"A conversation with Mark Roosien about the earthquakes that struck Constantinople in late antiquity and about how emperors and the people of the City reacted to them in the moment. We focus on the church liturgies that commemorated and tried to make sense of them. Rev. Mark Roosien is Rector of Holy Ghost Orthodox Church (OCA) and was formerly a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and Lecturer in Liturgical studies."
"The conversation is based on Mark's book Ritual and Earthquakes in Constantinople: Liturgy, Ecology, and Empire (Cambridge University Press 2024). Byzantium & Friends is hosted by Anthony Kaldellis, a Professor at the University of Chicago. You can follow him on his personal website. You can listen to more episodes of Byzantium & Friends through Podbean, Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Top Image: British Library MS Royal 19 B.XV, fol. 11v"
Earthquakes struck Constantinople in late antiquity, producing immediate material damage and social disruption. Emperors issued visible interventions to repair infrastructure, assert authority, and address public anxiety. Urban residents engaged in communal, devotional, and practical responses to seismic events. Church liturgies developed special prayers, processions, commemorations, and ritualized interpretations that sought theological meaning and communal consolation. Liturgical practices mediated relationships among ecology, urban life, and imperial power, shaping collective memory and civic recovery efforts. Ritual performance and liturgical practice show adaptive strategies that blended theological language with civic imperatives. The intersection of ritual, environment, and empire demonstrates how sacred practice functioned as a form of public policy and social resilience.
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