First, it separated itself from Holy Mother Church, leaving it in error. Then, it was conquered by Islam, “enemy of the Faith [that] sought to exterminate It from the face of the Earth. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Middle Ages
Newsdesk (30/12/2024 12:28, Gaudium Press) The Eastern Roman Empire, founded by Constantine in the 4th century, was also called Byzantine, and Constantinople was called Byzantium, where there were beautiful churches surmounted by the Basilica of St. Sophia.
A very wealthy city, the Byzantine court had become ‘famous for its luxury, splendour, complicated ceremonial and refined etiquette’[1].
However, Byzantium broke with the Church in 1054, denying the supremacy of the Pope and giving rise to the Eastern Schism. The Patriarch of Constantinople became the supreme head of the Church of the East, which came to be called the Orthodox Church. It was a servant of the state, whose head sold the episcopal sees.
The term ‘orthodox’ should not be applied to it, as it comes from the Greek and means ‘right opinion’, or true religion, a characteristic that only the Catholic Church possesses. In reality, the Church of the East is heterodox.
Turning away from the light of truth, Byzantine theologians became embroiled in frivolous discussions, thus giving rise to the term Byzantinism.
Several attempts were made to unite the ‘Orthodox’, also called Greeks, with the Catholic Church, but without result. In 1438, the Emperor of Byzantium John VIII, accompanied by the Patriarch of Constantinople and various ecclesiastical authorities, went to Ferrara – Northern Italy – to attend a council which aimed, among other things, to convert the Orthodox to the true Church.
The Emperor and the Patriarch signed a decree of union with the Roman Church. When they returned to Constantinople, a solemn ceremony was held in the Basilica of St. Sophia during which the document was read, but many clerics, religious, members of the nobility and the people rebelled against it.
Betrayal of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes
John VIII died in 1448 and was succeeded by his brother, Constantine XI. The Byzantine Empire had lost a large part of its territory and was practically reduced to the city of Constantinople.
And the Ottoman Turks, who were Mohammedans, increased their domains through invasions. They came from Turkestan, in Central Asia, and one of their first Sultans, or military leaders, was called Othman, who died in 1326.
His successor organized an army whose main members were called Janissaries, recruited from among Christian boys, stolen from their families and ‘educated in Muslim fanaticism. (…) The Janissaries formed an elite corps, to which the Ottoman sultans owed their main conquests.’[2]
Among the Catholics, there was a great Albanian hero, Scanderbeg, who won several battles against the Turks. But the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, Jean de Lastic, made an alliance with Sultan Murad II, betraying the Holy Church.
After he died during an orgy, his son Mohammed II succeeded him in 1451 and inaugurated the government by murdering his younger consanguineous brother.
Over the years, the Byzantine Empire lost several regions and was reduced to Constantinople, which had 200,000 inhabitants.
The Emperor’s head on top of a column
And Mohammed II built a huge fortress in front of it with the aim of storming the capital, whose inhabitants only cared about their comforts and didn’t want to fight.
At the beginning of April 1453, aided by a fleet of 120 ships, the Sultan gathered 100,000 men and surrounded it. His elite troops consisted of 20,000 Janissaries. Emperor Constantine XI had only 10,000 soldiers.
Realizing that the attack was imminent, the emperor went to the Basilica of St. Sophia, which was filled with people. He publicly confessed his sins, asked everyone for forgiveness and received the Eucharist. The people were sobbing and for a moment he was overcome with grief. Then he got on his horse and went to give the soldiers the final instructions for their defence.
On 29 May 1453, the Turks entered the city and one of their first victims was Constantine XI, who was standing by the main gate fighting vigorously. They cut off his head and took it to the Sultan.
Many people ran to the Basilica of St. Sophia for refuge and were beheaded there by the Turks. Mohammed sat on the table of the high altar, as if he were the god of the temple, and ordered the emperor’s head to be placed on a shaft and raised high on a column.
Then images, rare columns, religious ornaments, manuscripts and evangeliaries were destroyed. And the walls were whitewashed to cover the paintings depicting saints.
A crucifix was torn down and carried through the streets while blasphemies were shouted.
The Grand Duke and his sons murdered
The great figures were massacred, their wives taken to Mohammed’s harem and more than 50,000 Greeks sold into slavery.
The body of Constantine XI was found in a mountain of corpses, and was only recognized because the emperors of Byzantium wore red shoes. It is said that a man was quietly playing a musical instrument. The Turks killed him and broke the instrument.
Grand Duke Notaras, who belonged to one of the richest families in the empire and held the highest office, managed to escape the slaughter and presented himself to the Sultan, accompanied by his sons.
Seeing the youngest of them, aged fourteen and of beautiful appearance, Mohammed ordered his father to hand him over to commit horrendous sins of lust.
Outraged, the Grand Duke said he would rather die than consent to such an abomination. The Sultan ordered all his sons to be beheaded in front of him and then did the same to the father[3].
The Turks changed the name of Constantinople to Istanbul and turned the Basilica of St. Sophia into a mosque.
On this subject, Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira commented:
At that time, Islam represented the greatest danger to Christianity. ‘An enemy of the Faith, it sought to exterminate it from the face of the earth. At its service it had the wealth, the weapons and the power of one of the largest empires in history, which at that time was that of the Turks.
‘The struggle between the Muslims from the East and the Christians from the West was not just a clash between two peoples, but between two civilizations, more than that between two religions.”[4]
The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Age.
By Paulo Francisco Martos
from Noções de História da Igreja
[1] CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Reflexões para o final do ano. In Dr. Plinio. São Paulo. Ano XV, n. 177 (dezembro 2012), p.17.
[2] AIMOND, Charles. Le Moyen Âge. Paris: J. de Gigord. 1939, p. 326.
[3] Cf. ROHRBACHER, René-François. Histoire universelle de l’Église Catholique. Liège: J. G. Lardinois. 1847. v. 22, p. 71-90. DARRAS, Joseph Epiphane. Histoire Génerale de l’Église. Paris: Louis Vivès. 1883, v. 31, p. 421-437.
[4] CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Catolicismo e carolice: reflexões para a festa de São João de Capistrano. In Catolicismo. Campos dos Goitacazes. n. 15, março 1952.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
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