AHC: Orthodox West Slavs

With a POD of your choice, have the West Slavs (Slovaks, Poles, Czechs) convert to Eastern Orthodoxy rather than Roman Catholicism.

The Germans must still be Catholic.

Bonus points if you can also make the Hungarians, and with them the Croats, Orthodox, leaving only the Slovenians as a major Catholic Slavic people.
 
The easiest POD would be to delay the rise of Germany and strengthen the power of the Kievan Rus state. If the Germans don't conquer the Nordmark before Kievan Rus becomes dominant, then the Poles won't integrate into the Latin West. They'll follow the Kievan model of civilization instead.

Maybe a serious defeat of the Germans at the hands of Saxons, Magyars, or Wends in the 9th or 10th centuries.
 
Or if folowers of Cyril and Methodius were not expelled from Great Moravia to Bulgaria in 885. They have time to influence future Czechs, Slovaks and Poles to stay Orthodox. This could make even Hungarian tribes to accept orthodox christianity. on other side, bordering Catholic Germany would probably bring more then one crusade to the region.
 
Or if folowers of Cyril and Methodius were not expelled from Great Moravia to Bulgaria in 885. They have time to influence future Czechs, Slovaks and Poles to stay Orthodox. This could make even Hungarian tribes to accept orthodox christianity. on other side, bordering Catholic Germany would probably bring more then one crusade to the region.
What about the Saxons converting Orthodox as well.
 
Really the Hungarians are the easiest ones here because they aligned with the pope largely because of a petty political tiff between the Hungarians and the Byzantine Empire. Resolve that situation in a conciliatory way and it's plausible they could end up Orthodox. That likely quickly domino into orthodox Slovaks because Slovakia was party of Hungary. From there you need to really strangle the power of German catholics, find some way to make Poland be in the Russian political sphere and the Czechs to be Hungarian alligned and you could plausibly see them siding with the Patriarch.
 
What about the Saxons converting Orthodox as well.
Have Orthodox Poles to hold on Lusatians and Wilzians lands, convert them to Orthodox fairh. now Saxons fot on their border Orthodox Czechs and Poles. because of some military defeat or dynastic marriage or alliance they covert too.
 
Have Orthodox Poles to hold on Lusatians and Wilzians lands, convert them to Orthodox fairh. now Saxons fot on their border Orthodox Czechs and Poles. because of some military defeat or dynastic marriage or alliance they covert too.
Aside from that, I think the Byzantines would most likely had gained Rome back ITTL and the Pope had already been forced out of the Papal States and an alliance between the Byzies and the Hungary would have stormed the Papal States.
 
Aside from that, I think the Byzantines would most likely had gained Rome back ITTL and the Pope had already been forced out of the Papal States and an alliance between the Byzies and the Hungary would have stormed the Papal States.

How does that turn anyone away from the Western Church?
 
Aside from that, I think the Byzantines would most likely had gained Rome back ITTL and the Pope had already been forced out of the Papal States and an alliance between the Byzies and the Hungary would have stormed the Papal States.

Why would they run out the pope when enforcing the nominal rules on the structure of the church is just another of the five patriarchs. Running him out of Rome is kind of extreme here. That and what material help does Hungary provide in subduing the papal states? It's far away from Italy itself and Medieval supply lines would be stretched to the brink just trying to keep the army cohesive all the way through this whole venture. Also the Empire could probably take Rome without much help. I mean it's not that hard, the big reason it slipped from their grasp was more that there where much bigger threats going on at the time so Roman italy kind of fell by the wayside.
 
Why would they run out the pope when enforcing the nominal rules on the structure of the church is just another of the five patriarchs. Running him out of Rome is kind of extreme here. That and what material help does Hungary provide in subduing the papal states? It's far away from Italy itself and Medieval supply lines would be stretched to the brink just trying to keep the army cohesive all the way through this whole venture. Also the Empire could probably take Rome without much help. I mean it's not that hard, the big reason it slipped from their grasp was more that there where much bigger threats going on at the time so Roman italy kind of fell by the wayside.
Yeah, if Rome was annexed by the Byzantine Empire, it would mean the Greek Rites will be more dominant ITTL and the Byzantines don't need any alliance but the Eastern countries will be more likely to convert to Greek rites if the Byzantines control Rome.
 
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