Light Through the Past

Michael VIII's death found the Byzantine empire secured from its enemies, but theologically and ecclesiastically in confusion on all sides. This episode looks at the task that awaited Patriarch Gregory II as he began cleaning up the late emperor's madness.

From mutilations to executions, Michael VIII violently imposed the Union of Lyons, while at the same time successive popes raised demands on the Orthodox, while Charles of Anjou waited in the background.

Prof. Jenkins continues his look at the course of the Schism, focusing specifically on the events surrounding the Council of Lyons in 1274, and how the whole affair was driven by political considerations on the part of the emperor, Michael VIII Palaeologos.

In this episode Dr. Jenkins unpacks the perilous aftermath of the Byzantine reconquest of Constantinople, and the extreme ecclesiastical length's the emperor was willing to take to secure the Empire's safety.

In this episode Dr. Jenkins looks at the political implications of sack of Constantinople in 1204 (implications never far removed from the questions of Church history nor the life of the Church).