May 11, 2021
Dr. John Rao introduces this Symposium on life in the Empire and its relation to the barbarian world in the years between the defeat at Adrianople in the 370's and the Persian/Arab invasions of the 600's.
May 11, 2021
Dr. John Rao explores the different problems that varied groups of invaders posed for the eastern and the western sections of the old united Empire. While the East remained more of a unit, the West saw power shared by remnants of the imperial administration, renegade generals, city magistrates, bishops, and...
May 11, 2021
The Council of Chalcedon of 451 and Pope Leo the Great's "Tome" defining Christ as one Divine Person with two natures, human and divine, unleashed the long-lasting, heretical Monophysite Movement. Dr. John Rao shows how this badly split the unity of the Church and caused many political and social problems as well.
May 11, 2021
Dr. John Rao explores a variety of issues that put the Papacy in Italy on a collision course with the Empire ruled from Constantinople. Caesaro-Papism on the one hand and growth in the sense of papal supremacy, often fed by Greek refugees seeking protection from imperial interference in Church affairs on the other,...
May 11, 2021
Dr. John Rao explores the many divisions between Italy and the Empire. Popes were horrified at imperial attempts to negotiate with Monophysites and thereby ignore Chalcedon. Romans were outraged over the kidnappings of Popes Vigilius and Martin and the virtual murder of the latter. They felt abandoned by the Exarch of...