The Political Practices

According to the BPP, the emperor was chosen and guided by the Logos of God. That is why he was considered the only source of order and stability in Byzantine society. The Byzantine Emperor was the source of law, both human and divine. His privileged position was expressed by the formula of the ‘‘animated law’’ (nomos empsychos). The law was personified in the institution of the emperor.

It was through him that God ensured direct control over the human law. On the one hand, this led BPP to interpretations on behalf of the thesis that he (like the Roman emperor) is above law, but on the other hand, it was taken to mean his prerogatives to make corrections in the otherwise inflexible law, with a view to greater humanity. The first stance put stress on the theocratic tendencies in the institution of the emperor. It was evoked to represent Christ in the political as well as in the mystical life of the Byzantines. According to their proximity to the sacred person of the emperor, there was a hierarchical order of ranks and all of them were subjected to the custom of prostration. The Byzantine court was famous for its ceremonies, aimed at the mystical glorification of the emperor. The emperor also represented Christ at many church celebrations and customs such as to invite 12 guests to a meal on Christmas Day and to wash the feet of 12 poor men from the street. He was considered the upholder of the church law and order. Without his signature, the decrees of church councils were not valid. Being the defender of the church and the canons, the emperor regulated the hierarchy of the Church and defended the decrees of the councils. Yet the sacred position of the emperor did not endow him with an absolute power over the Church and the society. The theological distinction of grace and nature reflected on the distinction the Byzantines made between the institution of the emperor and the emperor as a person. The divine origin of the institution remained unquestioned, while the emperor himself had to meet some moral and political requirements to be elected for this position. The legal right of mutiny against the emperor (admitted in western political thought much later in thirteenth to fourteenth century), the practice of dethroning an emperor, excommunication, and even of anathemizing the emperor by the patriarch served as a warranty against the claims of the person on the throne to interpret the prerogatives of his institution, given by the grace of God, in terms of natural law. That is why there was a kind of a social contract in Byzantine society as well as implicit harmony and cooperation between emperor and patriarch, between state and church.