Number DOI: http://doi.org/10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2022-10-115

VB. – № 10, 2022. – P. 85-112

Summary

Christ brought a rebellion to human life according to the religious and ethic orders that people should put into practice in their daily life. Christian ethics emphasized that morality should be united with Christ and Church’s sacred mysteries, otherwise it was not worthy. A central feature of Byzantine culture was Orthodox Christianity. Ethics in Byzantine Empire was not a systematic philosophical discipline, but an occasional response to particular problems posed in everyday life or in interpreting the Scripture. The law and the commandments were set within the context of devotion to God but were deontological standards defining what this morality was. The highest ethical duty of a Christian was the same as the greatest commandment: love God and love your neighbour. In this paper, we are going to search vicious and good/virtuous relationships in the teachings of the Church Fathers based on the social structure and gender relations in the Byzantine state and mainly in spouses’ relations. Which was the attitude of Church Fathers for the specific topic in the Byzantine era? Did they dare to criticize vicious actions among people like adultery, homosexuality, prostitution and concubinage? Which was their influence on the laws of the Byzantine Empire about the status of marriage? How did they present virtuous relations as religious attitudes against vicious actions which help the social life of married and unmarried Christians and their sexual life? Church Fathers condemned any kind of immorality because is against the laws of God. They continued to love sinners and to pray for their salvation. Through the teaching of Church Fathers, a Christian should find the correct path which leads to God. The only true path is for every man and woman in every period to struggle against his or her passions.

Key words: Church Fathers, adultery, prostitution, concubinage homosexuality, Christianity, Byzantine Empire.

References:

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SOURCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ΠΗΓΕΣ

·New Testament, translation NSRVA

·Old Testament, translation NSRVA

·Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, H. Rackham, Ed., http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1

·Basilius of Caesarea, Ascetical works 1, PG 31, 1325AB.

·Codex Theodosianus

·Cyril of Alexandria, Against Eunuchs, PG 77, 1108-1109.

·Digesta, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1c.asp Isaurian Ecloga

·Justinii Codex, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1c.asp

·Institutiones

·Gregory Nazianzen, Homily 37, PG 36, 281- 308.

·Gregory Nazianzen, On Self-Restraint, PG 37, 643D

·John Chrysostom, In epistulam ad Colossenses, PG 62, 229A

·John Chrysostom, In Matthaeum, PG 57, 21-472.

·John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions 6, 24- 25. transl. by https://solzemli.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/saint-john-chrysostom-on-marital-sex

·John Chrysostom, In epistulam ad Colossenses, 12, PG 62, 387B. 

·John Chrysostom, Encomium ad Maximom, PG 51, 230C.

·John Chrysostom, In epistulam ad Ephesios, PG 62, 225AB. 

·John Chrysostom, In epistulam ad Ephesios, PG 62, 139A.

·John Chrysostom, Encomium ad Maximom, PG 51, 235C, trans. by Eirini Artemi

·John Chrysostom, In Virginitatem, Ecclesiastical Church Fathers, vol 29, Thessaloniki,

·John Chrysostom, In epistulam ad Colossenses, 12, PG 62, 393B.

·John Chrysostom, In Matthaeum, PG 58, 768A-C.

·John Chrysostom, In epistulam ad 1^st Corinthios, 19, PG 61, 152C.

·John Chrysostom, In Genesim, PG 53, 353C & PG 54, 581-631.

·John Chrysostom On Psalms, PG 55, 178-186.

·John Chrysostom On Romans Epistle, PG 60, 583-681.

·John Chrysostom On Thessalonicians 1st, PG 62, 391-467.

·John Malalas, Chronography, Homily 18, Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, vol. 14, Bonnae 1731.

·Nikodemos Agiorites, Commentary on the Fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, Vol. I, Athens: 1971. 

Nikolas Cabasilas, Homily on the Nativity of Holy Virgin Mother”, 6

SECONDARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ακανθόπουλος, Π. Ι., Κώδικας Ιερών Κανόνων και Εκκλησιαστικής Νομοθεσίας της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος, 3η έκδ., Βάνιας, Θεσσαλονίκη 2006.

Aquilina, M., “One flesh of purest gold. John Chrysostom’s Discovery of the Blessings & Mysteries of Marriage”, Touchstone, A journal of mere Christianity, vol. 21.1 (2008), 3-15.

Αρτέμη, Ειρήνη, “Αρσενοκοιτία, μοιχεία και παλλάκεια στη Βυζαντινή κοινωνία”, Ekkilisiastikos Faros, vol. 89, Alexandria 2019, p. 39-58,

Bailey, D. Sh. Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, Longmans, Green, London 1955.

Beaucamp, J., Le statut de la femme a Byzance (4e–7e siecle). I. le droit imperial, Travaux et memoires du Centre de recherche d’ histoire et civilisation de Byzance, College de France. Venographies, 5, Paris 1990.

Γκόφας, Δ. Χ., «Παλλακεία και Νομιμοποίηση», στο Ιστορία και Εισηγήσεις του Ρωμαϊκού Δικαίου Β΄, εκδόσεις Αντ. Ν. Σάκκουλα, Αθήνα 1989.

Collett Sandars, T. The Institutes of Justinian: With English Introduction, Translation, and Notes, London 1853

Evans, J. A., The Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine Empire, Greenwood Press, London 2005.

Gagarin, M., “Morality in Homer”, Classical Philology 82. 4 (1987): 285-306. (Accessed 1 July 2021), http://www.jstor.org/stable/269650.

Hall, M. “A Historical and Hermeneutical Approach to the Vice-Lists: A Pauline Perspective”, Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology, 3.1.1(2018):27-46, http://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/spiritus/vol3/iss1/5

Harper, Κ., Slavery in the Late Roman Mediterranean, Ad 275–425: an Economic, Social, and Institutional Study, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2011.

Hunter, A.W., A Systematic and Historical Exposition of Roman Law in the Order of a Code, Sweet & Maxwell, London 1803.

Johnstone, M. A. “On the Ethical Dimension of Heraclitus’ Thought” in Early Greek Ethics, ed. by D. Wolfsdorf, Oxford University Press, 2020, p. 37–53.

Jonaitis, M., Kosaitė – Čypienė, E., «Conception of roman marriage: historical experience in the context of national family policy concept»,   Jurisprudencija/Jurisprudence of Mykolo Romerio universitetas, 2.

116 (2009), p. 295–316. ISSN 1392–6195 (print).

“Introduction to Ethics”, https://www.soas.ac.uk/cedep-demos/000_P563_EED_K3736-Demo/module/pdfs/p563_unit_01.pdf (Accessed 30 May 2021)

Kazdan, Α. P.  «The Byzantine Family and its problems», (in greek) Mnimon, 12 (1989), p195-209, http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/mnimon.414

Miller, W., Trebizond. The Last Greek Empire, London 1926.

Moussourakis, G., Roman Law and the Origins of the Civil Law Tradition, Springer International Publishing, Switzerland 2015, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12268-7

Νικολάου, Κ., Η γυναίκα στη μέση βυζαντινή εποχή. Κοινωνικά πρότυπα και καθημερινός βίος στα αγιολογικά κείμενα, Αθήνα 2005.

Noailles, P., Dain, A., Les Novelles de Leon VI le Sage, Παρίσι 1944.

Πολυλογίδου, Ζ., Οι Εκκλησιαστικές Μεταρρυθμίσεις του Λέοντος Στ΄ Σοφού (886-912) μέσα από τις Νεαρές του. Παρουσίαση και ανάλυση αυτών, μ.δ., Κομοτηνή 2015-2016.

Ράλλης, Γ., & Ποτλής, Μ.,Σύνταγμα των Θείων και Ιερών Κανόνων των τε Αγίων και πανευφήμων Αποστόλων, και των Ιερών και Οικουμενικών και τοπικών Συνόδων, και των κατά μέρος Αγίων Πατέρων, τ. Δ΄, Αθήνησιν 1854. 

Ράλλη, Κ., Ποινικόν Δίκαιον της Ορθοδόξου Ανατολικής Εκκλησίας, εκδόσεις Πουρναρά, Αθήνα 1985. 

Parkin, T., Pomeroy, Α., Roman Social History. A Sourcebook, Routledge, New York 2007.

Rawson, B. “Roman Concubinage and Other: De Facto Marriages”, Transactions of the American Philological Association: Johns Hopkins University Press, 104(1974). 279–305, esp. p. 288, doi:10.2307/2936094.

Rawson, B., «Spurii and the Roman View of Illegitimacy», The Australian National University: Antichthon 23 (1989), p. 10-41. 

Severy, B., Augustus and the family at the birth of the Roman Empire, Routledge, New York 2003.

Σμάγα, Π., Ο θεσμός της υιοθεσίας στο βυζαντινό δίκαιο, Θεσσαλονίκη 2007.

Treggiari, S., “Contubernales”, Phoenix. CAC, 35 (1) (1981): 42–69, doi:10.2307/1087137.

Τρωιάνος, Σπ., «Έρως και Νόμος στο Βυζάντιο», Σπ. Τρωιάνος (επιμ.), Έγκλημα και Τιμωρία στο Βυζάντιο, Αθήνα 1997.

Wesche, K. P.   “Reflections on the priesthood on Eastern Orthodoxy”, The Theology of Priesthood, D. J. Goergen, A., Garrido (eds), New York 2000, p. 182

Wolff, H. J., Roman Law. An Historical Introduction, Red Rivers Books, University of Oklahoma Press, 1951.