unbelief; and over this Christological controversy, rivers of blood
were to flow in both branches of Christendom.

The theological question involved was of course too subtle for ordinary
comprehension. But although men on both sides stood ready to die for
the decisions of their councils which they did not understand, there
was underlying the whole question the political jealousy existing
between the two: Byzantium, embittered by the effacement of its
political jurisdiction in the West, exasperated at the overweening
pretensions of Roman bishops; Rome, watching for opportunity to cajole
or compel the Eastern Church to submit to her authority and headship.

Such was the condition of things when Russia allied herself in that
most vital way with the empire in the East. It is impossible to
measure the importance of the step, or to imagine what would have been
the history of that country had Vladimir decided to accept the religion
of Rome and become Catholic, as the Slav in Poland had already done.
By his choice not only is it possible that he added some centuries to
the life of the Greek Empire itself, but he determined the type of
Russian civilization. When she allied herself with Byzantium instead
of Rome, Russia separated herself from those European currents from
which she was already by natural and inherited conditions isolated.
She thus prolonged and emphasized the Orientalism which so largely
shaped her destiny, and produced a nationality absolutely unique in the
family of European nations, in that there is _but one single root in
Russia which can be traced back to the Roman Empire_; and whereas most
of the European civilizations are built upon a Roman foundation, there
is only one current in the life of that nation to-day which has flowed
from a Latin source: that is a judicial code which was founded (in
part) upon Roman law as embodied by Justinian, Emperor of the Empire in