The broadcast today is about the Zealots of Thessaloniki . This was a revolutionary movement that sought to stop oligarchy and the destruction of the empire. It was allied with the Hesychast monastics who rejected all social hierarchy and, like all monks, all private property (or private capital). The Byzantine Empire – New Jerusalem as it termed itself – never recovered from the papal assault of 1204. Most of the gold, jewels and valuables of the empire were taken and used to build the modern west. In the period of the populist revolt of the Zealots, Byzantium was in a state of decline matched only by the USA in 2017. Money ruled all and the traditions of justice were reduced to irrational dependency. The class war was made worse by the racial one: Italian merchants monopolized the wholesale foreign and domestic trade of the empire. This lecture is about the universal constants of decay. What happens to great civilizations as they die. One of these constants is asset stripping. The rule of short term interest over real production. History is the march of irrationality. Decisions are made by emotions, passions and self interest. Only later are they dressed up as "rational." Presented by Matt Johnson The Orthodox Nationalist: Usury and Passion - The Revolt of the Byzantine Zealots in Thessaloniki (1342-1350) – TON 112217