos, sung in times of war. The aims of this paper isto explore what impact such liturgical texts had on the Byzantines and what were their theological background.

• Details
• Contents