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Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes: Eastern Influences on Rome and the Papacy from Gregory the Great to Zacharias, A.D. 590- 752. By Andrew J. Ekonomou. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 2007. Pp. x, 347. $70.00. ISBN 978-0-739-11977-8.)
The title is misleading, suggesting a book on the Greek popes - that is, the popes from Agatho (678-81) to Zacharias (741-52), all of whom, with the exception of Gregory II, were native Greek speakers. In fact, it is not until page 200 that the Greek popes arrive, and only the last chapter and the epilogue (on Zacharias) really discuss them. The book is, in fact, about a broader theme, as the subtitle indicates: an exploration of the links between Rome and the Greek East from the end of the sixth to the middle of the eighth century. Ekonomou begins with Gregory the Great, who spent time as a papal apocrisiarius in Constantinople but never apparently achieved any facility in Greek and was defensive against seeming attempts by the patriarch of Constantinople to encroach on the privileges of Rome. Despite this, the author shows how deeply interested Gregory...