Traveller Probo
48. New York Times

Op Ed – Byzantium Traveller and the Catholic Church

The latest Vatican criticisms of the proposed Byzantium Traveller mission has caused more than a few raised eyebrows. They hearken back to old religious differences so different to the papal administration’s recent efforts to consolidate a united Christian message.

Despite considerable pressure, the Pope remains uncharacteristically silent on any official Church policy on Traveller projects. Differences in doctrine and scriptures between today and Saxon Aengland have been explained as ‘historical anomalies’, that the spiritual growth and faith exhibited by the monks and people of the time were much more indicative of God’s love and the teachings of Christ. But the latest comments by some officials within the Church, comments that might be seen to be objections to the Byzantium Traveller project, bring in question whether they came from the Church’s highest levels.

While the relationship between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches has warmed, history reveals much more controversy. The schism between the Eastern and Western Christians happened soon after the time the Byzantium Travellers will visit. Irreconcilable differences arose over many issues, most significantly, the Pope’s claim to universal jurisdiction and the place of Constantinople in the rule of the Church.

The physical decline of Rome and the ascendancy of Constantinople saw the eastern capital as the shiny new centre for the Roman Empire while Rome, ever infrequently the home of Popes, fell out of favour.

Medieval residents probably didn’t distinguish between the classical-era Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire the same way that modern historians do, especially since the Italian peninsula had regular and often antagonistic relations with the Byzantine emperors during this period. In a famous assessment by French writer Voltaire: “This agglomeration, which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire, was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”

While the world waits to experience the wonders of old Constantinople as our brave Travellers journey back in time, no doubt the Catholic Church is also collectively holding its breath to see what new anomalies and, maybe, even a few dirty little secrets, the mission might reveal.