How the successors of Basil II squandered his power – an incident

T. H. Benner’s thesis, Die Syrisch-Jakobitische Kirche under Byzantiner Herrschaft im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert, contains a translation into German of both the Greek text of Demetrius of Cyzicus against the Armenian Jacobites, and of an Arabic version of the same text. I fear that the pseudo-theological noodling is something that I will not turn into English, particularly as the statements about Armenian beliefs are largely false. But Dr B.’s introduction caught my eye. 12.3. The Treatise of Demetrios of Cyzicus on Jacobite and Armenian Doctrine of Faith and Liturgy. Constantine VIII, the younger brother of Basil II, ascended the throne on December 16, 1025. Only now, as an old man, did he emerge from the shadow of his immensely powerful brother. He commissioned Demetrios, the Metropolitan of Cyzicus, to compose a treatise on Jacobite and Armenian theology and religious practice. This was a sign of the impending changes in imperial religious policy, which under Basil II had consisted in…