Justinian and the unity of faith and empire: the continual search for compromise

© 2004 Andrew StephensonThe Byzantine Emperor Justinian has been praised for his major building programme, his codification of the law and his reconquest of Africa and Italy, while at the same time being criticized for the protracted campaigns involved in the reconquest and for his continual meddling in Church affairs. But since the time of Constantine the unity of Church and State had been a major developing theme in the Roman Empire, particularly in the East. As well as being heir to this development, Justinian inherited a schism between the East and the Papacy in the West, as well as doctrinal division within the East itself. For over forty-five years Justinian strove to find a doctrinal solution that would satisfy the various factions and would bind the Empire together for its Christian security and salvation. His major achievement was to work continually towards this by focussing on the elucidation and clarification of doctrine through the unremitting application of his consummate skill. His failure to achieve lasting unity was not a fault of his but was due to the intransigence of the competing factions that he sought to unify