By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Until the fall of Constantinople, the positive dimension of Romiosini functioned, while after its fall, the negative dimension of Romiosini functioned and flourished, since despite the difficulties it highlighted the new martyrs, who according to Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite revived our martyrology, that is, the martyric spirit of the Orthodox Church.
It can be emphasized that until 1453 the Orthodox Church showed its confessional spirit, after it established the Orthodox teaching, as it also established its martyric and hesychastic spirit. In fact, as has been observed, hesychasm, which is the quintessence of the Orthodox teaching, developed even more towards the end of the Roman Empire and it was what kept the Orthodox Church alive and dynamic during the Turkish rule and it animated the entire subjugated race and showed, as previously mentioned, the martyrs and confessors of the faith.
The late Father John Romanides said in an oral lecture that "medical science is one thing and politics is another, one has no relation to the other. Of course, the doctors (that is, the clerics and monks) had focused enthusiastically on saving the Empire, but the Empire had reached such a point that it could not be saved. However, medical science was saved. And it was preserved throughout the years of the Turkish rule."
This means that the Orthodox faith which was the basis of Byzantium is the science of human healing. This faith, which has healing effects, had become the main policy of the Empire. However, when this Empire was lost, the therapeutic science of Orthodoxy was not lost.
Thus, as the late Father John said elsewhere, May 29th is a day of repentance, because the remaining Empire was overthrown, but it can also be considered as a day of Orthodoxy, because the Orthodox faith was freed from secularized impurities and maintained the hesychastic tradition.
Source: From the book Ecclesiastical Ascent. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
