[Antoninus]

....why the Western world should be thankful to the Orthodox populations of Constantinople and the Balkans who absorbed the force of the Islamic invasions and kept the West safe, rather than being crudely dismissive of them.

I'm not crudely dismissive of anything. I have studied the history of Byzantium and am fascinated by it and I appreciate the efforts made by the East in repelling Islam during the 7th - 15th centuries. I think it was a tragedy that Constantinople was ever taken by the Turks.

Honestly, I think some of my Orthdox brethren have some sort of bitter inferiority complex when it comes to history that forces them to try to aggrandize their own ancestors by denigrating everyone else's. Really, we're all on the same side, here. What's the point of fighting each other any more?

[wildandcrazyrussian]

ACtually, that is precisely the point I myself was making. It is not in the slightest an "inferiority complex" to complain about Western Europeans and especially Americans denigrating the contributions of the Eastern Roman Empire (if they are even the least bit aware of them). WE are not the ones who denigrate Western society and consider it laughable, but that is the treatment dished out by the West. Or are you unaware the word "byzantine" is used as an insult, as when talking about politics? When is the last titme you personally tried to set the record straight to get others to use a different word and teach others about the existence and glory of the Christian civilization of Byzantium, which made it possible for your ancestors to even be Christian? I always thought that it was (some) Westerners who have an inferiority complex which makes them feel better only by insulting others.

Overall, we appreciate those who laid their life on the line, as in the original article posted above. Let's see more of that joint effort in the future!