Ghengis Khan united the Mongol tribes and conquered almost all of Asia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire

Russians called them Tartars. Steak Tartar for instance, is now raw minced beef, named so because mongol horse cavalry cured strips of raw horse meat in the seats of their saddles and ate it like jerky. Mongols dont eat cow. They drink horse milk.

Amazing horse archers, they were invincible in battle. Their loose silk tunics worked well against enemy arrows. Arrows spin. The silk would wind around the points making extraction a simple matter of carefully tugging at the cloth to extract the silk wrapped arrowhead from the wound! Amazingly effective, but low tech. The fabric wouldn’t even be cut.

They beat everyone. Then the Khan died in China and all the tribes ran home to consolidate their positions, and just never made it back. Lack of central leader utterly dissipated their power. They didn’t exactly take over occupied societies, only issued edicts, and extracted tribute. Disobedience resulted in utter destruction, of which a few examples served to keep revolt unlikely. Spies were everywhere. Primitive but effective.

Maybe this is what you’ve seen on some old maps labeled Tartaria. (It’s a pseudo-history vogue imho) The Mongol Empire was very real, but Mongols still live in yurts, raise horses, and play polo with a goat’s head as the ball. They’re not exactly architects, and no mud flood ended them. They’re still around. Less so, but enduringly.

Justinian was not “Cabal”. The Venetian Doges, maybe.. the Borgias? Probably…

He was adroit in expanding the Eastern Roman Empire, against a variety of foes. Vandals, Visigoths, Franks, etc. He should have left Italy alone. He may have been a putz, but his wife Theodora had BALLS!!! His General Belisarius was fantastic! He “built” (commissioned) the Hagia Sophia. A real wonder of the world. It’s a mosque now but still standing almost 1400 years later. Wow! Procopius’ “Secret Histories” gives the salacious details of palace intrigues. Juicy stuff. Hit piece. Fun.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belisarius

Orthodoxy was official Christianity from 313 AD until 1054 AD until Rome (the Pope) Excommunicated Constantinople (The Patriarch) and the other 3 main Churches at Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch chose to stay in communion with each other. All 5 had attended and contributed to the various councils of bishops (elders) that gathered to determine theological unity among the churches over several centuries. See the Nicene Creed. Council of Nicea, the 1st council was in 325 and decided what books were included in the Bible. (Constantine insisted on uniformity across his empire)

In 1054 Rome demanded primacy. First among equals as they said. The church of Peter, they said. Augustine got some minor grammatical translation wrong and came up with “original sin” and “immaculate conception” (because he felt dirty about his own hyper sexual pre conversion life imho). Luther splintered it, then the Gutenberg printing press and various translations out of Latin into ordinary languages (like English) shattered into thousands of “denominations” each considering all others among the dammed. Hilarious? Maybe. Or it serves Gods purposes, how would I know?

Orthodox Christianity is quite unlike its Roman Catholic offshoot, and very much theologically at odds with Protestant theology. Salvation isn’t an “event” it’s a process. Humans restore their “likeness” to God through prayer and communion with God. A process made possible by an historical singularity, yes, but requiring human effort in conjunction with divine grace. It’s not an insurance policy one signs and expects to be binding on the issuer of the policy. It’s not a “get into Heaven free” card. (If only, amirite?) Of course nobody’s getting in just because they were magnanimous either, but they never think God hates humans so much he had His own son tortured to death to teach us a lesson! Iykwim. Penal Substitutionary Atonement (see St Anselm) (Jesus takes the rap for us) is a heresy. We say at Easter “By death, He conquered death”. He resurrected. He walked among us afterward. He left. Pentecost happened. The “fullness of the nations” progresses until Christ returns. Maybe tomorrow? The apostles thought it would happen in their lifetimes. I think it’s happening in individual hearts all over the world. At some point there’ll be nobody left who’s not had the chance to “choose” a side. Then we’ll see. Already, but not yet, as they say.

I converted almost 10 years ago at age 60 after rejecting Protestant theology as cruel and unjust at an early age. I thought I was a Buddhist, or a Yogi, or whatever hippie dippy trend seemed acceptable to the Beatles and my friends most of my life. Everything seems plausible on LSD as you may know.

Then I started reading Plato, after investigating “sacred geometry” for a while. I went deeply into Athenian philosophers. Studied late antiquity and the Platonic academy of Alexandria. Read Plotinus (1st century AD) who gets right to the leap of faith, but never jumped. I liked him because he was a devotee of Ammonias Saccas, a common dockworker who had traveled to India and gotten immersed in “gymnosophism”.

Some crazy coincidence events occurred and I experienced Christian Mysticism for myself, and I completely spontaneously arrived at an Orthodox Church. Not because anybody else suggested it. ( I’d never heard of them either.) It was exactly where I needed to go. It worked for me. Is it everyone’s path forward? Unlikely, but I don’t know. Just like the rest they’re sure they’re exclusively “the” Church. How would I know? Im not God. It’s not up to me. It’s not what the book says, but still.., they are the “original recipe” and I never liked New Coke. Those tiny bottles from Mexico, made with cane sugar are really something though. No comparison.

I just knew my ultra repressive tent revival Baptist family had it all wrong, so I didn’t ever give Jesus Christ a chance to get my attention. Until I did. I realized I’d been wrong about Him. He’s real. He’s God. He’s Truth. I paid close attention in catechism class. The teenagers I sat in with, not so much, but they’re expected to pick it up through osmosis. (From their grandmothers from the “old country, I guess)

I’ve looked into the Khazar conversion subject. It’s real. Are they descended through Jacob? Idk. I don’t care. It’s not helpful to my own ongoing process to dwell on other people’s relationships with the Creator of the Universe. They’re on their own. I want no part of them, and yet, if one is to exist in the world one spends money, yes? And borrows at interest?

I’ve never once loaned money at interest.I’ve never demanded tribute, nor levied taxes either. I’d be begging for mercy if I had. I have however sufficient burdens to pray over and concern myself as completely as possible exclusively with my own repentance. I’m very old now and deeply concerned with personal accountability of my own. I pray for mercy morning noon and night. Not just for myself either. I do like having relationships with Mary, and the Saints too. Not worship, but more like influential friends in high places, as I understand it. One can address them as equals, as they’re humans and understand our struggles. Very helpful I’ve found.

There’s one Protestant theological scholar I really do like. Michael Heiser. He’s a super linguist. He spells it out straight. He realizes the Orthodox are preservers of tradition, and that tradition alone isn’t salvation. I completely agree.

He’s all over YouTube. His fiction works are spiritual warfare/sci-fi with military interaction with “aliens” and with a child sex traffic rescue team theme. Terrific stuff. Yes, slaughter of innocents is real. Lots of good people fighting that worldwide. Some organized, some official, some “lone wolves”. All good. See: “You Were Never Really Here” starring the great actor Joachin Phoenix.

I don’t disparage any sincere servants of God. He knows His own. It’s not my place to judge. Theology isn’t salvation by itself either. I just try to behave as if He’s standing right there literally all the time. Consequently, I have no friends. Im not much on current popular cultural trends. A fair trade imho.

Sorry for writing a novel. You asked. God Bless You.