The Defence of the Long Walls of Thrace (Μακρά Τείχη τῆς Θρᾴκης) under Justinian the Great (527–565 A.D.)

The paper discusses the question of the defence of the Long Walls of Thrace (Μακρά Τείχη τῆς Θρᾴκης) or the Anastasian Wall (Αναστάσειο Τείχος) under Justinian the Great (527–565 A.D.). Emperor Anastasius I (491–518 A.D.) probably put an end to the vicarius Thraciarum, the head of administration of the late Roman Diocese of Thrace, establishing two vicars instead. One of them was responsible for the defence of the Long Walls of Thrace while the other was a purely civil officer. Both vicars governed the area of the Anastasian Wall also in the first years of Justinian’s reign. This administrative framework was useful for the defence of Constantinople itself but it also gave rise to certain problems. When Justinian reformed the provincial administration and abolished all vicariates in 535 A.D., he replaced the vicars of the Anastasian Wall with praetor Iustinianus Thraciae (Nov. Iust., XXVI – a. 535). Next year, the emperor created the peculiar post of quaestor Iustinianus exercitus (Nov. Iust., XLI). The territory of the quaestura contained the provinces Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor, located in the lower Danube region, as well as the provinces of Cyprus, Caria and the Aegean Islands. In turn, the responsibilities of the Praetor of Thrace were confined to the region of the Anastasian Wall. The new post combined the functions of military officer and head of civil administration. The nature of praetor Thraciae is discussed in the light of Nov. Iust., XXVI and compared with analogous praetors established in the provinces of Paphlagonia and Pisidia (Nov. Iust., XXIV–XXV), as well as other data. After the fall of John of Cappadocia in 541, Justinian revoked some administrative reforms, restoring the vicariate of Pontica and restoring former powers to the comes Orientis who played the same role as a vicar in the Diocese of Oriens. In the Balkans, Justinian left the post of quaestor Iustinianus exercitus intact. Meanwhile, the function of the preator Thraciae, which proved to be inefficient, as the incursions of the Slavs (ca. 550) and the Kutrigur Bulgars in 559 had shown, was possibly abolished. The repairs of the Anastasian Wall needed to be conducted after the great earthquake in 557 A.D. by Justinian himself, which indirectly demonstrates the weakness of administration under praetor Thraciae or the earlier abolishment of the post. It is likely that instead Justinian reinstated the post of the vicar of Thrace, who became a civil administrator over the part of the former Diocese of Thrace limited to the provinces of Europa, Haemimontus, Rhodopa and Thracia, a function which was probably more suited to overseeing construction undertakings conducted at the time in the Balkans

Sirmian Martyrs in Exile: Pannonian Parallels and a Re-evaluation of the St. Demetrius Problem

The question of the origins of the cult of the fourth century martyr, Demetrius of Thessalonica has been the focal point of hagiographical research since the first publication of his passions by the Bollandists in 1780. Since then there were the most divergent hypotheses put forward to explain the obscure beginnings of his Thessalonican basilica and his alleged connection to Sirmium and its martyred deacon, Demetrius. Different ideas and assumptions were proposed based on various arthistorical, archaeological and literary observations, or sometimes relying only on national ideologies or even pure fantasy. However, there were no attempts made to put the whole problem into the wider context of the Illyrian hagiographic tradition and to make a detailed comparison between St Demetrius' cult and the afterlife of other Pannonian and Illyrian martyrs. In the present paper, then, after a critical analysis of the problem and its proposed solutions, a number of comparative case-studies will be carried out aiming to map the basic tendences of the afterlife of the martyrs of Late Antique Illyricum which presumably will help us to have a better view of the whole problem of the migration of the Illyrian martyrs and to provide a fresh solution for the origin and development of St Demetrius' cult

Littoral Rights Under the Takings Doctrine: The Clash Between the Ius Naturale And Stop The Beach Renourishment

Background. Organizing and performing patient transfers in the continuum of care is part of the work of nurses and other staff of a multiprofessional healthcare team. An understanding of discharge practices is needed in order to ultimate patients’ transfers from high technological intensive care units (ICU) to general wards. Aim. To describe, as experienced by intensive care and general ward staff, what strategies could be used when organizing patient’s care before, during, and after transfer from intensive care. Method. Interviews of 15 participants were conducted, audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results. The results showed that the categories secure, encourage, and collaborate are strategies used in the three phases of the ICU transitional care process. The main category; a safe, interactive rehabilitation process, illustrated how all strategies were characterized by an intention to create and maintain safety during the process. A three-way interaction was described: between staff and patient/families, between team members and involved units, and between patient/family and environment. Discussion/Conclusions. The findings highlight that ICU transitional care implies critical care rehabilitation. Discharge procedures need to be safe and structured and involve collaboration, encouraging support, optimal timing, early mobilization, and a multidiscipline approach

Mortuary Workers, the Church, and the Funeral Trade in Late Antiquity

Within the city of Constantinople, Constantine organized numerous funeral workers into associations overseen by a bishop, as part of a scheme meant to provide burials for all who needed them within the city. The funeral workers were given special exemptions and clerical status in return for their services. Constantine\u27s model was imitated in other cities within the eastern Mediterranean and, as a result, established new urban patronage networks. The newly elevated funeral professionals were liminal men, between the commercial and clerical worlds and dependent on bishops for their employment and status. Some bishops exploited this dependency by using funeral workers as personal militias. Inscriptions and legal evidence also point to the increasing influence of the church in the funeral trade. Although Constantine envisioned a city that exemplified the Christian belief in provision of burial to all, his scheme had numerous unintended consequences. Investigation of these funeral associations reveals the role of the bishop as a patron, funeral director, and businessman during the Late Roman Empire and better defines the involvement of the church in the funeral trade in Late Antiquity

Restoration of the St. Clement’s Ohrid Archbishopric- Patriarchate as the Macedonian Orthodox Church and Ohrid Archbishopric

This is a brief narration of the creation of St. Clement\u27s Ohrid Archbishopric-Patriarchate as the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric from ancient times to recent times. The author first returns to the founding of the first three Macedonian and, generally, European Christian churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea by the Apostle Paul and his associates around the middle of the first century, AD. Then, he proceeds to the creation of the autocephalous Archbishopric Justiniana Prima (534-545) by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in Skopje or in its surroundings. The work of the Holy Apostle Paul and Emperor Justinian I was continued by the Slavic brothers, Sts. Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica and their closest disciples and associates, Sts. Clement and Naum of Ohrid. As a result of their church-educational and social work, when numerous churches and monasteries were built in Macedonia and autochthonous monasticism was founded, Emperor Samuil (967-1014) created the so-called Prespa Metropolitanate or Archbishopric. Its autonomy was confirmed by Pope Gregory V. The emperor elevated the Archbishopric to the level of a patriarchate. When Samuil transferred the capital from Prespa to Ohrid, it was known as the Ohrid Patriarchate. After the collapse of Samuil\u27s state (1018), the Byzantine emperor Basil I lowered the Church to a level of archbishopric. The Ohrid Archbishopric persisted for about eight centuries until 1767, when the Turks abolished it in a non-canonical manner, and transferred its dioceses to the jurisdiction of the Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople. Then began the numerous attempts of the Macedonian people to restore its former St. Clement’s Ohrid Archbishopric as the Macedonian Orthodox Church. This happened in 1958, while the restoration of its autocephaly took place in 1967