Renaissance Archives - Saint Sophia

May 29, 1453: The Day Constantinople Fell

05/29/2023

By Philip Chrysopoulos, May 29, 2021 The fall of Constantinople, which occurred on May 29,1453 was the final phase of the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars (1265-1453) and the darkest page in Greek history and in the Orthodox Church. The seat of the Byzantine Empire for a millennium, Constantinople was the main target of the Ottomans. Ascending to the Ottoman throne in 1451, Mehmed II began making plans to conquer the Byzantine capital. The Byzantine empire had been declining in power

How did the Fall of Constantinople Change the Renaissance in Italy?

05/29/2020

The Byzantine Empire, also known as New Rome, was very influential on the history and culture of Europe during the Middle Ages. By the 15th century, the Empire was in terminal decline and had been for several centuries. At this time the various Italian city-states were experiencing a cultural flowering that is known by historians as the Renaissance. In 1453 the capital of Byzantium fell to the Ottoman Turkish army and this was the effective

The Fourth Day of Christmas. Tomorrow’s Feast of the Holy Children (December 29).

12/28/2018

TOMMOROW’S FEAST (December 29) OPENS UP ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT THE INCARNATION. Until now we have been gazing at the child in the cradle, the scene of the Nativity, the angels rejoicing. But Herod’s story was one of rage, jealousy, and fear. Herod the Great, despite his high office as the Tetrarch of Galilee, was afraid of the long-promised Messiah. When he heard from the Magi that such a royal heir had been born

The Fall of Constantinople Had Profound Consequences

05/29/2018

By Cody Carlson On May 29, 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. The fall of this great city signaled the end of the Byzantine Empire, the medieval incarnation of the Roman Empire, and saw the armies of Islam spread into Europe from Asia for the first time. In A.D. 330, the Roman Emperor Constantine founded the city of Constantinople on the Greek village of Byzantine to be the new imperial capital. Sitting on the

The Art of the Icon (Part II)

08/26/2016

The icon, by a concrete symbolism that preserves it from any tendency to allegory, expresses the deification of humankind and the sanctification of the universe, in other words, the truth of beings and things. The symbolic, integrated in the fullness of communion, is always at the service of the person whom it reveals. Light in an icon does not come from an exact point, for, as we read in Revelation, the New Jerusalem ‘has no

Human Beings and the Cosmos (Part X): The Great Divorce

09/25/2015

By the Middle Ages, however, with the rise of humanism and rationalism, there were already the beginnings of a breach between Christianity and a self-sufficient humanity. In Byzantium, and spreading into Franciscan Italy, there was an attempt, supported by a theology of the transfiguration of the body and the earth, to transfigure the renaissance, to divinize humanism. But this last phase of Byzantine culture, which seemed so promising, was swamped by Asian influence, while Western

Archive

May 29, 1453: The Day Constantinople Fell

How did the Fall of Constantinople Change the Renaissance in Italy?

The Fourth Day of Christmas. Tomorrow’s Feast of the Holy Children (December 29).

The Fall of Constantinople Had Profound Consequences

The Art of the Icon (Part II)

Human Beings and the Cosmos (Part X): The Great Divorce

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