# The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople (1204) > In April 1204 a crusade called for Jerusalem sacked Constantinople. Innocent III condemned the killing of Christians. John Paul II expressed deep regret in 2001. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/sack-of-constantinople-1204 - Religions: Christianity - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: crusades, history - Updated: 2026-10-11 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) In April 1204 the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople. The army had been called to recover Jerusalem. It attacked a Christian city instead, after a diversion by way of Zara. Pope Innocent III condemned the killing. On 4 May 2001 John Paul II told the Orthodox archbishop of Athens that the fact the assailants were Latin Christians fills Catholics with deep regret. ## Key Points - [Britannica on the Fourth Crusade](https://www.britannica.com/event/Fourth-Crusade) records the diversion and the sack of April 1204. Constantinople was the seat of the Eastern Roman emperor and of the Greek church. - Innocent III wrote in 1205 that swords which were supposed to be used against the pagans were dripping with Christian blood, and that the Greek church detests the Latins more than dogs. The English is James Brundage’s, kept short. - Niketas Choniates, in D. C. Munro’s 1912 English, says the Great Church was violated and that its altar was broken and divided among the soldiers. A note in that translation identifies the Great Church as Hagia Sophia. - John Paul II’s regret in Athens on 4 May 2001 is about this sack. It is not a general apology for every crusade from 1095 to 1291. - [Were the Crusades Justified?](/christianity/were-the-crusades-justified) is the wider war, including the Rhineland, Jerusalem in 1099, and Acre in 1191. [Eastern Orthodox and Catholic](/christianity/eastern-orthodox-vs-catholic) is the communion this sack wounded. - [Matthew 26:52](/bible/matthew/26/52) tells Peter to put the sword back. A crusader army killing Christians in a Christian city is not that command. ## How a Crusade Reached a Christian City Urban II’s sermon in 1095 had asked for help for Eastern Christians and for Jerusalem. A century later, another army under a crusade vow turned on the city those Eastern Christians ruled. [Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/event/Fourth-Crusade) summarizes the diversion through Zara and the sack of April 1204. This page does not retell the Venetian contract or the palace intrigue beyond that summary. The public fact is the sack. The people killed and robbed were Christians. The churches looted were Christian churches. That is the opposite of the appeal to aid Eastern Christians which opens the crusade story. [The Islamic Conquests (632–1071)](/islam/islamic-conquests) is the earlier loss of Byzantine Syria, Egypt, and Anatolia. Those losses are real. They do not make the looting of Constantinople into a defense of the East. ## What Innocent III Wrote Innocent III’s letter of 1205 to Peter of Capua, Epistle 136, in Brundage’s short English: > whose swords, which they were supposed to use against the pagans, are now dripping with Christian blood He also wrote that the Greek church “detests the Latins more than dogs.” The condemnation is contemporary. It is a pope speaking about a crusade he had not wanted to end this way. The detestation he names is the wound between the Latin and Greek churches. [Eastern Orthodox and Catholic](/christianity/eastern-orthodox-vs-catholic) quotes the two communions on their own doctrine. This page is the event, not that doctrinal comparison. ## What Choniates Saw Niketas Choniates wrote as a Greek who lived through the sack. In D. C. Munro’s 1912 English he says the violation of the Great Church cannot be heard with equanimity. The altar, which he calls admired by the whole world, was broken into bits and distributed among the soldiers, with the rest of the church’s wealth. The translator’s note identifies that church as Hagia Sophia. Mules and saddled horses were led to the sanctuary to carry the spoil away. The paraphrase follows Munro’s English of Choniates. A longer extract is not copied here. A crusader narrative and a Greek narrative agree that Christian soldiers plundered a Christian cathedral. The disagreement that matters is not whether the altar was broken. It is whether anyone still calls that obedience to Christ. ## The Regret of 2001 John Paul II, speaking to Archbishop Christodoulos in Athens on 4 May 2001, said: > It is tragic that the assailants, who had set out to secure free access for Christians to the Holy Land, turned against their own brothers in the faith. The fact that they were Latin Christians fills Catholics with deep regret. That is an official Catholic statement about 1204. It names the original aim, the Holy Land, and the actual victim, brothers in the faith. It does not say that Clermont, the Rhineland, 1099, or Acre were thereby excused, and it does not claim those were covered by the same sentence. [Were the Crusades Justified?](/christianity/were-the-crusades-justified) keeps those other crimes on the page. ## The Christian Claim [Matthew 26:52](/bible/matthew/26/52) says that all who take the sword shall perish with the sword. [John 18:36](/bible/john/18/36) says the kingdom is not of this world. Jesus is God. An army that set out for Jerusalem and sacked the city of the Eastern Christians did not obey that word. Innocent III said the swords were dripping with Christian blood. John Paul II said the regret belongs to Latin Catholics. The history supports both sentences. The longer political span is [What Is the History of Islam?](/islam/history-of-islam). [The Islamic Dilemma](/islam/the-islamic-dilemma) is what the Qur’an says about Jesus and the earlier books. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Did the Pope Order the Sack? Innocent III’s letter of 1205 condemns it. The letter describes swords used against Christians, which he says were supposed to be used against pagans. Condemning the sack afterward is not the same as having prevented it. ### Did the Catholic Church Apologize? John Paul II, on 4 May 2001, expressed deep regret for the sack of 1204, to the Orthodox Church, in Athens. That statement is about this event. ### Was Constantinople a Muslim City in 1204? No. Muslim armies had taken other Byzantine lands. Constantinople in 1204 was a Christian capital. Ottoman forces took it on 29 May 1453, two and a half centuries later. [Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/event/Fall-of-Constantinople-1453) dates that later fall. It is a different war. ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### Matthew 26:52 King James Version. > Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. ### John 18:36 King James Version. > Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Britannica, Fourth Crusade, Zara; April 1204](https://www.britannica.com/event/Fourth-Crusade) 2. [Innocent III to Peter of Capua, 1205, Epistle 136, Patrologia Latina 215:669–702](https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/1204innocent.asp) (English by James Brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary History (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1962), pp. 208–209. The quotation is kept short.) 3. [Niketas Choniates on the sack, The Great Church](https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/choniates1.asp) (English by D. C. Munro, Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, series 1, vol. 3:1 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1912), pp. 15–16. A note in that English identifies the Great Church as Hagia Sophia.) 4. [John Paul II, address to Archbishop Christodoulos, Athens, 4 May 2001](https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2001/may/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20010504_archbishop-athens.html) 5. [Gospel of Matthew, 26:52](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/matthew/26/52). King James Version 6. [Gospel of John, 18:36](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/18/36). King James Version ## See Also - [Did Christianity Spread by the Sword?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/did-christianity-spread-by-the-sword) — Christianity spread for three centuries without state power, under persecution. Later rulers sometimes forced baptism. The New Testament does not command that. - [Were the Crusades Justified? Holy War, Conquest, or Response to Conquest](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/were-the-crusades-justified) — The Crusades were armed pilgrimages to recover Jerusalem after centuries of Muslim conquest. They also produced massacres of Jews, Muslims, and fellow Christians. - [Did Jesus Really Exist?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/did-jesus-exist) — Yes. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Paul, the Gospels, Tacitus, and Josephus all place him there, and a skeptic who rejects the resurrection still says the man was real. - [Does Archaeology Confirm the Bible?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/does-archaeology-confirm-the-bible) — The Pilate stone, the Tel Dan stele, Hezekiah’s tribute on the Taylor Prism, the Siloam tunnel inscription, and the Cyrus Cylinder name people and events the Bible also names. Each find has a limit. - [The Resurrection of Jesus](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/resurrection-of-jesus) — The Christian claim that Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised, and the main ways that claim is doubted. ## History [View history on GitHub](https://github.com/Apologetics-Wiki/apologetics-wiki/commits/main/src/content/articles/sack-of-constantinople-1204.md)