Justinian

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Justinian Religion Cont.

• Justinian is also remembered for founding St.
  Catherines monastery at Mt. Sinai
• Justinian had a monastery built on Mt. Sinai
  because that is where Moses received the Ten
  Commandments
• It is still in use today is an example of
  Justinians architecture
• The monastery also housed the earliest Greek
  version of the New Testament dating back to the
  4th century
• It also houses one of the greatest collections of
  religious icons from the Byzantine Empire

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• Almost no pictorial art remains from before the
  8th century anywhere else because of the
  iconoclasts
• iconoclasts image breakers purged the
  Byzantine empire of many of the religious images
  (mainly paintings) during the 8th 9th centuries
• the collection of religious icons at St
  Catherines dates from the 5th century until
  modern times

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Religious Differences Split Christianity

• the nature of Jesus was a point of disagreement
• use of images in church was also disagreed upon
• The West (Rome) used images, the East
  (Constantinople) did not
• In 1054 a schism occurred in the church
• schism division between factions in a church
• During this period the religious leaders of the
  East were unwilling to recognize the power of the
  Pope in the West.
• the church divided into the Roman Catholic Church
  the Eastern Orthodox Church
• referred to as the Great Schism (1st major split
  in the Christian faith)
• Attempts throughout history to reconcile the
  differences between the two churches have been
  unsuccessful
• By 850, Byzantine missionaries had convinced many
  Slavs to convert to Christianity
• In 988, Russian Prince Vladimir chose
  Christianity as the official religion of his
  kingdom