Byzantium

The question about relations between Church and State in Byzantium is not just one of
the most important topics in the study of Byzantine history, but also topic that even in our time
must be studied carefully. Church and State in the Byzantine Empire were extremely close
(hence the emblem of the Byzantine double-headed eagle whose two heads symbolizes the two
spheres of social reality, the Church and the State). Such relationship between Church and State
in Byzantine was as a result of in heritage from the Roman Empire, in which emperor already
had a very important role. In Roman religion emperor was military leader, judge, and most
importantly, the high priest. (Pontifex Maximus)

Emperor Constantine, who brought freedom to Christianity within the Roman state, was
founder of a new city on the Bosporus, which is named after him- Constantinople. He conveyed
the lifestyle of Rome in the Bosporus. Byzantines felt like the Romans, and they were called
themselves Romans but in terms of the mentality they were Greeks. Regarding their relationship
to the church, and their religion was Orthodox Christianity, the fact is, until the VI and VII
century AD, the emperor presided over church councils. How much were linked Church and
State in Byzantium we can see in two terms that are used to describe the fundamental situation.
The first was Caesaropapism, which indicated that the Caesar (emperor) still has a slight
advantage over the Ecumenical Patriarch, i.e. the most important religious leader in Byzantium,
and the other is Papocaesarism, which are used if they wanted to emphasize that the patriarch,
i.e. Church has a slight advantage in making some important social decisions.

Expression Caesaropapism originated in the West. It was an idea originated between

important Byzantine theologians in order to start the process of separation of Church and State,
but it was mainly in instances where the emperors took over power in the church, such as during
the reign of Justinian. About connectivity of emperor and Orthodox Christianity or the Church
and State tells us Orthodox services. The central office of Orthodox Christianity is the Liturgy
during which Byzantine emperor had the highest honors. In every church in the whole empire,
believers were praying for the emperor because he truly was the emperor and high priest in
beliefs of the Orthodox Church. Emperor has had a special place in the church where he was
sitting. Ceremonial robes of high religious dignitaries were reminiscent of the vestments of the
emperor.

Islam

In order to speak about Islam during the Caliphate we must say a few words about the epoch and
the conditions in which Islam emerged and in which Muhammad appeared as a preacher of the
new religion. The greater part of Arabia represented the waterless steppes inhabited by Bedouins,
who were mostly nomads and moved from pasture to pasture in search of fertile land where they
could feed their animals. Camels were the most valuable animals; in addition they fostered goats
and sheep. When they used fertile soil in the southern part of the peninsula they shifted to the
north. North quickly came to overpopulation due to competition for fertile land and quickly
economic problem become a social one. The only solution in such circumstances was organized
action and attempts to penetrate the Byzantine and Iranian territory.
 Those were the circumstances from which rose Islam. It was founded by Muhammad.
Muhammad was very skillful and intelligent; he appropriated existing and established mode of
action from known religion. So he took some beliefs of Christianity but also from local
polytheistic beliefs. He created Islam in a way that it is really a political religion because there
were no other social spheres other than religious. He united the Arab tribes in the Islamic faith
and called it a community of believers.

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, in his place came - caliphs, literal translation
would be heirs. During the Caliphate, Islam is experiencing a large expansion. In the beginning,
Islam is not religion that resembled some subsequent time. The population on the fringes of the
Byzantine Empire was gathered by territorial affiliation, their goal was to conquer territory by
the Byzantine Empire and to solve the economic question. So not necessarily require forceful
conversion. During the caliphate there were four great caliphs Abu - Bakr, Umar, Uthman and
Ali. Uthman and Ali were killed in assassinations, and the head of state came to the governor of
Syria, Mu'awiya. After that comes a disagreement between Mu'awiya and Ali’s son, Hussein.
That caused the largest division among Muslims into Shiites and Sunnis. The Shiites are those
who recognize Ali as Muhammad's successor. Mu'awiya was the founder of the Umayyad
dynasty during whose reign came the new conquests. Umayyad dynasty was not able to answer
properly to all question that have troubled administration due to the great expansion and that
situation made possible for their successors to raise Islamic religion and culture on a truly
significant level.