Byzantine Empire

[Robert Vermaat]

... and of course Greek names were also all the rage (Nikolaos, Basileios, Georgios, Theodoros etc).
The Byzantines, for the most part of their history, called themselves Roman as far as their collective identity was concerned. They viewed themselves as the natural continuation of the Roman Empire. Yet, they also, like for example the ancient Greeks, had a regional nationality that was as important (if not more in most cases). They were Cappadocians, Armenians, Cilicians etc.

I agree with that description.

For the most part, "ethnic" Greeks replaced their Hellenic identity with the Roman one as far as the term was concerned and reserved the former for use as an adjective for their language and other cultural traits. But, as an identity, to be a Hellene, for some centuries was a synonym to an idolater or simply used for ancient Greeks (idolaters) only. Later on things changed and the term reappeared in a nationalistic context.

Would 'Hellene' also have referred to a pagan identity, whereas the Byzantines would see themselves as champions of Christianity?