Byzantium Novum State of the Nation - October 2013

Greetings all,

 

The Fall season has been a busier time for Byzantium Novum! October 2013 was a good month for our Micronation worldwide. People are continuing to find us, and with new applications we now stand at 412 official Citizens!  Our public presence on social media also continues to expand with over 3,630 contacts able to see our official news and announcements.

Our latest development is that we have made arrangements for the graphic design of the main Byzantium Novum web site to be redone by a professional level designer! Our current site is serviceable but in an older format that doesn't display perfectly on portable devices with various screen formats. The project will be worked on part time so it will probably take a couple of months to complete but the results should be great!

 Our sad news this fall is that Senator Amma Doukaina has decided to resign her Senate position and all other official positions for personal reasons. Her contributions and excellent work as the editor of Byzantium Novum's newsletter, the Basilica, will be missed! Happily Amma will be able to remain as a Citizen and says she'll stay active in the forums as she is able. In the most real sense "Byzantine Citizen" is the most important position any of us here can have in any case!

 As President of the Byzantium Novum Senate, I am officially empowered to bestow the ancient official title of "Magnificentissimus" once yearly upon any Magistrate or Citizen who has done outstanding service to Byzantium.

In accordance with this tradition I hereby bestow the title of "Femina Magnificentissimus" upon Amma Doukaina as a sign of our collective appreciation for her work on behalf of the Senate and People of Byzantium Novum.  It is my hope that all will give her proper congratulations on being the first Byzantine Citizen to officially receive this title in many centuries!  Ave!

I believe Byzantium Novum will be heading into an active Holiday Season. I look forward to communicating with everyone in our various public forums during Winter. The warmth of friendship and shared interest in "things Byzantine" helps to make the colder months much more interesting and fun!

-Marcus Cassius Julianus

Senate President, Byzantium Novum

STATE OF THE NATION - March 2013


Greetings all,

 

I'm pleased to say that March 2013 was a very active month in Byzantium Novum. We gained 20 new Citizens! That is almost double our usual monthly average, and it gives us a current total of 372 officially registered Byzantine citizens. 

I'm especially pleased to greet our several new Citizens from Komi, Russia, who are part of a local organization working with Byzantine era reenactments. Welcome to you all!

 

We have continued to gain more Facebook contacts, and several folks have joined our various Yahoo group discussion lists. We're communicating with more people each month and that is helping our Micronation gain more notice.

 

The Byzantium Novum Senate was quite active this month, progressing with much discussion and also voting on 11 appointments and reappointments for various Counts in our local communities worldwide. Many thanks to Baduila Chalkas, Senate Clerk for tabulating and posting the votes!


Speaking of our worldwide community, Byzantium Novum maintains a worldwide map located at http://www.communitywalk.com/byzantium_novum/map/543922 . Each new Byzantium Novum Citizens gets a Citizen number, which is listed on this map.


This month, a Citizen in Tennessee, USA posted this to their Map location: "This is a place in a middle of nowhere surrounded by other cities of nowhere. If anyone happens to be located near here I would love to meet up!"


To me that amusing and honest post really goes to the heart of what Byzantium Novum is trying to achieve worldwide. Most of us have started out "alone" in our Eastern Roman cultural and historical interests.... but it doesn't have to be that way, and won't be like that forever!


We are sincere in our goals to build real world community for those interested in "Things Byzantine." Therefore we very much encourage all Citizens to reach out to others in their local area! The more Byzantium Novum grows, the more real world Byzantine community and friendships all of us can have.


Our Senate stands ready to help people find local Byzantine interests, and the Byzantium Novum Chancellery has been making great efforts to provide help and information for our various local Villages, Colonies and Provinces.


The month of April begins Byzantium Novum's annual commemoration of the Siege of Constantinople, which lasted from April 6th to May 29th, in 1453 AD. In keeping the memory of this event we look to celebrate Byzantine history and tradition rather than to renew ancient conflicts. This story will always raise public interest regarding the Eastern Roman Empire, and public interest is what is needed to build NEW Byzantine community with its own new peaceful and positive story!


I wish everyone a wonderful Spring!


-Marcus Cassius Julianus

Senate President, Byzantium Novum

STATE OF THE NATION - February 2013

Greetings all,

The month of February marks the third anniversary of the founding of Byzantium Novum! On February 8th, 2010, the web site for our Micronation went online and we began accepting Citizens!

During these three years we have made good progress toward our goals of restoring Byzantine civilization and culture. Our work to establish an international Byzantine community and to manifest Byzantine statehood has been successful so far - even though we are realistically still in our beginning.

To date we have 352 official Citizens, an average of well over 100 new people each year. That is surprisingly good, considering how little most of the modern world knows about the Eastern Roman Empire! We have established Byzantine colonies in many places worldwide which work to provide a real-world presence for Byzantine interest. We currently have 3,780 Facebook contacts, which allows us a substantial Internet presence. In short our nation continues to expand at a realistic, manageable pace.

Our overall statistics are in a way less as important as the story of the people that make up our Community. Our forums, and our local colonies and provinces are providing people a way to gather and rekindle something of the Eastern Roman world. Our very existence has inspired people to learn more about the wonderful history and culture of Byzantium... and to share the dream that it can live again today. We have many wonderful and skilled Citizens working to bring Byzantium to life, including accredited scholars and published authors. We have Citizens building local community, producing artwork and literature, and who have created a truly professional periodical publication. An amazing start to a long journey!

Three years may not seem like much for a fully developed nation or community. It IS a big deal for a Micronation. Most "grassroots" ideas of founding new official world states simply don't last through the first year. Byzantium Novum is one of the few Micronations that has continued to grow and gain strength. The old saying "Rome wasn't built in a day" is just as true for NEW Rome... our goals are important enough to keep working toward for years to come.

As we continue, we can ultimately help manifest a wider renewal of Byzantine interest and activity worldwide. With patience and effort, we WILL see active local Byzantine provinces around the world. This will provide modern Byzantines the opportunity for local gatherings and community efforts.

As our numbers grow from the hundreds and into the thousands, we may even be able to establish a world headquarters to consider our international Capital. If medium sized corporations can maintain sites of that size so can we... and such a place would truly be a jewel among modern Sovereignty Projects!

Spring is almost here, and we can begin looking forward to May 11th, Byzantium Novum's "International Byzantine Day." May 21 is the anniversary of the founding of Constantinople - a day which proved that old Empires can be renewed, and that new Sacred places can be created. This day celebrates both ancient tradition and modern hope... the foundations that Byzantium Novum are built upon. The more we promote this holiday, the more we can bring Eastern Roman Civilization to the public!

-Marcus Cassius Julianus
Senate President, Byzantium Novum