Their notion of religio once meant something like scruples or exactingness, and then came to refer, among other things, to a scrupulous observance of rules or prohibitions, extending to worship practices. It was about doing the right thing in the right way. The Romans had other terms as well for customs, rites, obligations, reverence and social protocols, including cultus, ritus and superstitio.
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.