Early Christian Church
... The challenge of the early Christian church to establish its faith among the Byzantine peoples was made easier by it’s close relationship with the imperial government. The early leaders of the Byzantine Empire claimed divine favor to help support their rule. Many ritual and doctrinal differences separated the Christian churches based in Constantinople and Rome. ... The emperors treated the church as a department of state and appointed individuals to serve as Patriarch of Constantinople, counterpart to the Roman pope. Some though, rejected this policy of church and state. ... They were so extremely dedicated that disciples often gathered around them and established communities which became the earliest monasteries of the Byzantine church.