The Fall of Constantinople: Lessons and Conclusions

Dr. Michel E. Abs

Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches

On the 29th of May, 568 years will have passed since the fall of Constantinople, the new Rome, which succumbed in 1453 as a result of previous wars that consumed it as well as to a severe siege that has been described as the harshest siege in history as it destroyed its ability to withstand and to survive.

The martyr city, Constantinople, had led the Christian world for more than a thousand years, it has housed Ecumenical Councils and has been described as the beacon of the world, the capital of faith and the center of civilization and culture.

Constantinople was profaned beyond description and imagination. Thousands of people were martyred, thirty thousand slaves were taken captive, girls, nuns and children were taken to families as slaves, blood flowed in the streets like rivers, and bodies floated on the sea. It goes without saying that plunder accompanied captivity, so the city’s wealth and the possessions of its people and institutions were confiscated.

This is, in the summary, the memorable day that was formed by the twenty-ninth of the month of May in the year five hundred sixty-eight Anno Domini.

Since that time, a lot of ink has flowed in describing the fall and slaughter of this great city as well as other massacres of history that, for the most part, bear a religious character. But the blood shed by wars is, of course, much more than ink, especially if it is shed between people of the same faith and the same religious affiliation.

However, what is important to us, in the Middle East Council of Churches, the institution of openness, dialogue and free thought, is that we can draw lessons and conclusions from the events of history as much as we are able to do so.

What can we deduce from this painful incident that befell us six centuries ago with regard to our future as Eastern Christians in our orientations as well as in our relations with each other and with the children of our nation who belong to other faith communities and religions?

The first lesson is that every home divided among itself is ruined. The Lord informed us of this from the beginning, and instead of us remembering this lesson and following its guidance, we tore up our Christian existence to such an extent that we nearly squandered the whole pledge of allegiance to our Lord.

The second lesson is that the injustice of kin is more harmful and painful than the oppression of others, because relatives know where weaknesses lie among themselves thereby the harm that is inflicted by one party on another is that much more painful to bear.

The third lesson is that self-centeredness or putting the interests of one’s own small group over the interests of the larger group is a fatal disease. With overwhelming selfishness or factional fanaticism, human groups cannot thrive.

The fourth lesson is that nothing has no fall, be they individuals who are described as great, to empires that have ruled the world for centuries or millennia. All is fleeting.

The fifth lesson is that religion is the form and the best tool that politics can use to reach its destination, as it is religion, as a form of human belief, which motivates kings, armies, and arrivistic to act in one way or another. The misuse of religion is the worst thing that can happen to humanity, which continues to suffer from this calamity to this day.

Six centuries after the fall of Nova Roma, Constantinople, humanity is still in the first epochs of civilization, and hate speech, religious incitement and discrimination between people on the basis of their religious affiliation are still the dominant culture in the world.

Institutions of Dialogue try, and intellectuals concerned with social peace also try - we at MECC are among them- to focus on the necessity of being open to the other, accepting the other as he is, and respecting his right to differ. But the apparent observed progress is only but little more than what is required in order to achieve a consistent human society.

The situation of humanity today can produce for us in every corner of the world a new Fall of Constantinople, which could be classified under the rubrics of mutual religious hatred and the narrow-vested interests of individuals.

I do earnestly hope that coming times will refute this standpoint of mine.