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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jews in Greece 03: Byzantine conversion decrees

Different laws under different Byzantine Emperors - conversion decrees for "imperial unity" - emigration movement to Khazaria - crusade 1096 - messianic movement in Palestine

from: Greece; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 7

presented by Michael Palomino (2008)

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<EARLY AND MIDDLE BYZANTINE PERIODS (330-1204)

[Stability and Heraclian dynasty - threats]

Byzantium's secular institutions, with the emperor at their head, gave her long periods of stability, while in the West the Church added to the feudal disorder. These characteristics had their bases in the seventh-century Heraclian dynasty, which brought agrarian reform and a reorganization of the provinces, producing an army from small landowners and controlling the capital of the empire.

The Heraclians were not only able to preserve their domains after Syria, Palestine, and Egypt had fallen and Constantinople had been besieged, but were also able to maintain their own authority against incursions from the outside. The (col. 870)

struggle against Islam and the internal and external threats to imperial sovereignty were the dangers which faced Byzantium up to the First Crusade. Her successes in these realms shaped her external and internal policy.

The emperor received and held the secular and ecclesiastical support of the people, enough so that this did not become a problem to the underlying unity of the empire. Religious conflicts which existed were largely resolved by the emperor, a believing Christian, who decided for the Church who was a heretic and who was not.

A far greater threat arose in the tenth century, when the Macedonian emperors had to fight against the attempts to destroy the foundations of Byzantine economic and military security through the acquisition of great estates, i.e., the liquidation of the smallholdings and the control of the soldiers settled upon them.

[11th century: new order of the Byzantine Empire - attacks from outside]

Although the emperors were successful for a time, the end of the old order came in about the middle of the 11th century. Great landowners, partially independent from the emperor's influence, caused radical changes in the structure of Byzantine society. Additionally, the Normans in the western parts of the empire, the *Seljuks and Anatolia, and finally the Normans again - this time as Crusaders - succeeded in shattering the empire.

Byzantine Jewry in the seventh century is assumed to have continued in the status it held during the Roman period, as urban life was preserved and with it the main centers of Jewish population. Greece suffered greatly from Slavic incursions but the towns were hardly affected. *Salonika's Jewish history was unbroken and there were Jews in Rhodes and Cyprus.

[Jews under the Byzantine emperors: Constantine, Theodosius II, Justinian I, Leo III]

The Middle Ages, for the Jew at least, begin with the advent to power of Constantine the Great (306-337). He was the first Roman emperor to issue laws which dramatically limited the rights of Jews as citizens of the Roman Empire, which were conferred upon them by Caracalla in 212. With the growth of Christianity the Roman emperors were influenced to further restrict the rights of the Jews. Constantine denied the Jews the right of proselytizing and prohibited intermarriage and Jewish possession of slaves. The legal status of the Jews was established by Christian Rome in the fifth century, when Theodosius II (408-450) introduced specific regulations into his codification of the laws, in his Codex Theodosianus (438). The Jewish community was recognized legally, even though not in a friendly manner, and religious worship was protected.

In the sixth century although more hostile and interfering, Justinian I (527-565) left the basic situation unaltered. It remained so in the seventh century also. Leo III (717-741), in the next imperial compilation of laws, the Ecloga ("Selections", 740), made no reference to the Jews. this preservation of legal status was very important to the Jewish community, as the Christian heretic had no legal status at all. Formal protection of the law minimally meant that the Jew had a place in the social structure.

Forced Conversion.

[Forced conversion for "imperial unity" under Heraclius - Jews feeling with Persian military successes - Christian heretics]

In 632 Heraclius ordered the conversion of all Byzantine Jewry. This was a major point in his program of strengthening imperial unity, as he looked on the Jews as a political threat. Feeling that the Jews had shared in Persian military successes, he wanted to minimize their independence and influence within the empire. This policy of forced conversion was extended to Christian heretics but never took root for the Jews, who continued to be active in the civic life of the empire.

[721-740: Leo III: baptize decree for "imperial unity" - 787: new tolerance after the Council of Nicaea]

In 721 Leo III issued a decree, which later proved to be ineffectual, ordering all Jews to be baptized. In leading a new dynasty to power he, like Heraclius, wished to insure imperial unity and also may have suspected a lack of Jewish loyalty.

The messianic movements to the East, having (col. 871)

aroused fears in Leo's mind, had attracted Jewish support and may have caused the order to forcibly convert the Jews of the empire. In spite of these state actions Jewish prosperity still had room for existence in the empire and the results of the decree were as limited as they were in 632, even though some Jews left the empire and some converted outwardly. The termination of this decree seems to have been by 740.

The second Council of Nicaea in 787 reversed Leo's policy and criticized his handling of the Jews, proclaiming that Jews had to live openly according to their religion. According to Gregorios Asbestas, then metropolitan of Nicaea, the Jews who actually accepted Leo's inducements to convert were numerous enough to arouse this religious statement.

Generally, these actions by Heraclius and Leo had little, if any, effect on the Jews of the empire.

[874: Basil I: conversion decree for "imperial unity"]

Basil I (867-886), like his predecessors, also made an effort to convert the Jews forcibly, possibly to increase imperial unity but more probably to show his hand as a knowledgeable ruler in religious matters. Failing, where earlier Christians had, to persuade the Jews to convert, he issued a decree of forced conversion about 874. Like the Byzantine rulers before him, he failed in his efforts. The legal code of the period, the Basilica, made no basic changes in what Justinian had to say about the Jews, i.e., their legal status in religious and communal affairs continued to be recognized, and in some sense protected.

Leo VI (886-912) apparently tried to follow in his father's policies but quickly gave it up.

[920-944: Romanus I Lecapenus: forced conversions and persecution of the Jews - emigration movement to Khazaria]

Under Romanus I Lecapenus (920-944), who ruled in Constantine VII's (913-959) stead, further forced conversions, as well as persecutions, of the Jews were effected. This possibly happened by 932 and definitely by 943. His policy is known to have caused considerable migration to Khazaria [[today's Ukraine territory]]. These acts may have been caused by Romanus' insecurity on the throne, as Constantine was the legitimate ruler and the former looker for ways to insure his position. In any event the persecutions were particularly severe, surpassing those of his predecessors. They were stopped quite suddenly when *Hisdai ibn Shaprut wrote to either Constantine or Helena, Romanus' daughter and the former's wife.

[No big political anti-Jewish movement since 950 - anti-Jewish decrees without effect]

The last 250 years before the Fourth Crusade seem to have been a relatively quiet period for the Jews of the empire and it can be inferred that the situation actually improved and that no attempts were made by the authorities at coercing the Jews to convert. Further emphasis of this situation is provided by the fact that when the monk Nikon (tenth century) incited the inhabitants of Sparta to banish the Jews from their midst, his words were to no effect.

In Chios an expulsion decree in 1062 was issued against those Jews who had recently settled there.

[Crusade 1096 - looted Jewish quarters]

There is no reason to believe that during the First Crusade in 1096, which took place during the reign of Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, the Jews were attacked when the Crusaders passed through the Balkans. The Jewish quarters, however, were looted.

[Messianic Palestine movement in Greece]

In the general panic which struck the Jewish world a messianic effervescence also came to the surface in Salonika, Adrianople, and other cities. It is related that certain communities left their homes for Salonika in order to sail to Palestine from there. A tremendous emotion seized the community of Salonika, where both the authorities and the archbishop showed a positive attitude to the messianic spirit.> (col. 872)

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