The aim of the course is to analyze the development of Christianity in the Byzantine Empire, its integration into the political process of the state and the relations between its institutions in the historical process. Students will gain the ability to evaluate the interaction of Orthodox Christianity in the Byzantine Empire with the political structure, the balance of power between the imperial ideology and the church, the function of the Patriarchate and the role of religion in the production of legitimacy. In addition, the place of Byzantine religion-state relations in modern historiography will be discussed within the framework of disputes, collaborations and christological debates between secular and ecclesiastical authorities.

Christianity, which was born in Palestine, was first seen as a new sect of Judaism and did not attract the attention of Byzantium. However, the events that took place in the region as a result of the repressive policy of the Jews against this new religion revealed the fact that it soon emerged as a new religion. The pagan Byzantine, who had a pagan belief in that time, started a major prosecution against Christianity, and this continued until the time of Emperor Constantine. Christianity, which gained freedom in the state with the time of Constantine, had become the official religion of the state during the Great Theodosius period and became one of the main elements of the character of the Byzantine Empire. However, the theological and cristological arguments in the Christian religion created a great depression in the Byzantine Empire, and thus created separate sects and thoughts. Christianity, which transformed its early integrative character into a disintegrating feature over time, has been the architect of the depressions of Byzantium from time to time, and has played an important role in the overthrow of the political invasion of the Empire from time to time. Christianity gained popularity due to the military power of the Byzantine Empire and spread to a wide geography.