Chapter 6 Buying Imperial Favour: Cyril of Alexandria’s Blessings
In: Gaining and Losing Imperial Favour in Late AntiquitySearch for other papers by Maurits Sterk de Leeuw in
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Abstract
To gain and hold imperial favour for his theological party in the aftermath of the Council of Ephesus in 431, Cyril of Alexandria bestowed blessings on high-ranking courtiers in Constantinople. His theological adversaries aimed to reveal that these blessings were nothing less than ordinary bribes and that, consequently, Cyril’s victory in the Christological controversy was won through corruption. This paper analyses Cyril’s use of a terminology of “blessings” to show that it legitimized and enhanced his gifts as a resource to exercise influence on the imperial court. The late-antique world, where gifts and fees were becoming increasingly important as (institutionalized) instruments to gain access to power, posed a problem to clerics who wanted to partake in these political transactions. Their authority was based on their independence from worldly rulers, which the exchanging of gifts would compromise; nor was the Bible (or the exegetic tradition) particular approving of gifts as a means to further even the good of the Church. Yet, the Gospels also provided a solution, which allowed Cyril to redefine his material means to secure imperial favour into “blessings”. The paper concludes by considering a parallel case around the inauguration of Flavian as bishop of Constantinople that shows how the openness of the term “blessing” could also be exploited to disqualify the legitimacy of the opposing party.