St Justian Emperor

[jechenaudrey]

Under Byzantine code under the rule of St Justianian Emperor of the Romans in 6th AD and if there were somebody like him ruling an "Orthodox country"
most of the so called "Orthodox groups" would be banished to the fringes of society or placed under house arrest. Total like an islamic state but freedom
in privacy since the educated population would be still be able to read Homer's epics in their private library in their free time.

[Catherine5]

Let's hear it for Homer! My favorite from age 8 on, especially The Odyssey!
He even has a - very slight - Russian connection: I saw a plaster copy of a nice statue bust of Homer among many others of the ancients, Greek sages, Roman Emperor's families and others on the second floor of the Pushkin.
I had earlier dismissed that museum as unworthy of a visit, but a nice young man from Georgia on the tram answered my question about another museum by jumping off and taking me to the Pushkin instead. He even paid for my ticket, shooed me in the door and gave a friendly wave goodbye before I even knew where I was! The Georgians deserve credit for having chivalrous manners toward women, [it's maybe due to the delicate emphasis laid by their wise poet, Shota Rustaveli, on how to treat women well and how to win their hearts].
Well,I never forgot that kindness, which was like a brilliant beam of light amongst the local population, who looked at that time, many years back, morose and fiercely sullen, unwilling to even answer a question like "Kremlin this way?" when the domes of the Church of the Twelve Apostles were gleaming right within view - !