Demetrios Chomatianos: Colonial Resistance and the Fear of Sacramental Miscegenation

Abstract

This chapter explores a pair of canonical opinions written by Demetrios Chomatianos, the archbishop of Ohrid in the 1220s. These texts draw sharp sacramental boundaries not only between Greek and Latin Christians, but more notably, between Greek Christians who hold differing opinions about the standing of Latins within the Church. Chomatianos opined, for the first time in history, that Greek Christians who failed to acknowledge the threat posed by Latin Christians should be barred from the sacramental rites of the Orthodox community. These rulings by Chomatianos reflect an effort to preserve an authentic Orthodox communal identity against the taint of “sacramental miscegenation” that could be caused by either the recognition of or support for Latin rule in the East. Indeed, one of the most important features of these rulings is that they are not about Latins per se. Rather, they were about the way in which an observant Christian should respond to the political reality of Latin occupation and the possibility of resistance to the Latins within the realm of Christian sacramental rites.