TE17 Mysterious Montenegro

Dominik Archbishop Arnir presented a letter of greetings, assured us of Pope Alexander III’s great sympathy for the efforts of our church, and concluded his words with a blessing. The Spalatan brethren bestowed us copies of God-pleasing works that had come from Padua. I was delighted that I would be able to add Sic et non by Peter Abelard to the library of Ratac Abbey—a text I would later return to numerous times. As we sailed the calm Adriatic to the coast of Dioclea, we struck up a discussion on theological questions. Dominik spoke about the Schism and downfall, whose seeds had been sown in the Arians’ heretical speeches, and about theGreek CatholicChurch’s opposition to the dogma of the origin of the Holy Ghost, which was a disguise for Constantinople’s efforts to impose a newdogma to justify Byzantine conquests: “Long ago, in the Epanagoge, 10 Patriarch Photios tasked the Byzantine emperor with holding current possessions, returning ones that had been lost, and acquiring territories the empire lacked—and this, imagine, by means of a ‘just war,’ because it was waged, he said, by true Christians,” Dominik exclaimed, animated by the issue. “Nor can we hope for good from Emperor Manuel, 11 because he too, in his campaigns to restore East Roman rule, calls on the Helleno-Romans to fight for the preservation of the true Christian faith. They are schismatics and attach too much importance to mere revelation, and the hatred they stir

10 . A Byzantine law book. 11 . Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor.

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