CANON 62 OF THE SYNOD IN TRULLO AND THE SLAVIC PROBLEM DEMETRIOS J, CONSTANTELOS/ Hellenic CollegeJustinian TT (685 - 695, 705-711) summoned a counci in 691 ~ 692 in the Trullian Hall of the imperial palace in Constantinople, which hhas been reongnized as a continuation and completion of the Sixth Ecumenical Synod (680 - 681). The Christelogical and doctrinal isos hhad been settled in previous convocations, nnd now the church had ‘turned her altention to administrative, disciplinary and moral prob- lems. In addition to their religious signifieance, most of the HP2. ca. rons are of social and cultural importance. We may obsorve at ths time that some church eanons of various ecumonical and loca blies, as well as rules of prominent church Fathers, require special study because they provide, we feel, now dimeusions for the understanding. of the cultural at well as the ethical plysiognomy of the Byzantine Empire ‘ Canon 62 of the synod in Tullo, known also as the Penthelkte or the Quiniseztum, is of particular interest to us in this article. We are concerned with ite meaning and implications for the ethic and cultural structure of the Greck chersonese in the seventh eontury. What fol lows, however, is partly history and partly refloction and logical ana: lysis, It claims neither originality nor"the ‘inal word on the subject ‘The canon under discussion has survived under the title 2 tvxk 2y (to avoid pagan customs). Two bundred and twenty seven church Fathers, several of them from tho Greok European cunt nent?, condemned the practice of feasts, cites, traditions, und customs of Greek (or Roman) pagan origins. They deplored the ubservance of the Kalends, the rituals of Rota ond Brumalia, dances in luaor of Greek 1, See Hamilear Alvizatos, OF irgot sands, 2d ifm [Mes 191% 66; Henry R. Percival elon, Phe Seven Bewnenica Cowart soe! Tabeare of ie and Post Nicene Faller vol, NIV (rand Fels, Mish 19518, yp. P. Ni 2 2. 0.1, Konidare, ‘Sexlnoworin Torogia s * 1960), pp. 502, 505 «528, aides, ol, | (Athens, 185%a Domutrion J. Constentos mythical deities, festivitios in which participants wore comic, satyrio or tragic masks, similar to those used in plays by Aristophanes, Euri pidos and othor dramatists of Greok antiquity. Furthermore, the canon denounced the popular habit of invoking the name of Bacchus (or Dionysos) in wine fostivals and in the season of the pressing of grapes. ‘The church decreed that clerics be deposed and that laymen be excom- municated for violation of the canoa®. ‘Of all the pagan customs mentioned in the canon, the Bota and the Brumalia require special consideration. The Bota were feasts in honor of Pan, the god of the inhabitants in the Peloponnesos and pri- marily of Arcadia which was surnamed Pania because it was considered the birthplace of the deity*, Pan wes honored as the god of mountains and hilly countries, of caves and rivers, and was greatly revered by shepherds and peasants in general. ‘The Brumalia coremonials were held in reverence of Bacchus or Dionysos. Tho Bacchio mystories, while widely practiced in the Greek world, were celebrated particularly in ‘Thrace and in Attiea, in country places as well as in Athens and other cities. Even though the canon is general in wature, and both the Pan feasts and tho Brumalia festivals had evolved into Panhellenic celebrations, we should never forget that Attica and Peloponnesos had been traditional sanctuaries of Pan and Dionysos. Their observance in the seventh century reveals that Greek pagan religion and customs had not been extinguished, and a great many of them had been incorporated in the Christian culture of the inhabi: tants. This event in itself is of profound significance not only for the {olklore of the times but for the insights it provides for an understanding of the national and cultural charactor of the inhabitants of the Greek peninsula. The Slavie penetration into’ the Balkans and into Greeee proper in tthe sixth and seventh centuries has given ground for the well known theory that the native Grosk people were totally exterminated. We do not intond to recount here the arguments for and against the theory. However, we feel strongly that apar; from other arguments against the validity of the Slavic theory non-church historians have not considered adequately : 1) The canon under analysis; 2) The syevival of Greek 3. G. A, Rhalles and M. Potles, Bivrnyya xOr Alar xai ‘Joie Rardrw, vo. UT Athens, 1852), p. 44, ', Ste C, Kotenyl, The Gods ofthe Grou, i. Norman Cameron (London, 195, pp. 178-175: M.P. Nilson, A History of Gvok Religion, 2nd edition, te, . J, Belden (Oxford, 1969).Canon 62 of the Syed in Prallo end the sloviepreblom 2s learning in Greece proper; and 3) The uninterrupted ecclesiastical adi nistration in the Greek mainland, Yet those phenomena provide solid ground in support of those historians why botiove that the Slavie pone- tration into the Greek peninsula was sporadio, and, if not peaveful, it was not so destructive and did not alter drastically the ethic composi- tion there. Tho establishment of Slavic settlements in the Greek main- Tand does not imply the obliteration of tke indigenous population. Slavie religion was unaware of Gresk deities and rituals and left no traces in the Greek chersonese. There sno evidence of any influence of Slav religion upon tho modern inhabitants of Greece. The Slav gods of Perun, Svarog, Moko’, Stribogu, or Veles (the guardian of flocks and shepherds) were unknown to the caurch Fathors of the seventh and the cighth centuries who otherwise concerned themselves with pagan traditions and non-Christian deities among rustic. populations. If the invaders were very populous, replacing the Greeks altogether for at least 218 years as a fow historians claim, cortainly tho Slavs should hhave loft their imprints and traces in modern Greek folklore as ancient, Greek religion so abundantly has. It seems most improbable, and indeed unnatural, that the Slavs themselves would have abandoned their re- ligious traditions and gods so soon, succumbing to Grook roligion and customs, But as Professor Spinka’has observed, the early Slavs for reasons of self-proservation, for national solidarity and for loyalty to ancestral raligion adhered to thei. own paganism. They resisted the forces of Cheistianity and Hellenism and only those who had isolated ‘themselves as settlements succumbed eventually to Hellenization and to the Christian faith®. The Slavs then that soltled in Greoce proper ‘were nomadic settlements which wore eventually absorbed and Hellen: ined. Nevertheless, even if we accept the Slavie theory, which assumes (it merely assumes for there is no concrete evidence ta’ substantiate its claims) the extinction of the Greck race and views the modorn Gracks as Hellonized Slavs, by what instruments and means did the invaders adopt the Janguage, religious beliefs, and the folklore of the Greoks? Missionary work from Constantinople was insufficient, It takes hurnan beings, animate and convincing voices, and a strong national eouscions- ness of autochthonous people to transmis to other peuple a living lan- ‘guage, religious beliefs aud practices, customs and tradilions. 5, Malthow Spinks, A History of Christianity inthe Balkans, Reprint [Archon Books, 1983), pp. 10-1126 Demetriot J. Constaneloe Church canons were contemporary corrective measures and reflect timely problems and conditions confronting the church at the time of their promulgation. The church, which enunciated in 691 canons and policies to suppress native heathen practices, called upon the Christian faithful who exercised them to repent, holding them accountable for their social and moral behaviour. Despite the numerous church mea: sures, however, Greck pagan or traditional behaviour continued to be expresied by many people. Greek heathen customs thrived because they had been integrated in the mentality and life of the popnlace. Either because of ignorance and lack of missionary activity or because of numerical superiority which sustained and perpetuated popular superstitions, the rituals and festivities in honour of Pan and Dionysos, as well as other Greek ancient traditions, survived for many more een. turies. Some, in fact, have survived to tho present dey under a Christian garment. John Zonaras and Theodore Balsamon, twelfth century canonists, confirm that many Greck pagan customs, which had been condemned by the Synod in Trullo, were observed diligently in their own time, especially by country poople, shephords and peasants alike®, even though they had’adopted the Christian faith Bulsamon adds that people used to mix pagan traditions with Christian worship. The Kyrie Eleeison was sung along with the laughter and gaiety during the wine festivals’ The Patriarch Loukas Chrysoberges {1157 - 1170) had taken measures to eliminate them but without much suecess Eventhough Christian churches were early established in the Greek peninsula, in Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth, Berroia and other urban centers, there must have beon many rural areas which resisted change from old paganism. The traditional conservatism of Uhe peasantry was hhard to overcome. In their faith as wall as in their way of life, the pes sants adhered stubbornly to the pas.. This was a phenomenon which could be observed in Spain and in Gaul, as well as in Greece. To remedy tho situation in the west, the Latin ehurch had issued several canons# 5. Ralls and Polls, op. eit, pps ME 490: ok val vv ylvevran mag cok Byplans, oh elbow 5 muon 7 Bid 8. Ganon’ XX, Conelirn Aufianense 11, ed J, B. Mansi, Saerorum Cone fiorum Novo et implssina Collcto, vol $ (Grae, Austria, 1960), rol.” KIKAB, Canon XY, Conctiuin Asreianense IV, el, Maas bid, vol 9, col. F130; CanonXVI Concitium ‘fotetanum (Hl, ed. Mansi, vba, ‘vol, 9, col. 9860; Canon XIV, Concilium Rhemienee, ed, Mansi, sid, vol 1, cl, S86C; ef. A. TL M. Jones, oTheConon 82 of the Synad i Trulte wad the slovie problem Ea similar to the canons of the synod in Trullo. .Apart then from the urban centers, christianization of the Grocks in the interior of Peloponnesos, central Greece and other Greek districts, was a slow process. Together with Slavie tribes, many native Greeks mast have adopted Christianity during the roigns of Irene, Nivephoros T and Michael II in the ninth century when the church of Constantinople conducted special missions in Greece proper. We should always hear in mind that from the very beginning, Christianity was an urban religion and that the country people, i.e. the «pagans ~ farmers, shephords ~ were the last to be ebri stianized. Canon 62 of the Synod in Trullo is al the more important because it was issued at @ crucial age and reflects existing sitmations in the se- venth century when the destruction of the Grecks was supposed to have taken place, The canon indicates that Greek rural populations were depositories of ancient traditions, It was becwtse of their numerical superiority that the Greoks eventually overwhelmed and absorbed the so-called Sclaviniae ur Slavie settlements. But the survival of Greok culture, including the language, was secured not only because Uerw was an autochthonous Greek population which perpetuated its native idiom and ts popular culture, bat also because there were still urban conters whore the classical Greek learning was taught, Thessaloniki, Corinth and Athens were impurtaat urban centers, Athens for example, could not. have heon simply a fortress, It must have heen a city of some cultural signifieaten, fn Uhe seventh cene tury, Athent was a conter of higher learning. Theodore of Tarsos, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury and gave now life to the British church, was educated in both Tarsos and Athens. He was in Athens when the Emperor Gonstaus II visited the city, Indeed it wats because of his Greek classical upbringing that Pope Vitalian, who eonseerated him in 688 (the Tlyricum at that Lime was eeelesiastically under the ju diction of Rome), expressed fear of Theodore’s orthodoxy’. Scat Hackgroond of the struggle tetwron Paginisn and Cavstianitys, in he Conf: Boteven Paganion ond Ciristionsty in tbe Fourth Century, sl, Arnaldo Momighano (Oxford, 1963), pp. 18.19, Some hisoriane heioee thal the religions Dele of the rural mass of Franoo in the Tsthcentry were sil esentialiy pagan, See F. A. Nulanl, Chestinity ond the Broach Revelation, tr by havdy Frazur (Seve York, 1966), pe M188, 12U + 129, Cf Honey Uacwford Parker, Gots and Me, The Origine of Westen Culture (Now York, 1959), pp. $0 ~ 31 ‘9. The Vearable Diss, Phe Eeeiestiad Wiswry ofthe English Nation, Bk. WV fh tle sit an introduction by Vide D. Seudder [London, 1940), p. 183a Domuarios J. Constonttos Athons in the eighth century included many old aristocratic families for wo know that it was to Athens that Constantine V turned to find 4 bride for his son. Irene was born and educated in Athens before her ‘marriage to Leo IV. Theaphano, too, the wife of the short-lived Emperor Stavrakios was of Athenian aristocratic origins. That Athens must have been an important stronghold of Groek ‘thought and culture in the eighth century may be inferred from the fact that it was from Athens that a rebellion arose against the icono- lastio policies of Leo III. In 727 the eHelladikoiy, the inhabitants of the Hellas theme, raised a rebellion against Constantinople and proclaimed 4 certain Kosmas as Emperor". Certainly the oHelladikoi» could not have been cultured Hellenized Slavs who in a short span of time had come to value Greek mentality and Greek appreciation of iconographic symbolism. There is a general agreement among historians thet the ico nophiles derived their strength primarily from strongholds of the Greek tradition while the iconoclasts wore greatly influenced by the Hellen- istic and Semitic orient. The iconoclasts accused the iconophiles of fol- lowing Greek pagan religion, a view which was shared by the chief per- secutor of the icons, the Emperor Constantine V", But in addition to the preceding evidence, it would seem that the existence of an uninterrupted ecclesiastical administration in Greece proper, with several Metropolitans and bishops during the seventh and eighth centuries, is proof enough that the Slavie invasions did not anni- ite the Grook population. We know the names of several hierarchs {rom Greek peninsula who went to Constantinople and to Nicea to parti cipate in Uhe synods of 680/S1, 691 and 787. For example in the sixth ‘ecumenical ouncil the Metropolitan John II of Thessalonike and Ste- phanos of Cori own behalf as well as on behalf of their local synods. Stephanus in particular signed as «Ste. phanos... bishop of tho Metropolis uf the Corinthians, from the land of the Hellenes for myself and for the hishop under my jurisdictions™, 10. 11. Gelzr, wDie Kirclicho Georgii Orichenlands vor den Slavonia: hrushe, Zetstrift fr wissenehaficke Tholgin, vol, 35 (Laine, 192}, p. Katy 1. Konidans, Ai Myegondier wai “Aygussmcaal rob Oixorperet Hargeapyloe val § wTabsen aie, Texte vad Eorshungen Nengrisehischan Piloagi, No. 13 (Athens, 1984), cart 1. 11, See Symeon Motapiastes, Vite 8 -indroar dv Cris 1, wd J.B, Mig, Piralgia Grave, vol. 95, col A113 ef, Aetw Sanctorum, October WITT (63 col 188P and 1438 12, 4. D. Mansi, Sarrorum Conciliorum Nova vt Amplisima Collect, 14 (Grae,Conan 62 of the Synod Prat ond the slave probene 9 It is important Lo note that within a fow years, the bishops of Patras and Areadia (Kyparissia) in the Peloponnesos were elevated to the rank of Metropolitaus (¢. 732). From the fourth century to the last quarter of the eighth, there were in the Greek peninsula six Metropolitans with several snffrayans. In the year 732/733 wien the church of Mlyricum, to which Greece proper bolonged, was transferred to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the ecumenical Patriarchate, there were altogether 102 archbishops, Motropolitans, and bishops. In the Taktika or Notitia Episcopauum of Loo 11, which was composed between 733 - 746, undor the Motropolitan of Thessalonike ‘here were 18 bishops; under the Metropolitan of Dyrrachion 8; and under ‘other Metropolitans as follows : Nicopolis, 6; Larissa, 18; Athons, 38; and Corinth, 32. Even if there are tome inaecuracies in the notitia, the con- siderable number of bishops indicates thst the ecclesiastical structure and administration in tie Greek chersoneve was well preserved during the so-called Slavic invasions. The hypothesis thon that the Greok main- land was slavinised and was ovcupied by the Slavs for 218 years cannot be sustained, Minor disruptions and changes in the ethie composition ecclesiastical mechanism oveurred. However, all recent attempts to revive and perpetuate Fallmerayer's discredited theory were unneces- sary. Apart from certain general journalistic or sormonary statements ‘there are no new sources which would call for a reronsideration of the Slavie issue, Impressionistic or sensutional- genoralizatinns, such as sthe whole land was Slavinizeds recorited by Porphytogennitos, were not ‘uncommon amon medieval historians and chroniclers. Even serious historians wore guilty of Uhut tendency to resort to sweeping genoral izations, To reflect upon how hyperbolic historian or a chronicler was in the middle ages let us turn to Procopias who is acknowledged as one of the best historians of the middle ages. Tn speaking of the destruction of the population in Libya by the Vandals, Procopias writes that « myriads of myriads perishede, and because of Justinian sone might more quickly, 1 Uink count all the grains of sand than the vast number whom this Emperor [Justinian] 41960) cals, G88D, 6908: oErkpsnoe.. Eninemae oe Koplow wyeeunidens wg Pe vat Seng Otp yr, wad whe Sm Bub oundden i. Ureamalosyy) iH, Oslaer, op eit, p- 42%: Konidars, Myeoonddec, op itp. 38, so also hart 2 1, Konidars, “Beedqavaorach“erools, op. sity pp 6, 504 - 522so Demetrios J. Constanielos Aestroyeds, The situation in Tlaly is described in similar general and exaggorated terms, (Ttaly] has become everywhere even mare destitute of men than Libyas. ‘No matter where we turn our attention, Procopios writes that every: ‘where was desolation. oSirmium and the country thereabout... was. completely destitute of human inhabitations. In each invasion of the barbarians (Huns, Slavs, Antae] in the Ilyricum and Thrace. , . compris ing the whole expanse of countey from the Ionian Gulf to the outskirts of Byzantium, including Greece and the Thracian chersonese. .. more than twenty myriads of Romans, I think, were destroyed or enslaved theres. Procopios’ enmity for Justinian was unmitigated. Thus he had no scruples in descriptions of events which would dogeade the Emperor's policies. In the east, from Egypt to the frontiers of Persia, the Saracens ‘accomplished such-thorough-going destruction that this entire region came to be very sparsely populated. On the other hand, the Persians sin the captured cities and each country district, they slew a part and led some away with them, leaving the land bare of inhabitants wherever they changed to descends If we wore to take Procopios’ account seriously, it would seem that the inhabitants of Constantinople alone survived the sixth century invasions. Either for personal reasons, or in order to attribute their survival to a saint’s intervention, orto prove God’s henevolence, Byzan- tine authors tended to exaggerate. Tho destructions of the Slavie in: vasions which were recorded in general terms hy men like Proegpios ‘were grossly exaggerated Nevertholess, the existence of an extonsive Church organization did not eradicate Greok pagan eustoms nor did it succeed in bringing everyone into the Church, Paganism in one form or another was alive in the Greek European continont down to the tenth rentury, when the last. heathens of Greok and Slayie origins received Chiristianity"®, Pagan ritos and ceremonials still persevered tenaciously to their Greek roots even though Christian orthodoxy was the official and dominant ereed of the 15. Procapius, The Anecdote or Seer Hietany eh 18, tn. He By Dewsing, Lot ‘assical Library (London end Cambri, Mase 195i), yp. 213 «221, + 16. Maithew Spinks, op ct, {; Cirststonnoe Popadoponles, “Hl “Poxdnaia fe "Edditos, 2nd edition (Athens 1951), 82 88, 44-49, 58. BK. Shophanides, ‘Besdyoeri “Torok, 204 +8, {Athens 1959), pp. 398-399,Canon 62 of the Synod i Trllo and the slavic problem. a Empire, Their practice provided a sense of unity among the inhabitants of Greece with their ancestors. To be sure, ultimately Greek paganism died out, but much of its culture was absorbed by church Fathers in their writings and by Christian tradition in general. ‘The eanon, which wwe have tried to analyze and set in its historical and geographic per- spective confirms that Greek paganism survived for many centuries. It is important to empliasize that eaaon 62 of the Penthekte synod does sot simply deal with superstitions such as soothsaying, fortune telling, or the interpretation of omens which may be viewed as uni- versal events; other canons ore less specific in their designation of heathen customs. For example canon 61 condemns soothsayers who were known as hecatontarchs, fortune and fate tellers, enchanters and amulet givers; canon 65 reveals that people held to pagan traditions lighting funeral pyres at the new moon before their houses and their shops. That enstom was accompanied with drinkirg, dancing, leaping and merry- ‘making. The Tist canon of the same synod condemned students or tea- chers of civil law who followed heathen traditions, attended theaters, drossed after the manner of pagan lawyers and attended theatrical or ‘wrestling exhibitions. Canon 91 subjected to penalties those who took non-Christian oaths, swearing by Uhe mythical gods of Graeco-Roman antiquity, Contrary to the preceding church regulations, canon 62 is unique because it deals with specific Greek roligicus feasts and practices which must have maintained Uvir strongholds above all in the Greek father- land. The study of modern folklorn in Greece has demonstrated that many of those medieval customs have endured in one form oF another to the present day. Inderd they vonstitute honds with Greek medieval and ancient culture Tt seems evident that all the foregoing cultural links and historical phonomena could not have survived for so many centuries without the existeneo of a background suppurted by a slrang native Greek popula: tion, Fotklore, national and religinus traditions and customs certify the continuity of the Greek people™. Of course to define a nation on the basis of rare, hlood, and physical charecteristies is futile and unscien- tific. No Greok historian claims aw absolute racial purity for modern 17, See John Cuthbert Lawson, Moderu Greck Kothione and Ancient Grek Re ligion, Reprint (New Hyde Park, N.Y., 964), pp. 63; B. K.Stephanides, “Bed raat Totopia, op ety pp, SOB 4678 Demetrios J. Constante Greece. Contemporary anthropology maintains that eprobably there is rot and never has been a really pure racer". The ethnic nature of the Byzantine Empire must be defined on the same basis on which Tsocrates had defined ancient Hellenism, and as George Pletho Gemistos defined his contemporary «Byzantines, that is on the basis of language, educa- tion, paedeia’, and we may add religious beliefs and sooial and oultural Furthermore, we, too, believe that shistory is continuous rather than fragmentary; and what appear at first sight tobe its most decisive breaks will on more mature consideration be found to exemplify the dictum of "plus ea change”. As in the development of species, so in t development of ideas oF worlds of thought; sudden and radical chango is tunknown#®, The above reflections confirm what we have tried to in- dicate in the proveding pages, Uhat itis impossible to think of Byzantine Greece as Hellenized Selavinia without the existence of Hellenes who served as peragons, molders, and instruments of Hellenization. Tdeas, institutions, instructions, worlds of thought are the results of human is and the work of living individaals. We may be allowed to digeoss from our main topic to remind our- selves of two of three more points. Itis commonly agreed by Byzantino- gists that tho existence of « seme implied the presence of a governor ‘and an imperial-army there. The theme of Hellas which comprised cen- tral Greece and tho Peloponnesos was organized before 695. It is logical to believe that if Groce was occupied by the Slavs after having exter ‘inated the indigenons population in the late sixth or during the se- venth century, Constantinople vould not have established a thematic administration there. But there must have been many Greeks because 1s Alfred Shorwood Numer, Man and the Vericbrats, ded ed. (Chicago, 1968), p.332, 19. tsveralis, Pamigyrios 50; oP in “EX Hous memati ype 208 ke sug 9d he Bavelns Borat elo, nal ySday "Biogas wadetobe vais wig male woe tie fateae 9 oie “ie ante Goaeus yertyovrae. Pletho Gemistes defined the ‘Miyzantiness as follows: Boyt yp... “Ende w8-b0e, &e # ze gowh eal me Spee sacle aapraei,in'S, Lambros, °@, Haatoiéyea wal Hekoxorryavaxd, vol. 8 (Athens, 1926), 9.287 ‘30 Romi Jenkins, Bysantivm > Tor fmperial Centuries, A. D. 610 = 1071 (hondon, 1958), pe "21. Soe Peter Charani, sHftls in the Grovk souros of the sixth, seventh, and ighth powturesy in Late Classica and Moiaeval Studies in Honor of Albert Machiag Trina, Jr ed. by Kart Weltziann and others (Priston, N.J, 1959), p. 173.‘anon 62 of the Synod in Trullo ard the stavie problem a in the middle of the eighth century when a plague took the lives of many in Constantinople, Constantine V transferred many people from the Grook mainland to tho capital. The same Emperor transferred another group of some 500 technicians or tile makers from Grooee to ropair the aqueduct of Valentinian in Constantinople, Apparently not all Greeks hhad perished! ‘Thus the Slavie element, which invaded Greece in the sixth and seventh centuries, could not have boon Hllenized without the survival of native Greeks. It was rather the ethnic and cultural consciousness of the Grook poople that underlay the continuity in Greok history and served as the springboard and the reservair of the continuing Greck tradition and its Hellenizing effectiveness. Even though with the edict of Caracalla the Greeks hecame Roman eitizens and with the tsiumph of (Christianity «the Greek was robbed of his national names and his ethnic name eHellenes became synonymous with paganism, the sByzantinese were conscions of their lineage with the ancient Greeks and with the Hellenism of the Roman Empire os is evidenced by their language, culture, education, and other institutions, Norman N. Baynes rightly accentuated that sas one studios the Inter developments of Hellenism, fone cannot but be struck by the hold which it continued to possess ‘over the minds of the Greeks of East Rome ~ even in the last phase of the Byzantine Empire, B Because of this historical continuity, both in the ethnic composi- tions and in the cultural structure of Hellenism (notwithstanding trans- formations and admixtures with other people), we would do well to abandon the terms Byzantine and Byzantinology in favor of the desig. nations Hellenism and Hellenology. The ancient Gracks were never ‘8 homogeneous stock and of one united state; yet we do not speak of Athenology, Spartology, Thebology, or Macedonology, but of ancient Hellenism. Similarly, there is no need to appropriate the name of the colony of Byzas in order to characterize the greatest medieval empire in Europe and the Near East, Medieval Hellenism is a much better 22, Thoophanes, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, vo. 1 (Leipzig, 1885), pp 440. CE Gharanis, op et, pot 28, Norman 1. Baynes, Byzantine Studies and Others Essays, (London, 1960), poma Demetrios J. Constanteloe term and, indeed, historically and pragmaticelly a more accurate desig- nation for what. we are accustomed to portray as the Byzantine Em- pret, Even if we were to adopt Rome's way, which gave its name to a vast empire, the term Byzantine does not correspond to the reality of the city of Byzas because after 23) A.D. it was transformed and ro- named Constantinople, a case which should justify the name Constanti- nopolitan Empire ~ an awkward designation indeed. Properly speaking then, the name Byzantine must give way to Greok, for the Byzantine Empire was the Moslioval Greek Empire. Eventhough the sByzantinese called themselves Romans, for their state was a continuation of the Imperinm Romanum, neighboring peoples as well as other foreigners considered them and called them Greeks (or Hellenes). This designation is generally found in the weitings of non-Greok historians and chronicles For example, Joshua the Stylite in his deseription of a famine that fell upon the city of Edessa e. 501 - 502 writes about the «Greek soldiers» who set up places in which the sick slept. For Joshua the soldiers were Greek not «Byzantines. The seventh century apocalypse of Pseudo- Methodios describes the «Byzantines Emperors os sthe rulers of the Groeks, that is, the Romans». Other sources, such as the seventh century Armenian historian Sobéos, the ninth century Arab author Yahya-al- Baladhuri, the Russian Primary chronicle, several Latin sources inclu- ding Lixdprand of Cremona, the German Emperor Frederick I, and many more considered the inhabitants of the Empire as Greeks™, 24, Guyla Moravscik,elyzantinologic et Hellenlogion, Bysantion, vol. XXX, No.1 (1985), 25. Gorge Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, 2nd ed, te. Joan Hussey (Oxford, 1988, p. 88 26, dosha tho Stylite, Chronic, ch. 49, tr, by Willam Wright (Cambridge, 882), p48; V.M. Istria, citer, Okrovanie Metodsin Patarskago & Apobrficheekita Videnia Danila » Vicentishi & Staviano RusskotLiterturath Chteila v tmperator ‘kon Oisehestve Istort | Drovaostet Rossiskikh pri Moskovskom Universitet No. 193 [Moseow, 19971, Texsty 26-27, 24-83; Sits, Mixoine d'Méracliu, F. Marler (Paris, 1904), pp. 104 105; Al-Balddhuwi, Origins of the Islamic Sta le, PK, Hil (Columbia University Studios in Tstory, Economics, and Public Law) val. 64162 (New York, 1946]; The Mussion Primary Chroniele- Laurentian Tees, tr ant ed, Samuel Uazzaed Cros and Olgerd P. Sherbowite-Wolzor, The Mediaeval Wradon’ of America (canbrieg, Mass, (1959), pp. 95, 97, 98, 109, 100 Myer at; The Marks of Liutprand of Crmona, t. P. A. Wright (London, £930) chs 60,63, 64 e4 al; Letters of Fredurik {1 to Michael Angslos Comnenes of Epirus andCanon 62 of the Synod in Trallo and the slave problem 35 This understanding of course did not preclude the existence of several minorities even though they wore Hellenized or greatly Hellen- ined. We are quite aware that there are respected names in Medieval studies who are sensitive when it comes te speak of the Byzantine Em- pire as a Gresk state. It is oven more difficult for a historian with a Greek name to speak of the Byzantine Empire as the Medieval Greek World — a designation which is preferable. Although the intention of this paper is to avoid any controversy, we do believe that certain a pects of the whole Slavic problem have been underestimated. The con- tinuity in the eoclesiastical administration, the presence of Greek pagan inhabitants in Greece at least till the midille of the ninth eentury, and the meaning and implications of canon 62 of the synod in Trullo are ‘meaningful themes and should be examined seriously im any discussion of the Slavie problem. In summation, may I emphasize thet the Greek language, Greek folklore, Greek popular festivities, and Greek culture have endured the Slavic penetration of the middle ages because the native Greek popu- lation had survived. to Soha 111 Doukas Vatatzes, edited by Fr. Miklsieh and lo, Muller, ete et Diplo Inata Gracee, vol 8 (Vindobonae, 1865), pp. 68 68, 22.75.