{"id":2780,"date":"2012-04-12T10:23:17","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T17:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=2780"},"modified":"2012-04-12T19:01:26","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T02:01:26","slug":"sailing-to-byzantium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/sailing-to-byzantium\/","title":{"rendered":"Sailing to Byzantium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On this day in 1204, one of the worst atrocities against Christendom was perpetrated by … Christians.<\/p>\n

I<\/span> refer, of course, to the sack of Constantinople<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This atrocity was committed to satisfy Venetian commercial interests, who were owed a great deal of money by the Crusaders for transportation. In so doing, they destroyed one of the great bulwarks against the continued expansion of militant Islam in the Medieval era.<\/p>\n

It would be like the Americans coming over to France in 1917 to fight the Germans… and then looting Paris instead.<\/p>\n

The fires alone left 15,000 people homeless. <\/p>\n

\nThe Crusaders looted and vandalized Constantinople for three days, during which many ancient and medieval Roman and Greek works were either stolen or destroyed. The famous bronze horses from the Hippodrome were sent back to adorn the facade of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, where they still remain.<\/p>\n

The Library of Constantinople was destroyed. Despite their oaths and the threat of excommunication, the Crusaders systematically violated the city’s holy sanctuaries, destroying, or stealing all they could lay hands on; nothing was spared.<\/p>\n

(Wikipedia<\/a>)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The city never recovered. The empire never recovered. The Christian frontier against the Turks never recovered.<\/p>\n

At the time, Pope Innocent III had demanded that the crusaders not<\/em> attack upon pain of excommunication. When he heard that they’d ignored him and attacked anyway, he was filled with shame and rage. He strongly rebuked the Venetians and the Crusaders, but by then it was far too late.<\/p>\n

In apologizing to Patriarch Bartholomew 800 years later<\/a> Pope John Paul II said, “In particular, we cannot forget what happened in the month of April 1204. How can we not share, at a distance of eight centuries, the anger and the pain?”<\/p>\n

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this shameful betrayal marked a turning point in Catholic European civilization: the Age of Commerce was eclipsing the Age of Faith.<\/p>\n

I am always on this day reminded of Yeats:<\/p>\n

Sailing to Byzantium<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is no country for old men. The young
\nIn one another’s arms, birds in the trees
\n– Those dying generations – at their song,
\nThe salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
\nFish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
\nWhatever is begotten, born, and dies.
\nCaught in that sensual music all neglect
\nMonuments of unageing intellect.<\/p>\n

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
\nA tattered coat upon a stick, unless
\nSoul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
\nFor every tatter in its mortal dress,
\nNor is there singing school but studying
\nMonuments of its own magnificence;
\nAnd therefore I have sailed the seas and come
\nTo the holy city of Byzantium.<\/p>\n

O sages standing in God’s holy fire
\nAs in the gold mosaic of a wall,
\nCome from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
\nAnd be the singing-masters of my soul.
\nConsume my heart away; sick with desire
\nAnd fastened to a dying animal
\nIt knows not what it is; and gather me
\nInto the artifice of eternity.<\/p>\n

Once out of nature I shall never take
\nMy bodily form from any natural thing,
\nBut such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
\nOf hammered gold and gold enamelling
\nTo keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
\nOr set upon a golden bough to sing
\nTo lords and ladies of Byzantium
\nOf what is past, or passing, or to come.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On this day in 1204, one of the worst atrocities against Christendom was perpetrated by … Christians. I refer, of course, to the sack of Constantinople. This atrocity was committed to satisfy Venetian commercial interests, who were owed a great deal of money by the Crusaders for transportation. In so doing, they destroyed one of the great bulwarks against the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-IQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86160,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons-day-3-saint-andrew-of-crete\/","url_meta":{"origin":2780,"position":0},"title":"Novena to the Holy Deacons, Day 3: Saint Andrew of Crete","author":"Thom","date":"01 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"O glorious Saint Andrew, preacher, monk, and poet of the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you, I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need under your special protection and to make your prayer mine: Listen, O heaven, and I will speak.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Novena to the Holy Deacons"","block_context":{"text":"Novena to the Holy Deacons","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/pray\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Andrew of Crete","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/St-andrew-of-crete-240x282.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":108000,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/novena-to-the-holy-deacons-day-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":2780,"position":1},"title":"Novena to the Holy Deacons, Day 3: Saint Andrew of Crete","author":"Thom","date":"04 August 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"glorious Saint Andrew, preacher, monk, and poet of the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you, I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need under your special protection and to make your prayer mine: O heaven, and I will speak. 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