Christian-Jewish Relations in Ninth-Century Byzantium: Religious Othering
Oleksandr Kashchuk
Ukrainian Catholic University , Ukrainehttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6302-1851
Ruslan Melnykovych
Lviv University , Ukrainehttps://orcid.org/0009-0004-6075-8400
Abstract
This article examines Jewish-Christian interaction in ninth-century Byzantium, with particular attention to key moments and the dynamics of interreligious relations. The analysis is based on a critical reading of a broad range of sources relating to the ninth century, through which the study identifies recurring polemical motifs and situates them within their wider social and political contexts. An interdisciplinary approach is employed, combining historical analysis with concepts drawn from the sociology of deviance – especially labelling theory – in order to explore the ways in which social categories relating to the Jewish minority were articulated within a predominantly Christian society. The article investigates patterns of coexistence between Jews and Christians in the ninth-century Byzantine Empire, analyses the role of the clergy in shaping these interactions, and examines the strategies through which religious discourse and social differentiation contributed to post-Iconoclast societal consolidation and to the legitimation of the reign of Emperor Basil I (867-886). The primary sources considered include chronicles (notably those of Genesios, George the Monk, and Theophanes the Confessor), patristic writings (including works attributed to Patriarch Photius and Gregory of Nicaea), and illustrated psalters (the Chludov and Pantokrator Psalters). The article seeks to address a significant gap in current scholarship on Jewish-Christian relations in ninth-century ByzantiumKeywords:
Byzantium, Jews, Christianity, Judaism, Christian-Jewish relations, identity, othering, discourseReferences
Ahima’az ben Paltiel, Sefer Yuhasin, tr. R. Bonfil, in: R. Bonfil, History and Folklore in a Medieval Jewish Chronicle: The Family Chronicle of Ahima’az ben Paltiel, Leiden 2009, p. 223-355.
Al-Balādhurī, Kitāb Futūḥ al-Buldān, in: History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest of the Lands. A New Translation of al-Baladhuri’s Futuh al-Buldan, tr. H. Kennedy, London 2022.
Al-Balādhurī, Liber expugnationis regionum, ed. M.J. de Goeje, Lugdunum Batavorum 1866.
Anastasius Sinaita, Adversus Judaeos disputatio, PG 89, 1203-1272.
Chronographiae Quae Theophanis Continuati Nomine Fertur Libri I-IV, ed. J.M. Featherstone – J. Signes-Codoñer, CFHB 53, Boston – Berlin 2015.
Chronographiae Quae Theophanis Continuati Nomine Fertur Liber quo Vita Basilii Imperatoris amplectitur, ed. I. Ševčenko, CFHB 42, Berlin – Boston 2011.
Codex Justinianus, in: The Codex of Justinian: A New Annotated Translation with Parallel Latin and Greek Text, ed. B. Frier, Cambridge 2016.
Constantinus Manasses, Compendium Chronicum, PG 127, 219-472.
Ékthesis akribestéra perí tou pōs deî déchesthai tòn ex Hebraíōn têi tôn Christianôn pístei proserchómenon, ed. V. Beneshevich, in: Evreiskaia mysl, Leningrad 1926, p. 305-318.
Epistola trium Patriarcharum ad Theophilum Imperatorem, in: The Letter of the Three Patriarchs to Emperor Theophilos and Related Texts, ed. J.A. Munitiz – J. Chrysostomides – E. Harvalia-Crook – C. Dendrinos, Camberley 1997.
Eusebius Caesariensis, De vita Constantini, in: Eusebius Werke: Über das Leben des Kaisers Konstantin, ed. F. Winkelmann, v. 1, Berlin 2008.
Eutychius Patriarcha Alexandrinus, Annales, ed. L. Cheikho, CSCO 50, Louvain 1954.
Georgius Cedrenus, Compendium Historiarum, PG 121, 23-1166.
Georgius Cedrenus, Synopsis Historion, in: Georgius Cedrenus [et] Ioannis Scylitzae ope, v. 1, ed. I. Bekker, Bonnae 1838.
Georgius Monachus, Chronographia, in: Georgii monachi chronicon, v. 2, ed. C. de Boor, Lipsiae 1904.
Gregorios Asbestas, Sermo distinguens quod non oportet cito manum baptismalem imponere Hebraeis, nisi quis prius hos accurate probaverit, tr. G. Dagron, in: Juifs et
Chrétiens en Orient Byzantin, ed. G. Dagron – V. Déroche, Paris 2010, p. 313-339.
Historiæ Byzantinæ Scriptores Post Theophanem, PG 109, 19-500.
Ioannes Ephesinus, Historia Ecclesiastica, in: Die Kirchengeschichte des Johannes von Ephesus: aus dem Syrischen übersetzt, mit einer Abhandlung über die Tritheïten, ed. J. Schönfelder, München 1862.
Ioannes Nikiuensis, Chronographia, in: Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu, tr. R.H. Charles, London – Oxford 1916.
Ioannes Skylitzes, Synopsis Historiarum, ed. H. Thurn, Berlin – New York 1973.
Ioannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum, v. 3-4, ed. L. Dindorfius, Lipsiae 1870-1871.
Isaacus Antiochenus, Contra Iudaeos, in: S. Kazan, Isaac of Antioch’s Homily against the Jews, “Oriens Christianus” 45 (1961) p. 30-53; 46 (1962) p. 87-98; 47 (1963) p. 89-97; 49 (1965) p. 57-78.
Joannes Chrysostomus, Contra Judaeos et Gentiles quod Christus sit Deus, PG 48, 813-838.
Josephus Genesius, Historia de Rebus Constantinopolitanis, PG 109, 985-1156.
Leo Grammaticus, Chronographia, ed. I. Bekkeri, Bonnae 1842.
Librorum LX Basilicorum summarium. Libros 1º-12º, ed. C. Ferrini – G. Mercati, Romae 1914.
Librorum LX Basilicorum summarium. Libros 49º-60º, ed. S. Hoermann – N. de Stepski-Doliwa – E. Seidl, Citta del Vaticano 1957.
Methodius I Constantinoopolitanus, Epistula de sacerdotibus qui defecerun, in: J. Darrouzès, Le patriarche Méthode contre les Iconoclastes et les Stoudites, “Revue des études byzantines” 45 (1987) p. 54.
Michael Glycas, Annales ab initio mundi usque ad obitum Alexii Comneni, in: Michaelis Glycae opera omnia, Parisiis 1866.
Michael Synkellos, Encomium Beati Dionysii Areopagitae, PG 4, 617-668.
Photius I Constantinoopolitanus, Epistulae et Amphilochia, v. 5, ed. L.G. Westerink, Leipzig 1986.
Photius I Constantinoopolitanus, Homiliae, in: The Homilies of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, ed. C. Mango, Cambridge 1958, p. 38-315.
Sergius Stylita, Disputatio contra Iudaeum, in: The disputation of Sergius the Stylite against a Jew, tr. A. Hayman, CSCO 339, Louvain 1973, p. 1-83.
Socrates Scholasticus, Historia Ecclesiastica, PG 67, 1-842.
Symeon Magister et Logotheta, Chronicon, ed. S. Wahlgren, Berlin 2006.
Theodosius Monachus, Epistola ad Leonem Archidiaconum de Syracusanae urbis expugnatione, in: Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, v. 1/2, ed. L. Muratori, Mediolani 1725, p. 257-265.
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, in: The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, tr. C. Mango – R. Scott, Oxford 1997.
Vita Constantini-Cyrilli, in: F. Dvornik, Les légendes de Constantin et de Méthode vues de Byzance, Praha 1933, p. 349-380.
Anderson J.C., Further Prolegomena to a Study of the Pantokrator Psalter: An Unpublished Miniature, Some Restored Losses, and Observations on the Relationship with the Chludov Psalter and Paris Fragment, “Dumbarton Oaks Papers” 52 (1998) p. 305-321.
Baron S., A Social and Religious History of the Jews: High middle ages, 500-1200. Heirs of Rome and Persia, v. 3, New York 1957.
Beneshevich V., K istorii evreev v Vizantii VI-X vekov, in: Evreiskaia mysl, Leningrad 1926, p. 197-224.
Boustan R., Immolating Emperors: Spectacles imperial Suffering and the Making of a Jewish Minority Culture in Late Antiquity, in: Violence, Scripture, and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity, ed. C. Roetzel – A. Jassen – R. Abusch, Leiden 2010, p. 204-234.
Bowman S., Jewish Responses to Byzantine Polemics from the Ninth through the Eleventh Centuries, “Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies” 28/3 (2010) p. 103-115.
Brown T., Byzantine Italy (680-876), in: The Cambridge History of The Byzantine Empire, c. 500-1492, ed. J. Shepard, Cambridge 2008, p. 433-464.
Brubaker L., The Bristol Psalter, in: Through a Glass Brightly: Studies in Byzantine and Medieval Art and Archaeology Presented to David Buckton, ed. C. Entwistle, Oxford – Philadelphia 2003, p. 127-141.
Brubaker L., Vision and Meaning in Ninth-Century Byzantium: Image as Exegesis in the Homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus, New York 2008.
Chrysostomides J., An Investigation Concerning the Authenticity of the Letter of the Three Patriarchs, in: The Letter of the Three Patriarchs to Emperor Theophilos and Related Texts, ed. J.A. Munitiz – J. Chrysostomides – E. Harvalia-Crook – C. Dendrinos, Camberley 1997, p. XVII- XXXVIII.
Ciccolella F., Basil and the Jews: two Poems of the ninth century, “Medioevo greco. Rivista di storia e filologia bizantina” 0 (2000) p. 69-94.
Clinard M.B. – Meier R.F., Sociology of Deviant Behavior, Wadsworth 2011.
Colonna M.E., Gli storici bizantini dal IV al XV secolo: Storici profani, Naples 1956.
Cormack R., Art and Iconoclasm, in: The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, ed. E. Jeffreys – J. Haldon – R. Cormack, Oxford 2008, p. 750-757.
Corrigan K., Visual Polemics in the Ninth-Century Byzantine Psalters: Iconophile Imagery in Three Ninth-Century Byzantine Psalters, Cambridge 1992.
Crawford F.M., Southern Italy and Sicily and the rulers of the South, New York 1905.
Crone P., Islam, Judeo-Christianity and Byzantine Iconoclasm, in: From Kavād to Al-Ghazālī: Religion, Law, and Political Thought in the Near East, C.600-c.1100, Aldershot 2005, p. 59-96.
Cumont F., Une formule grecque de renonciation au judaïsme, “Wiener Studien” 24 (1902) p. 462-472.
Cutler A., Liturgical Strata in the Marginal Psalters, “Dumbarton Oaks Papers” 34/35 (1980/1981) p. 17-30.
Cutler A.H. – Cutler H.E., The Jew as ally of the Muslim: Medieval Roots of Anti-Semitism, Notre Dame 1986.
Dagron G., Judaïser, in: Juifs et Chrétiens En Orient Byzantin, ed. G. Dagron – V. Déroche, Paris 2010, p. 359-380.
Dagron G., Commentaire, in: Juifs et Chrétiens En Orient Byzantin, ed. G. Dagron – V. Déroche, Paris 2010, p. 340-357.
Darrouzès J., Le patriarche Méthode contre les Iconoclastes et les Stoudites, “Revue des études byzantines” 45 (1987) p. 15-57.
De Lange N. – Panayotov A. – Rees G., Mapping the Jewish Communities of the Byzantine Empire, 2013, in: www.byzantinejewry.net (accessed: 11.10.2024).
De Stoop É. – Gailliard E., Het Antisemitisme te Byzantium onder Basilius den Macedoniër, in: Verslagen en mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Taal en Letterkunde, ed. E. Gailliard, Gent 1913, p. 449-472.
Déroche V., Les contacts entre Juifs et Chrétiens à Byzance (Ve-XIIe Siècle), in: Passages. Déplacements des hommes, circulation des textes et identités dans l’Occident médiéval, ed. J. Ducos – P. Henriet, Toulouse 2013, p. 233-243.
Dhimmі, in: The Oxford Dictionory of Islam, ed. J.L. Esposito, New York 2003, p. 68.
Dmitrievskij A., Bogosluzhenie v russkoi tserkvi v XVI veke: istoriko-arkheologicheskoe issledovanie, Kazan 1884.
Domínguez Ó.P., The Mass Conversion of Jews Decreed by Emperor Basil I in 873: Its Reflection in Contemporary Legal Codes and its Underlying Reasons, in: Jews in Early Christian Law. Byzantium and the Latin West, 6th-11th Centuries, ed. J. Tolan – N. De Lange – L. Foschia – C. Nemo-Pekelman, Turnhout 2014, p. 283-310.
Dufrenne S., L’Illustration des Psautiers Grecs du Moyen Âge (Pantokrator 61, Paris grec. 20, British Museum 40731), Paris 1966.
Dvornik F., The Patriarch Photius and Iconoclasm, “Dumbarton Oaks Papers” 7 (1953) p. 68-97.
Dvornik F., The Photian Schism: History and Legend, Cambridge 1970.
Evangelatou M., The Illustration of the Ninth-Century Byzantine Marginal Psalters: layers of meaning and their sources, University of London 2002 (Thesis, submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Courtauld Institute of Art).
Evangelatou M., Liturgy and the Illustration of the Ninth-Century Marginal Psalters, “Dumbarton Oaks Papers” 63 (2009) p. 59-116.
Fanar E.M., Silenus Among the Jews? Anti-Jewish Polemics in Ninth-Century Byzantine Marginal Psalters, in: Between Judaism and Christianity: Art Historical Essays in Honor of Elisheva (Elisabeth) Revel-Neher, ed. K. Kogman-Appel – M. Meyer, Leiden 2008, p. 259-278.
Fanar E.M., Visiting Hades: a transformation on the ancient god in the ninth-century Byzantine psalters, “Byzantinische Zeitschrift” 99/1 (2006) p. 93-108.
Fishman-Duker R., Images of Jews in Byzantine Chronicles: A General Survey, in: Jews in Byzantium: Dialectics of Minority and Majority Cultures, ed. G. Stroumsa – R. Bonfil – R. Talgam – O. Irshai, Leiden 2012, p. 777-798.
Gallavotti C., Note su testi e scrittori di codici greci (VII-XII), “Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici” 24 (1987) p. 29-83.
Gardette P., The Judaizing Christians Of Byzantium: An Objectionable Form Of Spirituality, in: Jews in Byzantium: Dialectics of Minority and Majority Cultures, ed. G. Stroumsa – R. Bonfil – R. Talgam – O. Irshai, Leiden 2012, p. 587-611.
Grabar A., L’iconoclasme Byzantin. Le Dossier Archéologique, Paris 2011.
Graf F., Roman Festivals in the Greek East: From the Early Empire to the Middle Byzantine Era, Cambridge 2015.
Gregorios Asbestas (no. 2480), in: Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit (641-867): Erste Abteilung, v. 2, ed. R.J. Lilie – C. Ludwig – T. Pratsch – B. Zielke, Berlin 2000, p. 189-190.
Ivison E.A., Amorium in the Byzantine Dark Ages (seventh to ninth centuries), in: Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium, v. 2, ed. J. Henning, Berlin 2007, p. 25-60.
Jacoby D., Les juifs de Byzance, une communauté marginalisée, in: D. Jacoby, Byzantium, Latin Romania and the Mediterranean, Aldershote 2001, p. 103-154.
Kambylis A., Prolegomena, in: Chronographiae Quae Theophanis Continuati Nomine Fertur Libri I-IV, ed. J.M. Featherstone – J. Signes-Codoñer, CFHB 53, Boston – Berlin 2015, p. 3*-36*.
Karakólis C., Hoi peri Ioudaíon apopseis tou hierou Photiou, “Theología” 91/2 (2020) p. 7-30.
Kashchuk O. – Melnykovych R., Chrystianizacja Żydów bizantyńskich w drugiej połowie IX wieku: sprzeciw i aprobata, “Vox Patrum” 91 (2024) p. 265-286.
Kazhdan A., George the Monk: a commonplace Chronicle, in: A History of Byzantine Literature, 850-1000, ed. C. Angelidi, Athens 2006, p. 43-52.
Kondakov N., Miniatyury hrecheskoi rukopysi psaltyry IX veka iz sobraniya A. I. Khludova, Moskva 1878.
Kōnstantínos R., Laikés latreíes tēs Thrákēs, in: Archeíon tou Thrakikoú Laografikoú kai Glōssikoú Thēsauroú, v. 11, Athína 1944, p. 1-130.
Krauss S., Studien zur Byzantinisch-Jüdischen Geschichte, Leipzig 1914.
Krueger D., Liturgical subjects: Christian ritual, biblical narrative, and the formation of the self in Byzantium, Philadelphia 2014.
Krumbacher K., Geschichte der byzantinischen litteratur von Justinian bis zum ende des Oströmischen reiches (527-1453), München 1897.
Maccoby H., Judas Iscariot and the Myth of Jewish Evil, London 1992.
Mango C., Note on Homily no. 8, in: The Homilies of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, ed. C. Mango, Cambridge 1958, p. 152.
Mango C., The Liquidation of Iconoclasm and the Patriarch Photios in Iconoclasm, in: Iconoclasm: papers given at the ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham, March 1975, ed. A. Bryer – J. Herrin, Birmingham 1977, p. 133-140.
Markopoulos A., Education, in: The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, ed. E. Jeffreys – J. Haldon – R. Cormack, Oxford 2008, p. 785-795.
Melnykovych R., Rehionalni osoblyvosti khrystyianizatsii vizantiiskykh yudeiv u 873/4-886 rr., “Etnichna istoriia narodiv Yevropy” 74 (2024) p. 45-54.
Melnykovych R., The Policy of Christianization of Jews in Byzantium in the Second Half of the 9th Century, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv 2026 (PhD diss.).
Melnykovych R., Yevrei u vizantiiskii ekonomitsi w IX st., in: Zbirnyk materialiv naukovoi konferentsii studentiv, aspirantiv ta molodykh doslidnykiv “Osin serednovichchia” (6-7 lystopada 2024 r.), ed. S. Kozlovskyi – V. Lahodych, Lviv 2024, p. 111-117.
Melnykovych R., Yevreiska pertseptsiia polityky prymusovoi khrystyianizatsii u Vizantii (druha polovyna ІХ st.), “Naukovi zoshyty istorychnoho fakultetu” 25 (2024) p. 215-234.
Metcalfe A., The Muslims of Medieval Italy, Edinburgh 2009.
Münz-Manor O., Carnivalesque Ambivalence and the Christian Other in Jewish Poems from Byzantine Palestine, in: Jews in Byzantium: Dialectics of Minority and Majority Cultures, ed. G. Stroumsa – R. Bonfil – R. Talgam – O. Irshai, Leiden 2012, p. 829-843.
Paribeni A., L’immagine dell’eretico nell’arte mediobizantina, “Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici” 47 (2010) p. 97-117.
Politis N., Laografikē epitheōrēsis tōn periodikōn dēmosieumatōn, in: ‘Laografia’, Deltíon tēs Ellēnikēs Laografikēs Etaireias, v. 1, Athēnais 1909.
Pouchner W., Feldforschungsnotiz zum Judasbrenuen, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Volkskunde, v. 80, ed. K. Beitl – L. Schmidt, Wien 1977, p. 229-231.
Pouchner W., I Parastatiki Diki kai Katadiki tou Pseudomessia Sabbatai Zwi kata to Karnavali tou 1666 sti Zakyntho. Theatro kai Dikastirio ston Paradosiako Laiko Politismo tis Venetokratias kai Tourkokratias stin Ellada, in: Thesaurismata: tou Ellinikou Institoutou Vyzantinon kai Metavyzantinon Spoudon, v. 36, Venetia 2006.
Puchner W., Parastatika fainomena tou ellēnikou laikou politikou sta valkanika kai ta evropaika tous symphrazomena, “Neograeca Bohemica” 16 (2016) p. 31-48.
Putmann H., L’Eglise et L’Islam sous Timothée I (780-823): étude sur l’église nestorienne au temps des premiers ʻAbbāsides: avec nouvelle édition et traduction du Dialogue entre Timothée et al-Mahdi, Beyrouth 1975.
Ševčenko I., The Anti-Iconoclastic Poem in the ‘Pantocrator’ Psalter, “Cahiers Archéologiques. Fin de l’antiquité et Moyen Âge” 15 (1965) p. 39-60.
Schenk K., Kaiser Leons III Walten im Innern, “Byzantinische Zeitschift” 5 (1896) p. 257-301.
Schreckenberg H., Die christlichen Adversus-Judaeos-Texte und ihr literarisches und historisches Umfeld (1.-11. Jh.), Frankfurt am Main 1999.
Sharf A., Byzantine Jewry: from Justinian to the Fourth Crusade, London 1971.
Shchepkina M., Miniatyury Khludovskoi Psaltyry: hrecheskyi illustrorovanyi kodeks IX veka, Moskva 1977.
Simonsohn S., The Jews in Sicily: 383-1300, Leiden 2011.
Sirry M., The Public Role of Dhimmīs during Abbāsid Times, “Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies” 74 (2011) p. 187-204.
Starr J., The Jews in the Byzantine Empire, 641-1204, New York 1970.
The Homilies of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, tr. C. Mango, Cambridge 1958.
The Jews in the Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages, ed. A. Linder, Detroit 1997.
The World History of the Jewish People: The Dark Ages. Jews in Christian Europe 711-1096, v. 2, ed. C. Roth, New Brunswick 1966.
Thornton T., The Crucifixion of Haman and the Scandal of the Cross, “The Journal of Theological Studies” 37 (1986) p. 419-426.
Revel-Neher E., The Image of the Jew in Byzantine Art, New York 1992.
Wilken R.L., John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late 4th Century, Eugene 2004.
Wolińska T., Sycylia w polityce Cesarstwa Bizantyńskiego w VI-IX wieku, Łódź 2005.
Zanemonets A., ‘Otkazyvajus’ ot vsjakogo evrejskogo obychaja…’: k istorii odnoy vizantijskoy formuly, “Vestnik Evrejskogo Universiteta” 9/27 (2004) p. 313-330.
Ukrainian Catholic University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6302-1851
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.
