JUSTINIAN.
A.D. 527-565.
It would be wearisome to follow very particularly the history of the
Church in the East for the next century and a half after the Council of
Chalcedon (A.D. 451).
The most important reign during this time was that of the Emperor
Justinian, which lasted eight-and-thirty years, from 527 to 565. Under
him the Vandals were conquered in Africa, and the Goths in Italy. Both
these countries became once more parts of the empire, and Arianism was
put down in both.
Justinian also, in the year 529, put an end to the old heathen
philosophy, by ordering that the schools of Athens, in which St. Basil,
St. Gregory of Nazianzum, and the emperor Julian had studied together
two hundred years before,[49] should be shut up. The philosophers, who
had continued to teach their heathen notions there (although they had
been obliged to treat the religion of the empire with outward respect),
were in great distress at finding their trade taken away from them. They
thought it unsafe to remain in Justinian's dominions, and made their way
into Persia, where the king was a heathen, and was said to be a friend
of learned men. The king received them kindly; but the Persian
heathenism was very different from their own, and the ways of the
country were altogether strange to them; so that they felt themselves
very uncomfortable in Persia, and became so home-sick as to be willing
to risk even their lives for the sake of getting back to their own
country. Happily for them, the Persian king was able to intercede for
them in making a peace with Justinian; and it was agreed that they might
live within the empire as they liked, without being troubled by the
laws, if they would only remain quiet, and not try to draw Christian
youths away from the faith. The philosophers were too glad to return on
such terms. I wish I could tell that they became Christians themselves:
but all that is said of them is, that when they died, there were no more
of the kind, and that heathen philosophy no longer stood in the way of
the Gospel.
[49] See page 68.
Justinian spent vast sums of money on buildings, especially on churches;
but it is said that much of what he spent in this way had been got by
oppressive taxes and by other bad means, so that we cannot think much
the better of him for it. The grandest of all his buildings was the
cathedral of Constantinople. The church had been founded by Constantine
the Great, but was once burnt down after the banishment of St.
Chrysostom, and a second time in this reign. Justinian rebuilt it at a
vast expense, and, as he cast his eyes around it on the day of the
consecration, after expressing his thankfulness to God for having been
allowed to accomplish so great a work, he gave vent to the pride of his
heart in the words: "I have beaten thee, O Solomon!" The cathedral was
afterwards partly destroyed by an earthquake, but Justinian again
restored it, and caused it to be once more consecrated, about two years
before his death. We learn from one of his laws that this church had
sixty priests, a hundred deacons, forty deaconesses, ninety subdeacons,
a hundred and ten readers, five-and-twenty singers, and a hundred
doorkeepers. And (which we should perhaps not have expected to hear) the
law was made for the purpose of preventing the number of clergy
connected with the cathedral from increasing beyond this, lest it should
not have wealth enough to maintain a greater number! This great building
is still standing (although it is now in the hands of the Mahometan
Turks); and it is regarded as one of the wonders of the world. It was
dedicated to the Eternal Wisdom, and is now commonly known by the name
of St. Sophia (_sophia_ being the Greek word for _wisdom_).