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The Byzantine churches of Cappadocia, of which the represen- tations of Constantine the Great and Helena are the object of this article, are located on the Anatolian high plateau; according to actual knowledge, we count ninety seven churches(7th–13th centuries). We have distributed the monuments in eight groups geographically defined: Çavuşin area, Avcılar and Göreme area, Ürgüp area, Gülşehir area, Kayseri area, Niğde area, Güzelöz, Soğanlı and Erdemli valleys, and Hasan dağı area. In despite of the reputation of this region as one of the cultural heritage of the world, the physical degradation of paintings is notable. Except for several privileged churches, which are under the protection of Turkish government, and some churches in the Göreme site and Karşı kilise restored by UNESCO, most churches we visited between 2000 and 2002 are exposed to the bad weather, and have evident deterioration. This writing covers all the Byzantine churches known up to now in this region, and we added new materials collected by research in the field. It has for the essential objective to index and to describe the isolated images of saints Constantine the Great (Constantinus I, Gaius Flavius Valrerius) and his mother, Helena, explaining their choice, place, and association with other images in the church. The double portrait of St. Helena and St. Constantine appears in the cappadocian churches from the late ‘archaic’ period, and continues to decorate the insides of the churches till 13th century. It abounded during 10th and 11th century, reflecting the then current increasing cult of the saint Cross and devotion for these two saints; this fact points also to the constantinian ideology re-illuminated in social context of Macedonian empire which took the offensive for extending its territory. The image of Helena and Constantine decorates important places in the church; the portrait of other saints are mainly represented in the nave, however the sacred emperors’ occupy the place near sanctuaries: the wall or the arch of apse, where all the eyes during the mass converge upon. Helena, one of the most popular female saints of Cappadocia, is represented wearing the loros and the stemma sumptuously decorated with gems. With static posture and solemn face which reveals any individual emotion, Helena and Constantine hold up high with their arms the Greek cross represented in a circle; this is read as symbol of divine presence and victory. This study also relate to the iconological analysis, that is, a deepened examination which can illuminate in a more complete way the representation of the saints, the significance of iconographical characteristics, their origin, their evolution, and their function in the current religious context. The intercessor role is one of the most important functions given to these images. The praying posture with raised hands emphasises this role. In the same way the portrait of Helena and Constantine relates to funeral ceremony; the funeral church is decorated with death and resurrection themes, and the dead are given prayers there; the portrait of Yusuf Koç kilisesi refers to the personal matter of donors, that is, salvation of the soul and the Parousie, theme awaken by the Cross of Helena and Constantine. The meaning of intercession connotes always that of protection. Especially, the image of Helena and Constantine represented near the entrance of church or of apse has an apotropaic function. In this case, the image shows the apostolic and protectoral role of Helena and Constantine in addition to the meaning of divine presence revealed by the Cross. Another role relates to the function of anargyres; the medals and rings called konstantinata prove the saints’ healing power. The specificity of the choice of Helena and Constantine reflects the particular intention of the donors or the local cultural preference. As we discovered the image of the Phokas church of Çavuşin, Nikephoros II Phokas and Theophano are depicted with intent to be identified to the sacred emperors, Constantine and Helena. Intercessors, protectors or anargyres, Constantine and Helena occupy privileged places in the iconographical program of church, such as in the apse, near the entrance to the sanctuary, or in the dome of ceiling. Not being a simple decoration, their representation illustrates the function of the church, the role of the donor for the execution of decoration, or the contemporary religiosity.

Before the scholastic form of systematic theology emerged, the subjects of creation, redemption, and eschatology were frequently illustrated by the pattern of procession (processio) and return (reditus). Processio primarily means division and multiplication from God to every creature as at the creation in the providential developments of the world. Reditus signifies the reversal returning to the origin through the stages of redemption and eschatology. With Paul’s classic statement, “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11:36), the theme of procession and return was articulated by the early Fathers, including the Cappadocians and Pseudo-Dionysius, and often was employed philosophically by Neo‐Platonists. It is in the Dionysian corpus that we could find the best example of the framework of procession and return. Through the textual and thematic analysis of the Dionysian corpus, I will explore the way in which Dionysius initiates the illumination and formation of procession and return and cataphatic and apophatic theology as well. My analysis of the Dionysian hermeneutics of procession and return consisted of two parts: structural examination of the five books, and application of procession and return to major theological issues. The structural format of procession and return, found in chapters one and fifteen of Celestial Hierarchy, embraces multiple aspects of celestial hierarchy in a descending order. Procession and return is closely related to returning and uplifting, symbolic theology, and hierarchy. The triple structure of remaining, procession, and return is illustrated within the triple component of each chapter of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. Unique interpretations of “divine birth” and “synaxis” dramatize Dionysius’s theology of procession and return. Two subjects, “human fragmentation” and “incarnation out of love for humanity,” anticipate further development in Eriugena’s anthropology and Christology. Chapters four and thirteen of the Divine Names introduce an overarching framework of procession and return. Dionysius’s comments on Being, Life, and Wisdom (chapters 5, 6, 7) and on three different types of movement (chapter 9) nicely present a range of aspects of procession and return. Mystical Theology envisages procession and return from the story of Moses at Sinai. Even as the shortest of five books, it presents the theological hermeneutics of literal plurality and simplicity within the framework of procession and return. Letter 9 portrays a distinctive symbolism based on imagery of “a mysterious mixing bowl.” A mixing bowl is a sign of an open and embracing power and the providential activity of God. All the analysis shows the structural application of procession and return and its multiple relationships with the theological principles in Dionysius’s theology. With its apostolic authority and theological subtlety, the Dionysian corpus had a strong impact on later theologians both in the West and the East from the sixth century onward. In the West, it was Eriugena who chiefly introduced Dionysius to Western Christianity. The Dionysian writings, mostly through Eriugena’s translation and commentary, enjoyed a revival around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Many scholars have researched on the Holy Roman Empire, the typical medieval political community. The researchers have examined various subjects such as the policies and thoughts of the Emperors who ruled the Empire, the political and religious conflicts between Emperors and Popes, and the characters and significance of the Empire as an institute. In spite of their ardent studies on the Empire, researchers have overlooked the very important subject related to the starting point of the Empire. Most of historians in this country have regarded the coronation of Otto the Great in 962 as the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire. But in case of foreign historians, about half of them saw the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 as the starting point of the Empire, while the rest tended to see the year 962 as the beginning. I found that these two views could not be compatible and should be unified. This is the main reason that I selected this subject in this paper. This paper compared the characters of the Empire of Chralemagne with that of the Empire of Otto the Great in order to present an answer on this issue. This study first revealed the Empire of Charlemagne to be the first unique medieval empire which held universal characters, Roman and Christian. This paper subsequently examined the nature of the Empire of Otto the Great on the ground of the theories of the scholars who insisted that the history of the Holy Roman Empire had started from the coronation of Otto in 962. The true nature of the Empire of Otto was also both a Roman and a Christian Empire with universal characters. In short, as a consequence of the comparison of two Empires, this paper concluded that the Empire of Otto was ideologically and theoretically an extension of that of Charlemagne. Therefore it seems to be reasonable that the starting point of the Holy Roman Empire should be fixed as the coronation of Charlemagne in 800.

This article aims to find answers to the following questions. First, what is the homicide? How can we make a distinction between murder and homicide? Second, how can we seize the process of investigation and trial about a homicide? Third, what kind of punishment do murderer? Fourth, there are many cases of general and special pardons to murderer in the reign of Edward I, II, III. If so, what have any relations to pardon and community order? There are several kinds of homicide. That is in the administration of justice, of necessity, by chance and by intention. We must distinguish whether the necessity was avoidable or not. If avoidable, he/she could escape without slaying, he/she will then be guilty of homicide. If unavoidable, he/she could not escape danger, he/she is not liable to the penalty for homicide. Also we must distinguish whether he/she has been engaged in a proper or an improper act. By intention, one has killed another wickedly and feloniously. These are major and more serious crime because he/she principally affect the person of the king. What we called that is breach of king's peace. The kind of the punishment for homicide is various. Some take away life or member. Some entail the abjuration of the realm of his/her community, permanent or temporary. If murderer flees to a church, he/she confess his/her crime in there because they want they remain there. After confessing the crime he/she choose to abjure the realm, he/she is sent into exile. And then he/she can not return the realm without license after being so exiled. According to Maitland's assertion, murderer was exiled from the realm of England to France or Flanders through Dover port. But I can not agree with his assertion. He/she must select some port from which he/she can cross to another land(Channel Islands) beyond the realm of England. Pardon for homicide is various kinds. One who is under twelve years of age cannot be outlawed. Until he reaches that age he is not under any law. As soon as war was declared, it was the custom to issue a proclamation, in which a general pardon of all homicides was granted to everyone who would serve for some times at his own cost. According to this custom, king Edward granted general pardon to homicides for increasing his military force to make war with Scotland, Gascony, Spain, Wales, Ireland, Flanders, and France. In memory of accession to the throne of king Edward III, he granted special pardon to homicides. This pardon had a great influence on community social order and king's peace. The main function of the frankpledge system was to provide mutual surety as well as crime prevention. Each frankpledge unit was divided into a number of tithings. With respect to one who has taken to flight, careful inquiry must be made as to whether he is to enter a tithing or not. If every tithings are not inspected by sheriff once a year, the tithings will be amerced before the justices for not producing the said malefactor for trial, even though men of a tithing has been arrested by others before the eyre and committed to prison. By this system we can understand how medieval English tithing system made efforts for the prevention of criminal offences and social order.

In this study, the medieval Europeans life was researched as to how they used extra time or indulged in their desires, distanced away from political powers or the Catholic Church, through casting dice. As a result, it was discovered that dice casting comprised a significant part of the daily life of various social classes and strata of the then society; in particular, it was very popular within the cities. Studied in addition were regulatory actions taken against gambling activities and their adverse effects ravaging primarily throughout the cities. From a large perspective, in spite of the fact that casting dice was very popular, it was negatively considered by the many. The then society took the leisure of casting dice, but was not completely free from the governing ethics and religion. The Church continually warned that casting dice breathed evil into the mens mind, but the more people indulged themselves in this gambling practice. If thought reasonably, gambling should have had been excised once and for all, because it consumed so much time and money. For this reason or another, cities exercised policing power to ward off this disease, but to no avail. Amidst this irony, we can see that the then society and its system failed to accommodate internal desires of the people to play. Another fact discovered in this study was, unlike the Church that required rule and ethics, the municipal council demonstrated a relatively understanding position towards the people casting dice. In certain cities, casting dice was permitted by ordinance so long as it was involved in the fun or time consumption and to the extent of time wine, beer, and food were consumed for late hours. This allowance, however limited by location and space within the cities, is reflective of the municipal recognition of the cathartic effect of the activity involved in the peoples life. In conclusion, the majority of the then people benefited from the fun, joy, and freedom provided by the play, which gradually became publicly accepted.