Abstract
In the Early Byzantine period (330-610), religious unrests frequently occurred. Traditionally, it has been said that monks provoked the people to create the unrests. However, T. E. Gregory and F. Winkelrnann have questioned this view.
This paper examines the religious unrests in Constantinople in the time of the emperor Anastasius I (491-518), and attempts to correct the image of the monks as the sole catalysts behind them. The following points have been discussed: 1. To what extent did the monks involve themselves in the unrests? 2. How different were the attitudes of the monks and the people toward the patriarch Macedonius II (496-511), during whose term most of the religious unrests occurred? 3. Beside the monks, who could have provoked the people to riot?
The conclusions are as follows: 1. Of the religious unrests that took place in 496, 508, 511 and 512, the monks were involved in two (511 and 512), but they either triggered these unrests or formed a coalition with the people rather than playing a main role. Some monks who opposed the unrests were even killed by the people in the riot of 512. 2. Although Macedonius was hesitant to hold a firm doctrinal position, the Chalcedonian people constantly supported him, while the monks did not. 3. In addition to the monks, the patriarch and the priests could have also provoked the people to riot.
