Pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor Justinian i: prerequisites

The article discusses the motives of Emperor Justinian to form the supermetropolitan authority of the fi ve patriarchs. In the 4th — 6th centuries when this highest level of church power was gradually forming, there was no “organic metaphysics” of the five major sees; accordingly, the author of the...

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Main Author: Dmitry Pashkov
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Published: St. Tikhon's Orthodox University 2020-12-01
Series:Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ II. Istoriâ, Istoriâ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi
Subjects:
Online Access:https://periodical.pstgu.ru/ru/pdf/article/7350
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author Dmitry Pashkov
author_facet Dmitry Pashkov
author_sort Dmitry Pashkov
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description The article discusses the motives of Emperor Justinian to form the supermetropolitan authority of the fi ve patriarchs. In the 4th — 6th centuries when this highest level of church power was gradually forming, there was no “organic metaphysics” of the five major sees; accordingly, the author of the article points at the relativism of the use of the term “pentarchy” for the early Byzantine period of church history. This idea is confirmed by the attitude of Justinian to the most prominent sees; the number of incumbents he addresses his constitutions to changes from one to fi ve, while four of them presided over the Ecumenical Council. The emperor’s rule-making and administrative methods towards the major sees cannot be explained by the seeming aimlessness of his ecclesiastical policy. Justinian is aware of the actual structure of the imperial Church that had already developed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In addition, he avoids obvious blunders of his predecessors Zeno and Anastasius, who tried to make the Church agree on compromise with anti-Chalcedonites by means of extending infl uence over a single patriarch, while separating him from his bishops and other patriarchs. Justinian learns from previous experience of Emperor Leo I and, probably, of Pope Felix III who considered the model of a one-time, “horizontal” consensus of catholic bishops to be essential for reaching an agreement in the whole Church. On the contrary, Justinian could also be infl uenced by the idea of Pope Gelasius, who denies the need for such a consensus, thus the following constitutions of Justinian established equality of the five patriarchal thrones. The author of the article also pays attention to Justinian’s ideas on the exceptional nature of his law-making powers that made him feel free to form the church government of superior rank.
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spelling doaj.art-dcc835036bdc4c98b017728d9d540c4a2023-03-08T10:41:24ZrusSt. Tikhon's Orthodox UniversityVestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ II. Istoriâ, Istoriâ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi1991-64342409-48112020-12-0197972339http://dx.doi.org/10.15382/sturII202097.23-399Pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor Justinian i: prerequisitesDmitry Pashkov0St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for Humanities; 6/1 Likhov pereulok, Moscow, 127051, Russian FederationThe article discusses the motives of Emperor Justinian to form the supermetropolitan authority of the fi ve patriarchs. In the 4th — 6th centuries when this highest level of church power was gradually forming, there was no “organic metaphysics” of the five major sees; accordingly, the author of the article points at the relativism of the use of the term “pentarchy” for the early Byzantine period of church history. This idea is confirmed by the attitude of Justinian to the most prominent sees; the number of incumbents he addresses his constitutions to changes from one to fi ve, while four of them presided over the Ecumenical Council. The emperor’s rule-making and administrative methods towards the major sees cannot be explained by the seeming aimlessness of his ecclesiastical policy. Justinian is aware of the actual structure of the imperial Church that had already developed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In addition, he avoids obvious blunders of his predecessors Zeno and Anastasius, who tried to make the Church agree on compromise with anti-Chalcedonites by means of extending infl uence over a single patriarch, while separating him from his bishops and other patriarchs. Justinian learns from previous experience of Emperor Leo I and, probably, of Pope Felix III who considered the model of a one-time, “horizontal” consensus of catholic bishops to be essential for reaching an agreement in the whole Church. On the contrary, Justinian could also be infl uenced by the idea of Pope Gelasius, who denies the need for such a consensus, thus the following constitutions of Justinian established equality of the five patriarchal thrones. The author of the article also pays attention to Justinian’s ideas on the exceptional nature of his law-making powers that made him feel free to form the church government of superior rank.https://periodical.pstgu.ru/ru/pdf/article/7350pentarchy emperor justinian i patriarchates council of chalcedon see of rome ecclesiology imperial legislation on the churchпентархия император юстиниан i патриархаты халкидонский собор римская кафедра экклезиология императорское законодательство о церкви
spellingShingle Dmitry Pashkov
Pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor Justinian i: prerequisites
Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ II. Istoriâ, Istoriâ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi
pentarchy
emperor justinian i
patriarchates
council of chalcedon
see of rome
ecclesiology
imperial legislation on the church
пентархия
император юстиниан i
патриархаты
халкидонский собор
римская кафедра
экклезиология
императорское законодательство о церкви
title Pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor Justinian i: prerequisites
title_full Pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor Justinian i: prerequisites
title_fullStr Pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor Justinian i: prerequisites
title_full_unstemmed Pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor Justinian i: prerequisites
title_short Pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor Justinian i: prerequisites
title_sort pentarchy of patriarchates in the time of emperor justinian i prerequisites
topic pentarchy
emperor justinian i
patriarchates
council of chalcedon
see of rome
ecclesiology
imperial legislation on the church
пентархия
император юстиниан i
патриархаты
халкидонский собор
римская кафедра
экклезиология
императорское законодательство о церкви
url https://periodical.pstgu.ru/ru/pdf/article/7350
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