It has long been noted that the prestige and power of the church were steadily growing in the period of the late Byzantine empire, a tendency that was complex, multifaceted, and sometimes ambivalent. The essays in this collection seek to shed light on various aspects of the church's role in late Byzantine society, especially on the relationship between the church and the lay world and the response of individuals to the challenges faced by Orthodoxy. The volume is divided into three sections: (1) Politics, Society, and the Economy; (2) Intellectual Life and Ideology; and (3) The Church and the Turkish Conquests. By exploring these different areas, the essays in this volume contribute to scholarly understanding of how the church was embedded into the fabric of late Byzantine society and intellectual life.