Last modified on Sunday July 25, 2004 at 1:03 AM UTC
For a growing bibliography on converts to the various Eastern Catholic Churches and their inspirations for taking this step of communion with the Holy See, visit William Klimon's page Eastern Catholic Converts: A Bibliography of Converts to Eastern Catholicism and his more general At the Gate of Bliss Catholic Converts Information Page.
For a remarkable and heart-rending account of Byzantine-Slav church architecture in southern and eastern Poland and the communities who have offered their churches and their very lives to Our Risen Lord, see The Church in Ruins site. (This site is no longer active but you can see some of it in the Internet Archive Library at: http://www.archive.org).
Medieval Church of Ateni, Republic of Georgia
One of the hallmarks of Byzantine art is the mosaic. One can get some idea of the richnes of this art form by taking a making a virtual visit to the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna.
Afficionados of Byzantine architecture will enjoy comparing the styles of several classic churches, such as the Cattolica in Stilo, Calabria, Italy -- and here you will find another vista and description of the Cattolica -- with that of Kariye Camii (St. Savior in Chora) in Constantinople and that of the Katholikon at Hosios Loukas in Phocis, Greece, as well as that of the Katholikon at Daphni, Greece. One can see the Byzantine influence as it developed in the hands of Russian ecclesiastical architects in Moscow and in Novgorod and read an interesting analysis here complete with photos from several Russian cities.
St. Polyeuktos the Martyr Church in Constantinople was commissioned by the imperial princess Anicia Juliana, and became the inspiration for Agia Sophia. Some of the columns of this church were removed at the time of the Fourth Crusade and are now found in Saint Marc's Basilica in Venice.