The Byzantine Legacy of Religious and Legal Pluralism: A Contemporary Reassessment of Byzantine Church-State Relations

In modern times, many Christians have struggled with the question of how their faith commitments can inform a meaningful social and political engagement within the contemporary secular realities that surround them. This article critically explores one especially commanding narrative that has often complicated such efforts for Orthodox Christians in particular, namely the Byzantine legacy of church-state relations. The article proceeds to make the case in favour of a more nuanced and layered account of church-state relations in the Eastern Roman Empire. First, the exact value of Justinian's Sixth Novel in reflecting the celebrated symphony in Byzantine church-state relations is evaluated not only on the basis of the Novel itself, but also with respect to the recognized role played by legal pluralism in Byzantine society. Second, the Edict of Milan (313) is highlighted as having inaugurated a period of religious pluralism which only terminated with Theodosius's promulgation of Christianity as a state religion in 380, some 43 years after the death of Constantine. Third, the early monastic and hierarchical resistance to the increasing imperialization of Christianity is expounded as further support for the conceptualization of alternative facets in the Byzantine legacy of church-state relations.