The Attitude of the Great Fathers of 4th and 5th Centuries Toward Emperor and Political Authorities

The current book is a theological-historic research and its goal is to study this relationship according to the historic, theological and social conditions of the searched period. 

The 4th and 5th centuries are an epoch in which Church crosses from a persecution’s period to its protection, happened by political authorities and especially by the imperial principle. During this season, the Christianity’s foundations were set by the action of the ecumenical church teachers. Nevertheless, Byzantine Empire also formed its function’s principles. These two realities were joined, interacted and create the Byzantine culture. This book is the fruit of researching this period historically, theologically and socially drawing conclusion from the vivid scriptures of great Fathers. 

The theocratic comprehensive of Byzantine polity was a simple conception. Nevertheless, many various situations appeared during its actualization. The factors below were contradicted: A. the Hellenic culture and its philosophical view, B. the Roman law, C. the perceptions sprung from the Emperor’s worship as God D. the church hierarchy which was responsible to manage the church issues, the limit and the way of king’s interference. There was not a distinction regarding the function of Church and state; this factor resulted to a dynamic interaction. The description about how Emperor acted in the Eastern Empire after Constantine the Great and how it was adapted in relation with the ecumenical and apostolic ordering of Church, constitutes the main concern of the current research.