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Apr 16, 2020
7 min

Cover Yo Woman: The Byzantine Stance on Veiling Women

Nowhere has the link between dress and identity received more scrutiny than in recent scholarship dealing with veiling trends among women...

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Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Apr 9, 2020
7 min

Orbis Britanniae: A Dark Age Alphabet

Agilbert (d. 675) was bishop successively of Dorchester-on-Thames and Paris. A Frank who’d studied in Ireland, he left the West Saxon bis...

394 views0 comments

The St Mark Ivories: The Grado Chair That Never Was

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Apr 4, 2020
7 min

The St Mark Ivories: The Grado Chair That Never Was

Fig.1 - The Annunciation, Museo del Castello Sforzesco, Milan. In 1899 a group of ivory carvings (figs. 1-5 provide a sample) was connect...

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Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Mar 28, 2020
7 min

Vortigern: The British Scapegoat

Vortigern was the most dominant figure in what remained of the Roman administration after the departure of the Roman legions. His invitat...

396 views0 comments

The Battle for the Venetian Soul: Byzantium vs. Francia

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Mar 26, 2020
4 min

The Battle for the Venetian Soul: Byzantium vs. Francia

From the appearance of the Lombards in Venetia[1] in AD 568/9, Venice had to play a clever game to enforce any sort of autonomy in the fa...

291 views0 comments

Whence St Demetrios?: The Spanish Patron Saint of Thessaloniki

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Mar 21, 2020
4 min

Whence St Demetrios?: The Spanish Patron Saint of Thessaloniki

There is a disturbing lack of early evidence for the cult of St Demetrios at Thessalonica. In light of this the majority of modern schola...

372 views0 comments

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Mar 19, 2020
7 min

Balkan Christianity: The Early Years

House of Dionysios, Archaeological Museum of Delos Whenever the clash of paganism and Christianity is discussed, minds jump to the easy f...

338 views0 comments

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Mar 12, 2020
5 min

Did Byzantine Heraldry Exist?

Was there an equivalent use of distinctive motifs employed as ornament by the Byzantine nobility (to convey the same messages of authorit...

754 views0 comments

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Mar 7, 2020
4 min

Christian Worship: The Early Years

At the beginning of the second century, Christian ritual was loosely organised. The congregation would assemble at sunrise on Sunday for ...

945 views0 comments

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Mar 5, 2020
5 min

The Development of Christian Jerusalem

If Rome evolved a stational liturgy in order to connect scattered cemeteries and tituli (which were by the third century accorded specifi...

453 views0 comments

Neoplatonic Christianity:
An Alternative Theological Model or Dead-End?

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Feb 27, 2020
13 min

Neoplatonic Christianity: An Alternative Theological Model or Dead-End?

“Only a few things in the Platonic books need to be altered to make their authors Christian.”[1] St Augustine “Oneself is not the subject...

516 views0 comments

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Feb 21, 2020
5 min

The Walls of Ravenna

Ancient Ravenna lay much closer to the coast than it does today, the sea now having receded approximately six miles. Our earliest descrip...

388 views0 comments

A Byzantine In England: A Glimpse Into The Life Of Theodore Of Tarsus

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Feb 13, 2020
5 min

A Byzantine In England: A Glimpse Into The Life Of Theodore Of Tarsus

In AD 669 Theodore, a Byzantine monk from Tarsus, arrived in England having been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury two years previously....

337 views0 comments

Universal Salvation or Perpetual Hell? Apokatastasis: The Ultimate Reunion

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Feb 8, 2020
4 min

Universal Salvation or Perpetual Hell? Apokatastasis: The Ultimate Reunion

Referring to restoration, reintegration and reconstitution, Apokatastasis is the restoration of all creation to its proper place in fellow...

525 views0 comments

A Florentine Cul-De-Sac: The Union That Divided

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Feb 6, 2020
8 min

A Florentine Cul-De-Sac: The Union That Divided

“My son, of course we know very well that the infidel dread the day we come to an agreement and unite with the Franks; for, they believe ...

247 views0 comments

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Feb 1, 2020
5 min

The Biblical Account of Demonology

I was recently struck by a paper penned by C. Mango, which asserted that: “The gospel does not contain a coherent theory of demonology… [...

812 views0 comments

Ecclesiastical Hegemony: The Causes of the Divorce between Constantinople & Moscow

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Jan 30, 2020
4 min

Ecclesiastical Hegemony: The Causes of the Divorce between Constantinople & Moscow

“Do not accept the teachings of the Latins, whose instruction is vicious.”[1] Russian Primary Chronicle The Russians historically recogni...

285 views0 comments

1431-1449: The Final Ecumenical Council - Two Churches, One Tradition

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Jan 23, 2020
5 min

1431-1449: The Final Ecumenical Council - Two Churches, One Tradition

Western theology tends to be identified with post fifteenth-century Thomism. This may marginalise trends such as Scotism, Ockhamism, huma...

269 views0 comments

Three’s a Crowd: How the Papacy Sought a Germanic Godfather

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Jan 18, 2020
5 min

Three’s a Crowd: How the Papacy Sought a Germanic Godfather

Charles Martel’s martial help was sought by Pope Gregory III, who in AD 739 sent an embassy to the ruler bearing many precious gifts incl...

167 views0 comments

The Development of Music in the Medieval West

Henry Hopwood-Phillips

Jan 16, 2020
5 min

The Development of Music in the Medieval West

The Romans adopted Greek theory and practice as far as both vocal and instrumental music were concerned. Later Roman writers on music (Ma...

638 views0 comments

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