elievers in Mahomet held sway in the Asiatic and African
provinces which Alexander had once brought under the intellectual
influence of Hellenism; while the Lombards, the West Goths, the Franks
and the Anglo-Saxons had established kingdoms in Italy, Spain, Gaul and
Britain. The question is: what was the position of the Church in this
great change of circumstances, and what form did the Church's
development take from this time onwards? In answering this question we
must consider East and West separately; for their histories are no
longer coincident, as they had been in the time of the Roman dominion.

I. THE EAST. (a) _The Orthodox Church._--Ancient and medieval times were
not separated by so deep a gulf in the East as in the West; for in the
East the Empire continued to exist, although within narrow limits, until
towards the end of the middle ages. Constantinople only fell in 1453.
Ecclesiastical Byzantinism is therefore not a product of the middle
ages: it is the outcome of the development of the eastern half of the
empire from the time of Constantine the Great. Under Justinian I. all
its essential features were already formed: imperial power extended
equally over State and Church; indeed, care for the preservation of
dogma and for the purity of the priesthood was the chief duty of the
ruler. To fulfil this duty was to serve the interests of both State and
people; for thus "a fine harmony is established, and whatever good
exists becomes the portion of the whole human race." Since the emperor
ruled the Church there was no longer any question of independence for
the bishops, least of all for the patriarch in Constantinople; they were
in every respect subordinate to the emperor.

The _orthodoxy_ of the Eastern Church was also a result of the Church's
development after the time of Constantine. In the long strife over dogma
the old belief of the Greeks in the value of knowledge had made itself
felt, and this faith was not extinct in the Eastern Church. There is no
doubt that in the beginning of the middle ages both general and
theological education stood higher among the Greeks than in more western
countries. In the West there were no learned men who could vie with
Photius (ca. 820-891) in range of knowledge and variety of scientific
attainment. But the strife over dogma came to an end with the 7th
century. After the termination of the monothelite controversy (638-680),
creed and doctrines were complete; it was only necessa