The day began with the presentation of Professor Ecaterina Lung (University of Bucharest), "Historians and their cultural role in Early Byzantium", who highlighted the role and importance of historians such as Procopius of Caesarea, Petrus Patricius et Magister, Agathias of Myrina, Menander or Iordannes, in the social and cultural landscape of the sixth century, as well as in the drawing of the Byzantine religious identity. Byzantine historians were very sensitive to the political realities that shaped their existence. Their writings - beyond their personal interests or those of political sponsors - reflect ideologies and mentalities rather than objective reflection of events. They are also an attempt to contribute to the maintenance of the Byzantine Empire, which was facing barbarian invasions, but also to the maintenance of a "distorting mirror" (Cyril Mango) of Byzantine society and realities.
During the session dedicated to young researchers, drd. Ioannis Siopis ("Aristotle" University of Thessaloniki, fellow of the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation) gave an interesting paper "The Representations of the Heretics in Byzantine Art", in which he highlighted the richness of iconographic representations and manuscript illustrations of heretics. The speaker pointed out that heretics are always portrayed as a tool to promote the prestige of Orthodoxy, especially since the eleventh century there is a gradual demonization of heretics, when the dogmatic controversies of the Middle Byzantine period stimulated the study of the Church Fathers
