The cult of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki in the history of Byzantine-Slav relations

Abstract

The impact of the cult of St. Demetrius on the religious and cultural life
ofthe Orthodox Slavs in the Middle Ages is discussed in three stages,corresponding to three successive periods in the history of Byzantine-Slav relations. The first period, from the late sixth to the early ninth century, was marked by the occupation of much of the Balkan peninsula by the Slavs and by the successful attempts of the Byzantines to defend Constantinople and Thessaloniki against the barbarian attacks. In this defence the cult of St. Demetrius played a notable part; and a seventh-century document, the Miracula Sancti Demetrii, vividly illustrates the belief of the citizens of Thessaloniki that their city owed its salvation to his supernatural protection. The second period, that of Byzantine recovery and expansion, has as its main theme the conversion of the new Slav nations to Greek Christianity, a story in which the famed mission of Sts Cyril and Methodius forms the central episode. Evidence is adduced to show that this mission had several significant points of contact with the cult of St. Demetrius, and the spread of this cult, from the end of the ninth century onwards, to Bulgaria, Russia and Serbia is examined. In the third and last period, which spans the later Middle Ages, attempts were made by several Slavonic peoples to appropriate for themselves the cult of St. Demetrius, as an instrument of psychological warfare in their conflicts with Byzantium. How far these attempts deserve to be described as a form of nationalism is a question which is considered in the concluding section of the article.