The worldview of the Byzantine scholars is known through their works. It is the late ancient Greek worldview as it was described in Ptolemy's works. This worldview was also adopted by the Church following the Hexaemeronon of Saint Basil (4th c.).
However, the common people and the lower clergy seem to have had a very different idea of the world and nature. It is a picture of the world that recalls that of the Christian topology of Kosmas Indicopleustes in the fifth century. It is a flat earth, surrounded by an ocean, and a sky either dome-shaped or flat. The natural phenomena are primarily due to the angels.

The beliefs of the common people about nature and its world can be deduced from the popular readings of that period, which were the Lives of the Saints. These short readings, which were circulated in many copies, are mainly in the form of a dialogue. A holy man answers the questions of a disciple. The content is primarily moralistic, but questions about nature are not lacking. Why it rains, why it snows, who throws the lightning, how the heavens are made, and much more. From the answers we infer both the idea of nature and the general worldview of the ordinary people of the Byzantine Middle Ages. In this paper we will try to reconstruct these popular views.