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SS Cyril (Constantine) and Methodius, apostles to the Slavs

We talk about the Orthodox Church but it would perhaps be more accurate to think of it as a family of churches (taking the word 'church' to refer to the administrative structure not to its character as the Body of Christ). These churches are institutionally separate but broadly in communion with each other and broadly use the same service books - liturgical texts developed in the Roman Empire (I have already indicated my aversion to use of the term 'Byzantine')

Here is a series of maps that give a bird's eye view of the history of the area once covered by the Roman Empire from 300 on the eve of the conversion of Constantine to 888, the division of the Frankish Empire and the emergence of the principality of Rus'.

Throughout this talk I have made use of maps from the Penguin Atlas of Mediaeval History, devised by Colin McEvedy and drawn by John Woodcock (1973 edition, first published in 1961). Since these are already easily available on the internet I hope I'm not too seriously in breach of copyright.

The Empire in 300 showing the 'dioceses', the administrative divisions created by the Emperor Diocletian (map from Wikipedia entry on 'Roman dioceses').

In 420. The thick dotted line shows the pressure the Western Empire was under leading to the transfer of the capital for much of this period to Ravenna.

The Western Empire reduced to a small enclave in what had been the diocese of Pannonia on the other side of the Adriatic Sea. Formation of the various 'barbarian' (ie non-Roman kingdoms). But note the pressure from the Slavs building up on the Northern frontier of the Eastern Empire (the Danube)

The Empire strikes back. Justinian succeeds - briefly - in reuniting a large part of the original Empire. The Danube border is still holding but the Slavs (diagonal hatching) are largely swamped by the Avars. The Franks have emerged as the major barbarian power in the West.

The Northern border of the Empire (miscalled 'Byzantine!) has given way in Greece to pressure from the Slavs. The Persian Empire and North Africa, together with the historic patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem have fallen to the Muslim Arabs. Note also the appearance of the Khazars, destined to convert to Judaism.

Continued expansion of Islam, continued contraction of the Roman Empire.

This map shows the continued Roman presence in Italy together with the emergence of the Bulgars (map from

Islam fracturing. The Frankish Empire now covering a larger area than the Roman Empire. Viking ruled enclaves appearing in Kiev and Novgorod.

The Bulgars have broken through the northern frontier of the Empire. the Frankish Empire has been divided into separate kingdoms. The Vikings are attacking the western isles. Kiev and Novgorod have formed the principality of Russia.