Byzantine Christianity and the Magyars in the Period of Their Migration
Author(s): Gyula Moravcsik
Reviewed work(s):
Source: American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 5, No. 3/4 (Nov., 1946), pp. 29-45
Published by: Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
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BYZANTINE CHRISTIANITY AND THE MAGYARS IN
THE PERIOD OF THEIR MIGRATION
BY GYULA MORAVCSIK
oftheTurks(=
organization
IN HIS accountofthemilitary
Magyars),
the ByzantineEmperorLeo the Sage repeatedlycomparesthe
Magyarswiththe Bulgarians,and in doingso emphasisesthat the
fromthoseoftheBulgariansonlyin
customsoftheMagyarsdiffered
so faras thelatterhad embracedtheChristianreligion
and,adapting
themselvesto Byzantinemorals,had abandonedboth theirsavage
and theirpaganism.'By thishe alludes
and nomadiccharacteristics
to thefact,on theone hand,thattheBulgarianprinceBorisand his
as earlyas 864,whichmeansthatthey
peoplehad becomeChristians
ofChristianpeoples,and to thenegahad mergedin thecommunity
tivefact,on theotherhand,thattheMagyars,whomhe had cometo
knowduringthewarin 894-95but who,at thetimeofhis workwas
written(between904-912),werealreadylivingin theirpresentcounIndeed,accordingto one or two
try,had notas yetbeenconverted.2
theMagyarshad beenheathens
remarks
inArabicand Persicrecords,
beforeoccupyingtheircountry.Archeologicremainsand Magyar
folk-traditions
also seem to pointin thisdirection.Thereare, however,somesignsthattheyhad comeintocontactwithChristianity
ofa sabrebeforetheytookpossessionoftheirland.A plate(fragment
tache) was foundin the cemeteryof Bezded (Hungary)which,accordingto archeologists,
was made in theirpreviousresidencein
Levedia and on whicha crossis to be seen,setin a frameof animal
motives.It is probablynot by merechancethat,accordingto our
linguists,the Slavic wordkereszl(=cross) had been broughtby the
Thus thequestionmayarisewhether
Magyarsfromtheiroldcountry.
in thecourseoftheir
theyreallycameintocontactwithChristianity
longwanderings
and ifso, when,where,and how?It is thisquestion
we wishto throwlightupon.3
It has longbeenprovedby linguistics
thattheMagyarlanguageis
of Finno-Ugricorigin,its nearestrelativesbeing the Voguls and
Ostjaks, who belong to the Finno-Ugricgroup. So the Magyars
livedwiththeirUgricrelativesin WesternSiberiaeast ofthe
formerly
Ural Mountains,by the riversIset, Tobol and Pysma. And, since
1 Taclica, XVIII. 61, Migne,PairologiaGraeca,cvii, col. 960 D.
See Gy. Moravcsik,Byzantinolurcica
i, Die byzantinischen
Quellender Geschichleder
Turkvolker
(Budapest, 1942), pp. 238-245.
3 The resultsof my investigations
were publishedin Hungariansome years ago in the
Jubileevolumein memory
oftheSaintedKing Stephen(Budapest, 1938) i, 171-212.
2
29
30
Gyula Moravcsik
thatthe Hungarianlanguageat an early
linguistics
has determined
character,it seems
period adopted loanwordsof Bulgaro-Turkish
in West
probablethat the UgricMagyarshad met Bulgaro-Turks
Siberia,and movedon withthemin the fifthcenturyto the north
shoresoftheBlack Sea, wheretheymaketheirfirstappearancein arAs theearly
cheologicsurvivalsand inMuslimand Byzantinerecords.
Magyarorganizationand ethniccharactershowsTurkishfeatures,
and sincemanyoftheirnamesoftribes,persons,and dignitiesare of
exTurkishorigin,wemustassumethattheMagyarsofFinno-Ugric
At theperiodofthe
tractionweresubjectto strongTurkishinfluence.
to theninth
formation
of the Hungariannation,thatis, in the fifth
Turkishtribesand peopleslargelyoccupiedtheterritories
centuries,
betweentheWestSiberianslope
through
whichtheMagyarsmigrated
oftheUralsand theestuaryoftheDanube,so it is amongthemthat
ofthe
we have to lookforsuchpeoplesas tookpartin theformation
uponthem.ThereHungariannationor exerciseda stronginfluence
fore,in studyingthe most ancient historyof the Magyars,the
peopleswhichlived on the plainsof South Russia beforethe ninth
century
mustbe takenintoaccount.We cometo thesameresultifwe
supplied by Byzantinerecords.In these
start frominformation
names(beside
sourcestheMagyarsare mentioned
by threedifferent
O6VVot,TOiPKOL.
some archaisticones). These names are: OV-yyypot,
The first,
meaningtheMagyarsonly,comesfromtheOnogur(Greek
whichincludesthe Ogur element.The second (Ovvvot)
'Ov6YoupoL),
to theHunsonly,buttoother
refers
(besidetheMagyars)notstrictly
to
which,beforereferring
peoplesas well.The sameappliestoTo0PKOL
the Magyars,servedas a nameforotherpeoplesalso.4Thus, whatevermighthavebeenthereasonfortheapplicationofthesenamesto
all peoples
the Magyars,investigations
musttakeintoconsideration
calledOvvvot
and TOiPKOL,or whosenamesincludetheelementOgur.
In the regionswherethe Magyarshad been wanderingfromthe
and
fifthto the ninthcentury,whentheyoccupiedtheirterritory,
wherethepeopleslivedwhichmayhave takenpartin theformation
on
oftheMagyarnation,or whichmayhave had different
influences
the Magyarsduringthe processof theirformation,
threecultural
spherescameintocontactone withanother.AroundtheCaspianSea
and the Caucasus, the influence
of the Muslim,Persic and Arabic
From the North,the Norsemenand Slavs (= Ruspredominated.
sians)wereexpandingtowardstheSouth,whiletheBlack Sea and its
Northernshoresbelongedto the Byzantinesphere.The peoplesof
I See Gy. Moravcsik, Byzanlinolurcica
in den byzanii, Sprachresleder Tilrkvolker
linischenQuellen(Budapest, 1943), pp. 194-196,199-204,269-275.
and theMigrating
ByzantineChristianity
Magyars
31
thisterritory
werethussubjectto Christian
influence
fromByzantium
only,thatis, fromthe peoplesbelongingto ByzantineChristianity.
The problemwhetherthe Magyars,or the peoples takingpart in
theirformation
were,or mightbe, influenced
by Christianity
during
theirwanderings
can be understood
onlyifwe givean accountofthe
storyofByzantineconversion
throughout
theCaucasusand alongthe
shoreof theBlack Sea in theninthcenturywithparticular
northern
regardto theTurkishpeoples.This taskseemsespeciallyinteresting
for,althoughtherehave beenpreparatory
studieson minortopicsof
detail,no treatisediscussingtheentirequestionso farexists.
in thefourth
written
WhenEusebius,inhischurchhistory
century,
enumeratesthe travelsof converting
apostles,he mentionsthat the
apostleAndrewhad also travelledin Scythia.The later Christian
legendseekingto connectthe spreadingof Christianity
in remote
withthenameofone oftheapostlesgoesfarther
countries
alongthis
line.Accordingto someapocryphaldocuments,the apostleAndrew
and his companieswho travelledaroundthe Northernshoreof the
Black Sea had visitedtheAlans,theSarmatiansand even the"Man
A later Russianchurchlegendsays that
Eaters" (Anthropophagi).
whenAndrewtravelledalongtheDnieper,he gotas faras Kiev, and
visitedthe"Myrmidons."Thus Andrew,lookeduponby Byzantine
traditionas the founderof the Constantinopolitan
Church,was, in
later periods,consideredthe firstconverterof the variouspartly
legendary
and partlyhistoricpeoplesinhabiting
theNorthern
shores
oftheBlack Sea, and evenoftheRussians.s
on theNorthBut historicalresearchhas shownthatChristianity
ernshoresoftheBlack Sea did nottakerootuntilwellafterthetime
oftheapostles.6
The firsttracesleftto us pointto theendofthethird
in SouthRussia
century,
and themostancientChristianinscriptions
areofthefourth.
ofthepersecution
Amongthemartyrs
underDiocleoftheCrimeatownKherson.The Bishop
tian,we findtheinhabitants
ofBosporus(=Kerch) was presentat the Councilof Nicaea in 325,
so thatseveralChristianChurchesmusthave existedthereat that
time.In thecourseofthefourthcentury,Christianity
becomesvery
strongon theCrimeanPeninsula.We have quitea numberof ChrisI See S. B. Petrovskil,"Apokrifiteskija
skazanija ob apostolskoipropovedipo Cernomorskomypoberefju,"Zapiski Imp. OdesskagoOb~aestvaIslorii i Drevnostef,
xx (1897),
29-148, xxi (1898), 1-184; V. G. Vasilevskil,"Choidenie apostola Andreja v strane
Mirmidonjan,"Trudy,II (1909), 213-295; A. Sedelnikov,"Drevnjaja Kievskaja legenda
ob apostole Andreje,"Slavia, iii (1924-25), pp. 316-335.
6 See A. Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung
in den erstendrei
des Christentums
Jahrhunderien,
II, 761, 797-798; K. Pieper, Atlas orbis christianiantiqui (Dusseldorf,
1931).
Gyula Moravcsik
32
tian relicsfromthis period fromCrimean Greek towns, the oldest of
them a Kerch epitaph from304. It was under the influenceof the
bishopricof Bosporus that the so-called Crimean Goths - who had
settled down on the Peninsula about the middle of the thirdcentury
and who had, as early as the beginningof the fifthcentury,a separate
bishopricwhichwas to play an importantrole in spreadingorthodox
Christian faith among barbarians in later centuries- had become
Christians.' Christianityhad taken early root on the Eastern shores
of the Black Sea also. A Christiangatheringat Phasis dates back to
the times of the apostles, and the bishop of the town Pityus was
presentat the Nicaean Council.
As a result of the Apostle Paul's activity, a numberof congregations had been formedin Asia Minor in the time of the apostles. On
the Southernshoresof the Black Sea Christianityhad predominated
as early as the second century,and its advanced outposts approached
the footof the Caucasus. From hereits doctrinesoozed into Armenia
in the course of the firsttwo centuries.The convertingof the whole
of the Armenianpeople was the workof Gregorythe Illuminator.He
baptized King Tiridates, who converted his people to the Christian
religionabout 285 8 The ArmenianChurch then spread the new faith
among the neighboringpeoples, so that the people of Georgia also
became Christians.9 Thus Christianity reached the line of the
Caucasus in the course of the fourthcentury
In the fifththe work of conversion was for a while impeded by
conflictswiththe barbarians,but the nextcenturysaw great progress.
Conversion-propagandawas an organic part of Emperor Justinian's
political conception, which aimed at restoringthe Roman World
Empire 10The effortsto assure and expand the Eastern frontiersof
the empirewere the natural complementsof the battles foughtin the
West. True to old Roman traditions,the Byzantine Empire strove to
build up a system of vassal-states for the defense of its frontiers
The auxiliary troops provided by these peoples increased the defensivepowerof the Empire,and mightbesides be compelled to fight
against other barbarian peoples. The policy of conversion,an indispensable elementof the effortsto surroundthe Byzantine Empire by
a whole chain of allied and Christianized "frontier states," also
A. A. Vasiliev, The Gothsin thc Crimea (Cambridge,Massachusetts,1936) pp. 3-21.
See Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung,ii, pp. 747-762; J. Markwart,"Die
Entstehungder armenischenBistumer,"OrientaliaChristiana,xxvii, 2 (1932), 141-236.
9 See K. Kekelidse, Die BekehrungGeorgienszum Christentum
(Leipzig, 1928); P.
Peeters,"Les debuts du christianismeen Giorgie, d'apres les sources hagiographiques,"
AnalectaBollandiana,L (1932) pp. 5-66.
10See Ch. Diehl, Justinienel la civilisationbyzantineau VI sicle (Paris, 1901).
7
and theMigrating
ByzantineChristianity
Magyars
33
served this defensive policy and imperialistic purpose. Thus the
Byzantine missionarieswere servingnot only the Empire of God but
also the Roman Empire which, in Byzantine opinion, meant the
same thing. As a result of theiractivity, barbarian princes fromremote countries came to the Byzantine Court to be baptized and
overwhelmedwith presents and distinctionsfrom the Emperor, to
returnto theircountriesand thererepresentthe Christianreligionas
well as the interestsof the Byzantine Empire.
The people of the Lazis, who lived on the Eastern shores of the
Black Sea, between ancient Colchis, on the river Phasis, and the
Caucasus, had been converted as early as the reignof JustinI, the
predecessor of Justinian. Their prince Tzathius had come to Constantinoplein 522-523 to be baptized. The emperorgave hima wifeof
distinguishedfamily,acknowledgedhim as sovereignof the Lazi, and
providedhimwith the insigniaof sovereignty.So the Lazi, previously
underPersian political influence,now became the allies ofByzantium.
Justinianhad an old, moulderingChristian church restoredin their
country.Phasis became the episcopal residenceof the new Christian
country,and in the seventh centuryfourbishopricsbelonged to the
Phasis metropolitanate."1
The savage people of the Tzani, who were
wedged in between the Lazi and the Byzantine Empire, were conquered by the forceof Justinian'sarms. Aftertheirdefeat by the Byzantine army they yielded and became Christians. In his novella of
535, Justinian proudly refersto them as subjects of Byzantium.'2
North of the Lazi, betweenthe Caucasus and the Black Sea, lived the
Abazgians, in whose countryChristianityhad taken root at an early
period in the town of Pityus. But the conversionof the whole nation
took place only in the time of Justinian.The Emperor sent to them
Euphratas, a eunuch of Abazgian extraction, who, with some
Byzantine priests,saw to the task of convertingthem.They adopted
the Christianreligion,drove away theirheathen princes,and placed
themselvesunder the protectionof Byzantium. The Emperor had a
church built for them and sent them priests. Abazgia became a
strongholdof Christianityand took an active part in convertingother
peoples.'3 Thus Christianityon its way to the North reached the
" John Malalas, ed. Dindorf,pp. 412-414; Theophanes, ed. de Boor, pp. 168-169;
Procopius,De bello Persico, 11, 15, 28, ed. Haury, i, 217, 286; see Diehl, Justinien,pp.
380-381.
12 Procopius,De belloPersicoi, 15, ed. Haury, i, 77-78,De aedificiis,m. 6, ed. Haury,
iII, 2, 97-99; See Diehl, Justinien,p. 385.
13 Procopius,De belloGothico,
iv. 3, ed. Haury,ii, 498-500; see Diehl, Justinien,p. 382,
V. Laty~ev,"K istoriichristianstvana Kavkaze," SbornikarcheologiZeskich
stateipodnesennyj grafuA. A. Bobrinskomu
(St. Petersburg,1911) pp. 169-198.
34
GyulaMoravcsik
Caucasus, and spread even to its northernslopes. Accordingto
it was theapostleAndrewwhohad plantedthe
apocryphaltradition
toArabicand
seedsofthenewcreedamongtheAlans.According
first
good
also
obtained
the
Illuminator
had
sources,
Gregory
Armenian
them.As earlyas the sixthcentury,theyare
resultsin converting
althoughthewholepeople
bya Byzantineauthority,
calledChristians
seemsto have been finallyconvertedonlyat the end of the ninth
the
supporting
century
whentheAbazgianprincehad beenefficiently
But it is beyonddoubtthatat the
workof Byzantinemissionaries.
of thetenthcenturytheprinceoftheAlans himselfwas a
beginning
Christianand the High Priestwas consecratedby the Patriarchof
The Zikhi lived northof the Abazgiansby the
Constantinople."4
hillsoftheCaucasus,on theshoreoftheBlack Sea. Evifurthermost
is providedby thefactthatthe
denceforthe spreadof Christianity
in 518
bishopofZikhiawas presentat theCouncilofConstantinople
as well as at that of 536. His residencewas the seaside townof
Phanagoriaon the Taman Peninsula.This bishopricwas to do the
workofconverting
thepeopleslivingat thefootoftheCaucasusand
we
bytheriverKuban."5Thus,aboutthemiddleofthesixthcentury,
on the Northernand Southern
meet Christianpeopleseverywhere
shoresoftheBlack Sea.
reachedthe Easternpeoplesnot only
But ByzantineChristianity
on themwas
organsoftheorthodoxChurch.Its influence
by official
conquestsmadeby
rivalledby thatofsomeheresies.The tremendous
the religionof the Manichaeansare generallyknown.Its followers
in thefourthcenturywhentheyfledin masses
werebeingpersecuted
as faras Transoxaniaand Turkestan,
to theNorth,and,afterarriving
on thelocalpeoplesand in the
theyexerciseda deepculturalinfluence
ThroughthemManichaeismreachedevenChina.The
neighborhood.
heresyoftheNestorianswasextendedfromByzantiumto Persia,and
was supportedby the Persian sovereignsagainst Byzantium.We
knowthatChosroesII, thePersianking,had theorthodoxchurches
- by now
destroyedin his empire,and supportedNestorianism
Asia as well withall his might,so
spreadin Middleand Northern
of theseventhcenturyNestoriancongregaso thatat thebeginning
tionsare to be foundevenin China.The Nestorianheresyexerciseda
oflongstandingon theAsiaticpeoples.'
profoundculturalinfluence
14
i!. 750, 762; J. KulakovskiT,"ChrisSee Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung,
Vremennik5 (1898), pp. 1-18; V. Grumel,"La date de la
tianstvou Alan," VizantiYskif
conversiondes Alains et I' archev~ch6d'Alanie," Achosd'Orient,xxxviI (1934), pp. 57-58.
15 See Pieper,Atlas,p. 49 and map 14 a.
16 See W. Barthold,Zur Geschichte
bis zur mongolischen
des Christentums
in Mittel-Asien
ByzantineChristianity
and theMigrating
Magyars
35
Havinggivena roughdelineationof thespreadingof Christianity
neartheBlack Sea and theCaucasus,let us examinemorecloselythe
connection
ofdifferent
Hun,Turkish,and otherkindredpeopleswith
ByzantineChristianity.
Accordingto knownsources,the Huns came into contactwith
Christianity
at thetimetheylivedneartheCaucasus.TheirfirstmissionariesweretheArmenians
whoseapostleGregorytheIlluminator
wasspreadingthenewreligion
amongtheneighboring
(+33 1) himself
peoplesand the Huns."7His workwas continuedby his grandson
Gregory
jun.who,onvisitingthekingoftheMassagetae,leaderofthe
Hun troops, died a martyrin 343.18 Armenianmissionarywork was
not withoutgood results,as seen fromone of Jerome'sletters:
"Hunni discuntpsalterium."'9
This earlymissionary
workwas continued.About523,an Armenianbishopand his priestswerespreading Christianity
amongthe Huns and translatedsome partsof the
HolyScripture
intotheHun language.20
Later (about682) thebishop
Izrael in Albania, by the Caspian Sea, pursuedmissionarywork
amongthe Caucasian Huns. He succeededin converting
themand
theirprince,and later on became theirbishop.2'Othermassesof
Huns whichwerepressingforward
to theWestalso came in contact
withByzantineChristianity.
These,as we know,reachedtheDanube
abouttheendofthefourth
century,
and theirtroopswere,about384,
alreadypillagingand ransackingin Thrace. So it is not surprising
whenwe read a GreekreportthatTheotimus,bishopof the Church
ofTomi and ofso-calledScythia,was lookeduponby theHuns with
such awe and admirationthat they called him "the God of the
Romans." As seenfromseveralmiraculouscontemporary
stories,he
tamedthewild,fierceHuns,and he probablywonmanyof themfor
the Christianreligion.23
Later, in Attila'stime,the Huns achieved
even closerrelationswithByzantium.Theirenvoysoftenturnedup
in Constantinople
wherebytheyhad - althoughsourcesmake no
Eroberung(Tubingen-Leipzig,1901); F. Nau, "L'expansion nestorienneen Asie," Annales
L (Paris, 1914), 193-383.
du Musde Guimet,BibliothUque
de vulgarisation,
17 Die A ktenGregorsvonA rmenien,
neu herausgegebenvon P. de Lagarde, [Abhandlungender k. Gesellschaftder Wissenschaften
zu G6ttingen,xxxv, 1.] 1888,pp. 115-116;
Aganthangelos,
neu herausgegebenvon P. Lagarde,ibidem,p. 77.
18 Faustus de Byzance ...
traduitpour la premierefois de l'Arm~nienen Francais
par Jean Baptiste Emine [FragmentaHistoricorum
Graecorum,
v. 2. (Paris, 1884)] p. 214.
19Ep. 107, Migne,PatrologiaLatina, xxii, col. 870.
20 The Syriac Chronicle
knownas thatofZachariahofMitylene,translatedinto English
by F. J. Hamilton and E. W. Brooks (London, 1899), pp. 328-330.
21 J. Marquart,Osteuropdische
und ostasiatische
Streifzuge(Leipzig, 1903), p. 302.
22 SozomenusHist. eccl.,vu, 26., Migne,PatrologiaGraeca,Lxvii, col. 1500.
36
GyulaMoravcsik
to become acquainted
special mentionof it - ample opportunity
withChristianity.
The newfaithhad apread also amongthe Turkishpeoplesliving
farther
East oftheCaspian.The iranizatedTurks,theso-calledWhite
Huns, or Ephthalites,northeastof Persia,wereChristiansas early
as at the end of the fifthcentury,and Nestoriansat that.At their
requestthe Syrianpatriarchsentthempriestsin the middleof the
Cosmas Indicopleustes'wordsin his workwritten
sixthcentury.23
Christian
about547-49(accordingto whichtheHuns had flourishing
churchesin theircountry)probablyreferto them.24
among
Theseare nottheonlyrecordsofthesuccessofChristianity
to Byzantinerecords,
theTurkstakenprisioners
theTurks.According
in 591 by Chosroes,the Persianking,and sentsubsequentlyto his
confederate
EmperorMaurice,had thesignofcrossincisedupontheir
foreheads.In answerto questionsas to theoriginof thesesigns,the
to
had beenadvisedby Christians
Turksexplainedthattheirmothers
tattoothecrossin theirchildren'sskinin orderto avoid theirfalling
fromwhom
ill at thetimeofa devastating
epidemic.25
The Christians
theTurkslivingnorthofPersiahad learnedto employthecrosswere
Nestorianmonks.Severalremarkableconprobablythe converting
temporary
recordson thespreadofNestorianheresyamongTurkish
peoplesare leftto us, and one of them,a Syriacone,is particularly
ofMerve,in
interesting.
Accordingto thistextElie, the metropolite
644 was about to baptizea Turkprincewho,however,refusedto let
himdo so unlesshe workedsome miracleswhichthe Turk priests
Whenthe shamansevokedthe devil
(shamans)could not perform.
amid thunderand lightning,
Elie, withhelpof the signof the cross,
and the
This miraclehad its due effect,
stoppedall thesephenomena.
princeas wellas hispeopleadoptedthe Christianreligion.26
among the
Conversionactivitywas very successfuleverywhere
was also felt
oftheEmpire,and itsinfluence
peoplesalongthefrontier
shoresoftheBlack Sea. In sixthamongthe"Huns" on thenorthern
centuryByzantinerecordstheword"Hun" is, as we know,a collectivenameincluding
different
Turkishpeoples,as e.g.,theOgurtribes
drivenfromthe Ural towardsthe Caucasus and the Sea of Azov by
the greatstreamof migrationof the nationsafterthe collapse of
are menAttila'sempire.Thus when"Huns" livingon thisterritory
23 See
Nau, op. cit. pp. 244-249.
24 The ChristianTopography
of Cosmas Indicopleustes,edited with geographicalnotes
by E. 0. Winstedt(Cambridge,1909) p. 119.
25 Theophylact.Simocattav. 10, ed. de Boor, p. 208.
26 Nau, op. cit., p. 246-247.
ByzantineChristianity
and theMigrating
Magyars
37
tioned,it means primarilythe Ogurs,Utigurs,Cutrigurs,Onogursand
the Bulgars.7
Many foreignelements are met with in the Byzantine Empire of
the sixthcentury.The armywas fullof barbarians who foughtpartly
in separate divisions,partly dispersedin Byzantine troops. As members of the Byzantine forcesthey were, of course, Christians. Beside
the barbarians conquered, or taken prisoners and settled in the
Empire in the course of wars, many foreignersvoluntarlyjoined the
Byzantine forces,and afterbeing christened,oftenrose to highpositions in the army or at the Imperial court. There were some Huns
among them. Some Huns servingin the forcesare even mentionedby
theirnames in contemporaryrecords,so forexample Akum,"magister
militum" of Illyricumin 536. He had been liftedfromthe baptismal
fontby EmperorJustinianhimself,that is, the Emperorwas his godfather.28
But beside Christianizingthe Huns living within the frontiersof
the Empire, missionary work was very successful among the differentHun tribeson the northernshoresof the Black Sea. Archeological findsconstituteevidence forcloser contact of the Cutrigurswith
Byzantine Christianity.As a result of more recent investigations,
Avar findsin Hungary consist of two differentcomponents.One of
them includes Byzantine traditionsand Christianelements.Thus, it
seems most probable that these come fromthe Cutrigurswhom the
stream of migrationhad carried away to the territorybetween the
Danube and the Tisza, but who had previously,forabout a century,
lived on the northernshores of the Black Sea, where they had opportunityto come into contact with Byzantine Christianity.29
In Cosmas Indicopleustes' workreferredto above, mentionis made
of the Bulgars as one of the peoples with whom Christianityfound
welcome.30This fact is affirmedin a later eastern record.3' The
"Huns" - whose princein 619 had come to Constantinople,wherehe
was christenedand where he attained the rank of patricius- are
apparently to be identifiedwith the Bulgars.32This Hun prince was
probably no other but Organa, whose nephew Kobrat, founder of
Gy. Moravcsik,Byzantinoturcica,
ii, 199-202.
Malalas, ed. Dindorf,p. 438; Theophanes, ed. de Boor, p. 218; see Moravcsik,
Byzantinoturcica,
Ii, 66.
29 A. Alfoldi,"Zur historischen
Bestimmungder Avarenfunde,"Eurasia Septentrionalis
Antiqua,ix (1934), 285-307.
30 The ChristianTopography,
ed. Winstedtp. 119.
31 Chronique
de Michelle Syrienpatriarche
Jacobited'Antiochie,6dit~epour la premi~re
foiset traduiten frangaispar J. B. Chabot, ii (Paris, 1901), 364.
32 NicephorusPatriarch,ed. de
Boor, p. 12.
27
28
38
GyulaMoravcsik
"Great Bulgaria,"had spenthis childhoodat the Imperialcourtof
Byzanium,wherehe becamea Christianand a friendof the EmA similarcase is recordedlater,in theeighthcenperorHeraclius.33
tury,whenTelerig,princeoftheDanubianBulgars,had to fleefrom
hiscountry
in 777.He wentto Constantinople
whereEmperorLeo IV
welcomedhimcordially,becamehis godfather,
made a patriciusof
him,and marriedhimto a relativeofhiswife's.34
Summingup all thesedata, it may be establishedthat tracesof
ChristianMissionaryactivitiesamong Turkishpeoples are to be
on the territories
foundeverywhere
betweenthe Caspian and the
Danube fromthe fourthto theeighthcentury.Amongthe Turkish
peopleslivingeast of the Caucasus,the heresyof the Manichaeans
and Nestoriansmade conquestswhile the orthodoxChurchconvertedthe "Huns" livingNorthof the Caucasus and the northern
shoresoftheBlack Sea, and theBulgars.SincetheMagyarstoomust
havelivedbetweentheCaucasusand theDon at thetime,Byzantine
missionaryworkamong "Huns" and Bulgars-who apparently
of the Magyarpeopleplayedan importantrolein the formation
makesit in itselfprobablethattheMagyartribeshad also comeinto
contactwithChristianity.
This assumptionis supportedby twoimportantitemsof historicalinformation
whichconsequently
mustbe
examinedmoreclosely.
The firstone has been handeddown to us in severalByzantine
chronicles.
It was firstrecordedbyJohnMalalas in thesixthcentury,
thenby Theophanesin the ninth,and by GeorgeCedrenusin the
twelfth
century.Johnof Ephesus,in his ChurchHistorywrittenin
Syriacduringthe sixthcentury,and bishopJohnof Nikiuin parts
- written
ofhischronicle
originally
in Greekbutleftto us inEthiopic
translation
only- also makeuse ofMalalas' text.35
Besidethese,we
knowTheophanes'work,translatedintoLatin byAnastasius.As we
do notpossesstheoriginaltextofMalalas' chronicle,
and theonlyfull
OxfordMS. is but a shortexcerpt,thetextsby Theophanes,Johnof
Ephesusand JohnofNikiumustbe takenintoaccountifwe wantto
reconstruct
theoriginal.36
This done,thepartofMalalas' information
33 The Chronicle
ofJohn,BishopofNikiu, translatedby R. H. Charles(London-Oxford,
1916), p. 197.
31 Theophanes,ed. de Boor, p. 451.
35JohnMalalas, ed. Dindorf,p. 431-432; Theophanes,ed. de Boor, p. 175-176; George
Cedrenus,ed. Bekker,i, 644-645; F. Nau, "Analyse de la seconde partieineditede Phistoireecclesiastiquede Jeand'Asie patriacheJacobitede Constantinople,"Revuede l'Orient
ii (1897), 475, cf. Chronique
Chretien,
de Michelle Syrien,ed. Chabot, iI, 192; "Chronique
de Jean evequede Nikiou." Texte ethiopienpublie et traduit par M. H. Zotenberg,Noticesetextraitsdes manuscrits
de la Bibliotheque
Nationale,24. i. (Paris, 1883), pp. 510-511.
36Moravcsik,Byzantinoturcica,
i, 184-189.
ByzantineChristianityand theMigratingMagyars
39
concerningus is as follows. In the firstyear of Justinian's reign
(527/8) Gordas, princeof the Huns who lived in the neighborhoodof
the Crimean cityof Bosporus, adopted, probablyas a resultof earlier
Byzantine missionarywork,the Christianreligionin Constantinople.
Being a distinguishedbarbarian prince,he too was grantedthe privilege of having the Emperor himselfas godfather.Afterreceivingthe
customarypresents,he returnedto his countrywhere he, as godson
and ally of the Emperor,was to representthe interestsof the Byantine Empire and to defendthe town of Bosporus, that is, to help the
Byzantine garrison there in case the enemy should attack it. But
things turned out differently
fromwhat the Byzantine Court had
expected. As soon as he returned,Gordas tried to converthis people
by force.In order to wipe out all traces of the old faith,he had the
pagan idols melted down and the metal was changed for Byzantine
money in Bosporus. The heathen priests were revolted at this procedure and murderedhim in connivance with his brotherMuageris,
who afterwardsbecame theirprince. The rebels then,being afraid of
the revenge of the Byzantines, invaded Bosporus, slaughtered the
Byzantine garrison,and took possession of the city. The Emperor
Justiniansent a punitiveexpeditionon land and sea against the Huns,
but they escaped.
In Malalas' story,whichgives an interestingpictureof the political
backgroundof Byzantine conversionin the sixth century,the name
of king "Muageris" (MovayepLs)is of special interest because, accordingto the unanimousopinion of Hungarian linguists,it involves
thename "Magyar."37Of course,thisdoes not mean that the Magyars
had got theirname fromking Muageris - just the contrary.Similarly the name Gordas may involve the word "Ogur."38 But if the
explanation of the originof the name Muageris is correct,it means
that the Huns of whichthe chroniclespeaks were eitherMagyars or a
federationof tribesin which the Magyar elementsplayed a role, in
all probabilitya leading one at that. This again means that the Magyars,or part of them,had come into contactwithChristianityas early
as at the beginningof the sixth century,even though this firstconvertiveexperimenthad, owing to the resistenceof heathen elements,
been unsuccessful.
There is anotherrecordabout two centurieslater whichgives some
informationas to the spreadingof Christianityamong the Magyars
in connectionwith the organizationof Church of the peoples on the
Crimean Peningulaand between the Don and the Caspian Sea. A list
3' Ibid., ii, 168.
38 Ibid., ii, 108.
Gyula Moravcsik
40
of bishoprics set down, according to the latest investigations,between 733 and 746, has long been known,and thereis no reason whatIt enumeratesthe bishops under the
ever to doubt its authenticity.39
Crimean Gothic metropolite.They are: o XOT~j'fWV, 6 'AjajTTX, 6
O TayadTaPXa(6 TvuaITapXa
o 'P TteY, 6 OVvvwv,
XovaXrqS,o 'Ovo'youpWv,
has not
cod.). As forthe meaningof the names, the first,o XOT?Xpwv,
been satisfactorilyexplained as yet. According to a supplementary
note to the list,thispeople lived near Phulloi and Kharasiu. And since
Kharasiu (according to the correct translationof the writerof the
note ("Black Water") is a southern tributaryof the Crimean river
Salgir, thispeople must have lived in the eastern parts of the Crimea.
This name reads Kotir, or Katir, or Kdsir, and is not mentionedin
any other record. Some hold that it involves the name of a people
known fromthe fifthcentury,the Agaleri ('AK&T?LPOL), others that it
refersto the Khazars (X&tapoL), who at. that time had possessed a
part of the Crimea.40We know forcertainthat the name is of Turkish
character,and so it must referto the bishop of one of the Turkish
peoples of the Crimean Peninsula. The second, o 'AaTTX, (incorrect
as the scholiast remarks) refersto the Khazar
instead of: 6 'ATrtX
town IJil.41 Other recordsalso confirmthe fact that Byzantine conversion of the eighth centurywas remarkablysuccessfulamong the
Khazars. It will sufficeto mentionthat duringthe reignof Emperor
Constantin V (741-775) a Byzantine soldierexpelled to Cherson fled
to Khazaria wherehe became a bishop,42and that about the middleof
the eighth centurythere were numerous Christian congregationsin
Khazaria.43 A list of bishoprics from 805-815 mentions Khazaria
G. I. Konidares, Al JA1Tpo0r6XEGT
Kal &PXLE7rLO7KO7ra1
T0o5 OUOuVAPEVKou 7racTpLpXEiou
KCa
(Athens,
1934)pp. 83-85;thetextp. 100;seealsoA. A. Vasiliev,
TheGoths
in theCrimea,p. 97-104; Moravcsik,Byzantinoturcica,
I, 284; G. Vernadsky,"Byzantium
and SouthernRussia I, The EparchyofGothia,"Byzantion:International
JournalofByzantineStudiesxv (1940-41) 67-76. Vernadsky(p. 70.) came to theconclusionthat"the very
compilationof the list must indeed be connected with Constantine's mission to the
Khazars" and "the projectof the Eparchy of Gothia . . . was probablythe resultof the
examinationof Constantine'sreportby PatriarchPhotius." Cf. G. Vernadsky,Ancient
ofVernadsky,
Russia, I, (Second printing,New Haven 1944) pp. 345-353. Argumentation
who does not know the researchesof Konidares or my treatisewrittenin Hungarian,
does not seem convincingto me.
40 See Vasiliev, The Gothsin theCrimea,p. 98; Vernadsky,The EparchyofGothia,p.
72, 75. Moravcsik,Byzantinoturcica,
II, 289-290.
"' See Vasiliev,op. cit.,p. 98-99; Vernadsky,op. cit.,p. 71; Moravcsik,ibid.,xI. p. 80.
42
MenologiumBasilii II imperatoris,Migne, PatrologiaGraeca,cxvii. col. 181 C-D;
ed. H. Delehaye (Brussels,1902), pp. 263-264.
SynaxariumecclesiaeConstantinopolitanae,
43 See Fr. Dvornik.Les legendesde Constantin
et de M~thodevuesde Byzance(Prague,
1933), p. 164; E Peeters,"Les Khazares dans la passion de S. Abo de Tiflis,"Analecta
Bollandiana,LIT (1934), 21-56; M. I. Artamonov,"Srednevekovyeposelenijana Nilnem
Donu," IzvestijaGosud.AkademiiIstoriiMaterialnofKultury,cxxxi (1935), 85.
39
7
"Ta~ts" a6nTu
ByzantineChristianityand theMigratingMagyars
41
among the countries belonging to the ConstantinopolitanPatriarhad been comparedwith
chate." The thirdbishop's name: o Xov&Xt7s,
the old Russian name of the Caspian Sea (Khvaliskoye);and with the
name of a people: Xatatot.45 In our opinion it is not a topical name:
71XovaXq, but an indeclinablepeople's name, XovaXr7s,is hidden in it.
The people's name: 'PCaaot too is often mentioned by Byzantine
authors in its indeclinable form('PCs). Thus XovaXr7sin 6 XovaXr7sis
genitiveplural just like XOTrpwv in the firstbishop's name. The fifth
name: 6 'PETh#yis probably wrong instead of: o Tepey, involving the
name of the river Terek,or a town of a similar name (Tarku).46We
do not know what people belonged to this bishopric,but we must
suppose it was the Alans. The seventh name is simplythe new name
of Turkish origin- met with forthe firsttime but well-knownfrom
otherrecords- of the old Phanagoria.47The fourthand sixthnames
involve,just like O XOTrX1pCw,
and, in our opinion, also 6 XovaXt7s,
tribalapplication. These are: 6 'Ovo-yoVpwv
and o O"vvcwP.
The phrase O 'Ovo-yoVPwv
means: the bishop of the Onogurs. We
know this people well fromByzantine sources.48We know that the
Onogursappeared near the Caucasus and the riverKuban about the
middle of the fifthcentury.They were still there during the sixth.
We have good reasons to suppose that they were the predominant
element in the "Great Bulgaria" formed at the beginning of the
seventh. In the middle of the eighth centurythis countrycollapsed
because of the advance of the Khazars. Some of the Bulgarian tribes
moved towards the West, and founded the empire of the Danubian
Bulgars. A Byzantine record of the eighth century calls them the
"Onogur Bulgars." This shows that the Onogur element was predominantin the compositionof the Danubian Bulgars. The fact that,
some decades later in the list of bishoprics,mentionis made again of
Onogurs between the Crimean Peninsula and the Caucasus, proves
that therehad been Onogursleftin the old countryaftersome of the
Bulgar tribeshad left. Now, since as the name Magyars: (Ov6yypot)
and otherformsoriginatingfromit (Russian: Vengri,Latin: Jiungari,
English: Hungarians, etc.) are derivatives of the Turkish Onogur,
44 HieroclisSynecdemnus
et Notitiaegraecaeepiscopatuum,
ed. G. Parthey(Berlin,1866),
p. 140; Des Nilos DoxopatresT~tts T4v 7rcaTptapXuC4j Op6vwv,
armenischund griechisch
herausgegebenvon F. N. Finek (Tiflis,1902), p. 29.
45 Vasiliev, The Gothsin theCrimea,p. 99-100; Vernadsky,
The Eparchyof Gothia,p.
71; Moravcsik,Byzantinoturcica,
ii, 284, 290.
46 Vasiliev,op. cit.,p. 100; Vernadsky,
op. cit.,p. 71.
47 See Moravcsik,Byzantinoturcica,
II, 251.
48 See Gy. Moravcsik,"Zur Geschichte
der Onoguren,"UngarischeJahrbicher,
x (1930)
53-90.
42
GyulaMoravcsik
rolein theformaand sincethesethushad, no doubt,an important
tionof the Hungarianpeople,the Onogursmentionedin the list of
bishoprics
mustbe consideredMagyars,or at leastan elementofthe
Magyarpeopleaboutto be formed.
It
therehavebeenseveralhypotheses.
As forthe"Hun" bishopric,
was supposedthattheHunshad livedon theCrimeanPeninsula,and
thattheywereidenticalwiththe"Black Bulgars"or theMagyars.49
In our opinionthese"Huns" are to be lookedforelsewhere.If we
examinethe list moreclosely,we discoverthat it is arrangedin
geographical
succession.Aftertheresidenceofthe Gothicmetropolitan,theCrimeantownDoros (to-dayMankup),thebishopricofthe
thenthatof the
Kocirs (livingalso in the Crim)is firstmentioned,
Itilsby theVolga,theKhalisianson thewesternshoreoftheCaspian,
southwards.The list concludeswithTamatarcha,
theTerekfarther
oppositetheCrimean,neartheestuaryoftheKuban.Thisis preceded
by the bishopricof the Onogurs,who livedbetweenthe riversDon
and Kuban. Thus the "Huns" mentionedabove mustbe lookedfor
betweentheTerekand theland oftheOnogurs,thatis, betweenthe
Kuban and the Caucasus.Huns had livedhereas earlyas thesixth
The Sabirswho,in Byzantinerecords,are oftenmentioned
century.
as Huns,also lived here.50
Theywerescatteredby theAvarsin 558,
and groupsof survivorsturnedup south of the Caucasus in the
secondhalfofthesixthcentury.But we have evidencethat,besides
the Huns, otherSabirs had lived here. Accordingto one of our
records,the fertileplain beyondthe Caspian Gates as far as lake
Meotishad beeninhabitedby Huns.5"WhenHeraclius,in thecourse
of his war in the Caucasus (624), had to fleefromthe Persians,he
withdrew
throughhardlypassable roads towardsthe land of the
Huns.52Beside Abazgiansand Zikhi,therehad been Huns in the
troops of the rebel Thomas in 820.53 Thus the Hun element is to be
tracedneartheCaucasusup to the beginningof the ninthcentury.
In our opinionthis list, also mentionedelsewhere,refersto this
Caucasian Hun bishopric.The ByzantineChurchcelebratedthe
bishop of Hunnia,on the 10th
memoryof Ephraimthe Confessor,
'9 See Vasiliev,The Gothsin theCrimea,pp. 100-101.
50 See Moravcsik,Byzantinoturcica,
ii, 201.
51 Procopius,De bello Persico, 1. 10, ed. Haury, I,
46-47, De bello Gothico,iv. 3, ed.
Haury,ii, 497.
52 Theophanes,ed. de Boor,p. 310; see E. Gerland,"Die persischen
FeldzUgedes Kaisers
Herakleios,"Byzantinische
Zeitschrift,
Im (1894) 354.
53 Genesios,ed. Lachmann,p. 33; see A. A. Vasiliev,Byzanceetles Arabes,I (Brussels,
1935),31.
Magyars
and theMigrating
Byzantine
Christianity
43
ofNovember.54
The word"Hunnia" (=land oftheHuns) is metwith
in Byzantineliteratureonlyonce beforethis.It is CosmasIndicopleusteswhocalls theland of theWhiteHuns (Ephthalites)by this
name.55But this cannotbe identicalwiththe Hunnia in question
because the Ephthaliteshad been Nestorians,whileEphraimis, in
our record,called "Confessor,"so he musthave been orthodox.Besides, the adjective 'O1oXoy1prs itself refersto the period of icono-
clasm.
to thebishoprics
Now ifwe comparethedata of thelist referring
withthoseofother
to theCrimeanGothicMetropolitanate
belonging
sources,the situationis this:in the secondhalfof the seventhcenshoresof the Black
turya greatchangehad set in on the northern
theBulgarSea. The Khazars,pressingtowardtheEast, overthrew
ian Empireby Lake Maeotis,and someoftheBulgariantribeswere
compelledto move on westwardswheretheyoccupytheirpresent
countryby the Danube. The Khazars occupiedthe townof Phanagoria(Tamatarcha)as earlyas about689 and Bosporuswas theresiofthe Khazar Khagan.56The Khazarsat
denceof therepresentative
thattimerulednot onlyovertheland by the riverKuban but also
overtheeasternshoresoftheCrimeanPeninsula.The CrimeanGoths
forsometime,but theKhazar Khagantook
kepttheirindependence
thetownofDoros in 787.57Thus,onlythewesternpartofthepeninsula remainedunderByzantinerule.This probablyaccountsforthe
factthatthePatriarchof Constantinople
raisedthebishopricof the
withsevensuborthenindependent
Gothsto therankofmetropolis,
dinatebishoprics.Two of them(Itil and Tamatarcha)bear, as we
one,Terek,
haveseen,beyondquestionthenamesoftowns.A further
of the
is likewisea geographicname,whiletherest- thebishoprics
Kotshirs,Khvalisians,Onogursand Huns,have tribalnames.From
thisfactwe mustdrawtheconclusionthatthefourlatterbishoprics
had no permanentresidences,and musthave been active on territoriesof half-nomadic
peoples. This again means that they were
activitiesweredirectedby
missionary
bishopricswhoseconverting
bishops.We have seen in one of the above mentionedrecordsthe
termE7rtaKO7rOS
and when,in themiddleof
OVvvlas insteadofo O6vvwv
the Constantinopolitan
Patriarchconsecratesthe
thetenthcentury,
51SynaxariumecclesiaeConstantinopolitanae,
ed. H. Delehaye (Brussels,1902) p. 212.
55The ChristianTopography,
ed. Winstedt,p. 69.
56 Theophanes,ed. de Boor, p. 373; NicephorusPatriarch,ed.
de Boor, p. 40-41.
LifeofJohnofGothia,ActaSanclorumJunii,v, 190-194;see E.Peeters,"Les Khazares
dans la passionde S. Abo de Tiflis,"AnalectaBollandiana,LII (1934), 39-40.
57
44
GyulaMoravcsik
firstbishop of the Magyars expresslyin order to do missionarywork
among his compatriots, the Byzantine record mentions the new
bishop by the name of('7'o0KowrS ToupKtas.8 All these data prove that
in the eighth centuryan intensivemissionarywork was being done
among the Magyars, or, better,among the Onogurs,componentelementsof the later Magyars. We are not informedas to its later course
and resultant,but, at any rate, we must suppose that part of the
Magyars at that time had become acquainted more closely with the
tenetsof Christianity.
The details of the formationof the Magyar people and of the long
centuriesof theirwanderingsare unknown. Afterthe name of king
Muageris and that of theOnogurbishopric,the Magyars are not mentioned again beforethe thirtiesof the ninthcentury,when they were
fightingat the Lower Danube. Some decades later we finda Hungarian troop in Crimea which met the apostle Cyrill in 861 near the
town of Cherson. Our recordgives the followingaccount of it: "Alors
qu'il faisaitsa prierede la premiereheure,des Hongroisl'entourerent,
hurlantcomme des loups et voulant le tuer. Mais lui ne se laissa pas
intimider,il n'interrompitpas sa priere, et prononga seulement le
"Kyrie eleison," car il avait deja terminel'office.Eux, l'ayant considere,se calmerent,sur un ordredivin, et commencerenta s'incliner
devant lui. Apres avoir entendu de sa bouche des paroles d'exhortation, ils le relacherentavec toute sa suite."59This account shows the
characteristicsof Christianlegend. Its chiefmotive- the holy man's
miraculousescape by God's help fromthe Barbarians whom he had
tamed with his words- is a hagiographiccommonplace frequently
met with. So, for example, one of the records tells the history of
bishop Theotimus who had met Hun horsemen,whereuponhis followersbegan to wail, but he dismountedand prayed to God. The Hun
horsemenhad not noticed him, and rode away past him. On another
occasion a Hun, wantingto kill the bishop, slunga rope to catch him,
but a miracle happened again: his outstretchedarm became paralyzed, and it was only by Theotimus's prayer that he was rid of his
invisible fetters.60A similar story has been recorded of a hermit,
James,who had been attacked by Hun horsemen.They aimed at him
and became
with theirarrows,but theiroutstretchedarms stiffened,
loose again only after the hermit had prayed for them.6"But all
this is far from meaning that the meeting of the Magyars with
68
JohnScylitzes,ed. Bekker,p. 328.
59 Fr. Dvornik,Les legendesde Constantin
etde Methodevuesde Byzance,p. 360.
60 Sozomenus,Hist. eccl.,VII. 26, Migne,PatrologiaGraeca,LXVII, Col. 1500.
61;Procopius,De belloPersico,i. 7, ed. Haury, I, 31-32.
ByzantineChristianity
and theMigrating
Magyars
45
Cyrillhad not taken place. There is a recordgivingevidence that the
Magyars had come into contact with the Slav apostles beforethe occupation of theirland. It reads: "Quand le roi des Hongroisvint dans
les regionsdanubiennes,il voulut le voir. Malgre certainsqui disaient
qu'il ne serait pas aisementlibere,il (Methode) se renditapres de lui.
Et ce dernierle recut comme un prince,avec honneur,solemniteet
gaIt'. II lui parla comme on doit parl' a de tels hommeset il le congedia affectueusement,
lui disant en l'embrassantet en le comblantde
dons: 'Pere venerable,souviens-toitoujoursde moi dans tes prieres'."62
As to the identityof the Magyar king, or, better,leader, or where
and when the meetingtook place, we can only conjecture. One thing
is certain; it must have happened before 884, that is, previous to
Methodius's death. We know that, beforeoccupying theirland, the
Magyars repeatedlyvisited the westernregionsin 862 and 881, and
so some of the Magyar leaders may have heard Slav apostles teaching
the principlesof Christianity.If the Magyars had reallybroughtthe
word "kereszt" (=cross) into theirnew country,it is a furtherevidence that they had come into contact with Christianity- also
throughSlavs - beforethe occupation of the land.
Summingup the resultsof our investigations,it can be established
that the Byzantine Church,in the course of its intensivemissionary
work among Turkish peoples, had tried,as early as the beginningof
the sixth century,to convert the "Huns"' who lived near Bosporus.
In the name of one of these Hun leaders we discovered the people's
name: "Magyar." The factthat therehad been Christiansamong the
Bulgarian princes at the beginningof the seventh centuryis significant, forthe Magyars had, in all probability,belongedto the OnogurBulgar Empire by the Maeotis. The Onogur missionary bishopric
made conversionsalso among the Magyars in the eighthcentury,and
at the beginningof the ninth the Magyars came into contact with
young Slavic Christianity.Consideringfurthermorethat the Magyars had been living forcenturiesin lands surroundedfromall sides
by Christian peoples and bishoprics,it seems even more probable
that when they occupied theirnew countrythey had known Christianity, and thus the Byzantine Church had prepared their conversion to the Christian religion which they adopted in their new
land.
THE
62
UNIVERSITY
OF BUDAPEST.
Fr. Dvornik,Les ligendesde Constantinel de Milhodezeuesde Byzance,p. 392.