Emperor and Priest

The Imperial Office in Byzantium (Past and Present Publications)

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"The figure of the Byzantine emperor, a ruler who sometimes was also designated a priest, has long fascinated the western imagination. This book studies in detail the imperial union of 'two powers' against a wide background of relations between church and state and religious and political spheres." "While in the medieval west the Empire was broken down into its various temporal realms, leaving spiritual matters to the papacy, the Byzantine east preserved the structures of an empire whose ruler - the anointed successor of David - received directly from God his mission to lead his Christian subjects. In this sense, the emperor was a priest, albeit 'of another priesthood' or a quasi-bishop. Historians have continued the debate on this subject since the time of the Reformation, declaring 'caesaropapism' to be a malady of the east. Yet the ambiguities and nuances of this divided imperial role can still be perceived today. Presenting much unfamiliar material in complex, brilliant style, as much for western medievalists as for Byzantinists, it will attract all historians concerned with royal and ecclesiastical sources of power."--Jacket.