ABSTRACT
By the ninth century, two distinct self-aware religious traditions already existed in the two parts of the Mediterranean. These could have evolved separately, and their religious divergences might not have become the subject of extreme conflict and polarization. However, these differences became embroiled in the intercivilizational encounters between the rising Latin West (what was construed as Western European “Christendom”) and the Eastern Roman Empire, which viewed itself as a universal Christian empire or an ecumene. After the turn of the first millennium, historical encounters between Christianity’s two branches were instrumental in highlighting their distinctiveness and constructing negative images of each other. Their legacy is felt to this day. 1 This chapter analyzes these events—from the First Crusade until the end of the Eastern Roman Empire—and focuses on their consequences: the 14th-century crystallization of Orthodox Christianity and the formation of an “Orthodox commonwealth.”
