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Photios I of Constantinople

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Saint

Photios the Great
Facial Chronicle - b.13, p.414 - Photios baptising king of Bulgars.gif
Photios baptising the Bulgarians
The Great, Confessor of the Faith, Equal to the Apostles, Pillar of Orthodoxy[1]
Bornc. 810
Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
(modern-day Istanbul, Turkey)
Diedc. 893
Bordi, Armenia
Venerated inEastern Orthodox Church
Canonized1847, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, by Anthimus VI of Constantinople
FeastFebruary 6
"Photios" redirects here. For other people with the name, see Photios (name).

Photios I (Greek: Φώτιος, Phōtios; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893),[a] also spelled Photius[2] (/ˈfoʊʃəs/), was the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople from 858 to 867 and from 877 to 886.[3] He is recognized in the Eastern Orthodox Church as Saint Photios the Great.

Photios is widely regarded as the most powerful and influential church leader of Constantinople subsequent to John Chrysostom's archbishopric around the turn of the fifth century. He is also viewed as the most important intellectual of his time – "the leading light of the ninth-century renaissance".[4] He was a central figure in both the conversion of the Slavs to Christianity and the Photian schism,[5] and is considered "[t]he great systematic compiler of the Eastern Church, who occupies a similar position to that of Gratian in the West," and whose "collection in two parts...formed and still forms the classic source of ancient Church Law for the Greek Church."[2]

Photios was a well-educated man from a noble Constantinopolitan family. Photios's great uncle was a previous patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Tarasius.[6] He intended to be a monk, but chose to be a scholar and statesman instead. In 858, Emperor Michael III (r. 842–867) decided to confine Patriarch Ignatius in order to force him into resignation, and Photios, still a layman, was appointed to replace him.[7] Amid power struggles between the pope and the Byzantine emperor, Ignatius was reinstated. Photios resumed the position when Ignatius died (877), by order of the Byzantine emperor.[7] The new pope, John VIII, approved Photios's reinstatement.[8] Catholics regard as legitimate a Fourth Council of Constantinople (Roman Catholic) anathematizing Photios,[7] while Eastern Orthodox regard as legitimate a subsequent Fourth Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox), reversing the former.[7] The contested councils mark the end of unity represented by the first seven Ecumenical Councils.

Photios was canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1847.

Discover more about Photios I of Constantinople related topics

Greek language

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy, southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.

Eastern Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the head of the Catholic Church—the pope—but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognized by them as primus inter pares. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The Eastern Orthodox Church officially calls itself the Orthodox Catholic Church.

John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, his Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, and his ascetic sensibilities. The epithet Χρυσόστομος means "golden-mouthed" in Greek and denotes his celebrated eloquence. Chrysostom was among the most prolific authors in the early Christian Church, although both Origen of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo exceeded Chrysostom.

Christianization of Bulgaria

Christianization of Bulgaria

The Christianization of Bulgaria was the process by which 9th-century medieval Bulgaria converted to Christianity. It reflected the need of unity within the religiously divided Bulgarian state as well as the need for equal acceptance on the international stage in Christian Europe. This process was characterized by the shifting political alliances of Boris I of Bulgaria with the kingdom of the East Franks and with the Byzantine Empire, as well as his diplomatic correspondence with the Pope.

Photian schism

Photian schism

The Photian Schism was a four-year (863–867) schism between the episcopal sees of Rome and Constantinople. The issue centred on the right of the Byzantine Emperor to depose and appoint a patriarch without approval from the papacy.

Nomocanon

Nomocanon

A nomocanon is a collection of ecclesiastical law, consisting of the elements from both the civil law and the canon law. Nomocanons form part of the canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches and of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Canon law

Canon law

Canon law is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law, or operational policy, governing the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the individual national churches within the Anglican Communion. The way that such church law is legislated, interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these four bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule adopted by a church council; these canons formed the foundation of canon law.

Tarasios of Constantinople

Tarasios of Constantinople

Saint Tarasios was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 25 December 784 until his death on 25 February 806.

Michael III

Michael III

Michael III, also known as Michael the Drunkard, was Byzantine emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian dynasty. He was given the disparaging epithet the Drunkard by the hostile historians of the succeeding Macedonian dynasty, but modern historical research has rehabilitated his reputation to some extent, demonstrating the vital role his reign played in the resurgence of Byzantine power in the 9th century. He was also the youngest person to bear the imperial title, as well as the youngest to succeed as senior emperor.

Ignatios of Constantinople

Ignatios of Constantinople

St. Ignatius or Ignatios, was a Patriarch of Constantinople from July 4, 847, to October 23, 858, and from November 23, 867, to his death on October 23, 877. In the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches, he is regarded as a saint, with a feast day of October 23.

Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 14 December 872 to his death. He is often considered one of the ablest popes of the 9th century.

Fourth Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox)

Fourth Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox)

The Fourth Council of Constantinople was held in 879–880. It confirmed the reinstatement of Photius I as patriarch of Constantinople.

Secular life

Most of the primary sources treating Photios's life are written by persons hostile to him. The chief contemporary authority for the life of Photios is his bitter enemy, Nicetas the Paphlagonian, the biographer of his rival Ignatios.[9] Modern scholars are thus cautious when assessing the accuracy of the information these sources provide.[b] Little is known of Photios's origin and early years. It is known that he was born into a notable family and that his uncle Saint Tarasius had been the patriarch of Constantinople from 784–806 under both Empress Irene (r. 797–802) and Emperor Nikephoros I (r. 802–811).[10] During the second Iconoclasm, which began in 814, his family suffered persecution since his father, Sergios, was a prominent iconophile. Sergios's family returned to favor only after the restoration of the icons in 842.[11] Certain scholars assert that Photios was, at least in part, of Armenian descent[c] while other scholars merely refer to him as a "Greek Byzantine".[12] Byzantine writers also report that Emperor Michael III (r. 842–867) once angrily called Photios "Khazar-faced", but whether this was a generic insult or a reference to his ethnicity is unclear.[13]

Although Photios had an excellent education, we have no information about how he received this education. The famous library he possessed attests to his enormous erudition (theology, history, grammar, philosophy, law, the natural sciences, and medicine).[14] Most scholars believe that he never taught at Magnaura or at any other university;[15] Vasileios N. Tatakes asserts that, even while he was patriarch, Photios taught "young students passionately eager for knowledge" at his home, which "was a center of learning".[14] He was a friend of the renowned Byzantine scholar and teacher Leo the Mathematician.[16]

Photios says that, when he was young, he had an inclination for the monastic life, but instead he started a secular career. The way to public life was probably opened for him by (according to one account) the marriage of his brother Sergios to Irene, a sister of Empress Theodora, who upon the death of her husband Emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842) in 842, had assumed the regency of the Byzantine Empire.[17] Photios became a captain of the guard (prōtospatharios) and subsequently chief imperial secretary (protasēkrētis). At an uncertain date, Photios participated in an embassy to the Abbasids of Baghdad.[18]

Photios achieved a dazzling reputation as a scholar. In a feud with Patriarch Ignatios, Photios invented a fanciful theory that people have two souls, for the sole purpose of tricking Ignatios into embarrassing himself by being seen to take it seriously, whereupon Photius withdrew his proposal and admitted he had not been serious. The historian John Julius Norwich described this as "perhaps the only really satisfactory practical joke in the whole history of theology."[19]

Discover more about Secular life related topics

Irene of Athens

Irene of Athens

Irene of Athens, surname Sarantapechaina (Σαρανταπήχαινα), was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler from 792 until 797, and finally empress regnant and sole ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire from 797 to 802. A member of the politically prominent Sarantapechos family, she was selected as Leo IV's bride for unknown reasons in 768. Even though her husband was an iconoclast, she harbored iconophile sympathies. During her rule as regent, she called the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, which condemned iconoclasm as heretical and brought an end to the first iconoclast period (730–787). Her public figure was very polarizing during her 5 year reign, as most saw a woman not right to solely rule. Her sole reign made her the first ever empress regnant, ruling in her own right, in Roman and Byzantine imperial history.

Nikephoros I

Nikephoros I

Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811. Having served Empress Irene as genikos logothetēs, he subsequently ousted her from power and took the throne himself. In reference to his career before becoming emperor, he is sometimes surnamed "the Logothete" and "Genikos" or "Genicus". Nikephoros pursued wars against the Arabs and Bulgarians, with mixed results; while invading Bulgaria he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Pliska.

Armenians

Armenians

Armenians are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the de facto independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora of around five million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil, and Syria. With the exceptions of Iran and the former Soviet states, the present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian genocide.

Byzantine Greeks

Byzantine Greeks

The Byzantine Greeks were the Greek-speaking Eastern Romans of Orthodox Christianity throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They were the main inhabitants of the lands of the Byzantine Empire, of Constantinople and Asia Minor, the Greek islands, Cyprus, and portions of the southern Balkans, and formed large minorities, or pluralities, in the coastal urban centres of the Levant and northern Egypt. Throughout their history, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Romans, but are referred to as "Byzantine Greeks" in modern historiography. Latin speakers identified them simply as Greeks or with the term Romei.

Michael III

Michael III

Michael III, also known as Michael the Drunkard, was Byzantine emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian dynasty. He was given the disparaging epithet the Drunkard by the hostile historians of the succeeding Macedonian dynasty, but modern historical research has rehabilitated his reputation to some extent, demonstrating the vital role his reign played in the resurgence of Byzantine power in the 9th century. He was also the youngest person to bear the imperial title, as well as the youngest to succeed as senior emperor.

University of Constantinople

University of Constantinople

The Imperial University of Constantinople, sometimes known as the University of the Palace Hall of Magnaura, was an Eastern Roman educational institution that could trace its corporate origins to 425 AD, when the emperor Theodosius II founded the Pandidacterium.

Leo the Mathematician

Leo the Mathematician

Leo the Mathematician, the Grammarian or the Philosopher was a Byzantine philosopher and logician associated with the Macedonian Renaissance and the end of the Second Byzantine Iconoclasm. His only preserved writings are some notes contained in manuscripts of Plato's dialogues. He has been called a "true Renaissance man" and "the cleverest man in Byzantium in the 9th century". He was archbishop of Thessalonica and later became the head of the Magnaura School of philosophy in Constantinople, where he taught Aristotelian logic.

Protospatharios

Protospatharios

Prōtospatharios was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period, awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes.

Protasekretis

Protasekretis

The protasekretis or protoasekretis, Latinized as protasecretis or protoasecretis, was a senior official in the Byzantine bureaucracy. The title means "first asekretis", illustrating his position as the head of the order of the asekretis, the senior class of imperial notaries.

Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon. In 762 CE, Baghdad was chosen as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, and became its most notable major development project. Within a short time, the city evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning".

John Julius Norwich

John Julius Norwich

John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich,, known as John Julius Norwich, was an English popular historian, travel writer, and television personality.

Patriarch of Constantinople

Photios's ecclesiastical career took off spectacularly after Caesar Bardas and his nephew, the youthful Emperor Michael, put an end to the administration of the regent Theodora and the logothete of the drome Theoktistos in 856. In 858, Bardas found himself opposed by the then Patriarch Ignatios, who refused to admit him into Hagia Sophia, since it was believed that he was having an affair with his widowed daughter-in-law. In response, Bardas and Michael engineered Ignatios's confinement and removal on the charge of treason, thus leaving the patriarchal throne empty. The throne was soon filled with a kinsman of Bardas, Photios himself, who was tonsured a monk on December 20, 858, and on the four following days was successively ordained lector, sub-deacon, deacon and priest, and then on Christmas Day, the patronal feast[20] of Constantinople's cathedral, Hagia Sophia, Photios's was consecrated a bishop and installed as patriarch.[21]

The confinement and removal of Ignatios and the speedy promotion of Photios at first caused only internal controversy within the Church of Constantinople, and in 859 a local council was held, examining the issue and confirming the removal of Ignatios and election of Photios.[22] In the same time, partisans of Ignatios decided to appeal to the Church of Rome, thus initiating ecclesiastical controversy on an ecumenical scale as the Pope and the rest of the western bishops took up the cause of Ignatios. The latter's confinement and removal without a formal ecclesiastical trial meant that Photios's election was uncanonical, and eventually Pope Nicholas I sought to involve himself in determining the legitimacy of the succession. His legates were dispatched to Constantinople with instructions to investigate, but finding Photios well ensconced, they acquiesced in the confirmation of his election at a synod in 861.[23] On their return to Rome, they discovered that this was not at all what Nicholas had intended, and in 863 at a synod in Rome the pope deposed Photios, and reappointed Ignatius as the rightful patriarch, triggering a schism. Four years later, Photios was to respond on his own part by calling a Council and excommunicating the pope on grounds of heresy – over the question of the double procession of the Holy Spirit.[24] The situation was additionally complicated by the question of papal authority over the entire Church and by disputed jurisdiction over newly converted Bulgaria.[25]

This state of affairs changed with the murder of Photios's patron Bardas in 866 and of Emperor Michael III in 867, by his colleague Basil the Macedonian, who now usurped the throne. Photios was deposed as patriarch, not so much because he was a protégé of Bardas and Michael, but because Basil I was seeking an alliance with the Pope and the western emperor. Photios was removed from his office and banished about the end of September 867,[17] and Ignatios was reinstated on November 23. Photios was condemned by the Council of 869–870, thus putting an end to the schism. During his second patriarchate, however, Ignatios followed a policy not very different from that of Photios.

Not long after his condemnation, Photios had reingratiated himself with Basil, and became tutor to the Byzantine emperor's children. From surviving letters of Photios written during his exile at the Skepi monastery, it appears that the ex-patriarch brought pressure to bear on the Byzantine emperor to restore him. Ignatios's biographer argues that Photios forged a document relating to the genealogy and rule of Basil's family, and had it placed in the imperial library where a friend of his was a librarian. According to this document, the Byzantine emperor's ancestors were not mere peasants as everyone believed but descendants of the Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia.[26] True or not, this story does reveal Basil's dependence on Photios for literary and ideological matters. Following Photios's recall, Ignatios and the ex-patriarch met, and publicly expressed their reconciliation. When Ignatios died on October 23, 877, it was a matter of course that his old opponent replaced him on the patriarchal throne three days later. Shaun Tougher asserts that from this point on Basil no longer simply depended on Photios, but in fact he was dominated by him.[27]

A fresco of St. Photios as Patriarch of Constantinople
A fresco of St. Photios as Patriarch of Constantinople

Photios now obtained the formal recognition of the Christian world in a council convened at Constantinople in November 879. The legates of Pope John VIII attended, prepared to acknowledge Photios as legitimate patriarch, a concession for which the pope was much censured by Latin opinion. The patriarch stood firm on the main points contested between the Eastern and Western Churches: the demand of an apology to the Pope, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Bulgaria, and the addition of the filioque to the Nicene creed by the Western church.[17] Eventually, Photios refused to apologize or accept the filioque, and the papal legates made do with his return of Bulgaria to Rome. This concession, however, was purely nominal, as Bulgaria's return to the Byzantine rite in 870 had already secured for it an autocephalous church. Without the consent of Boris I of Bulgaria (r. 852–889), the papacy was unable to enforce its claims. Photios also promoted a policy of religious reconciliation with the Armenian kingdom to the east of the empire. He sought to bridge the confessional differences between the Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches on two separate occasions, once in 862 and again in 877, but his efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful.[28]

During the altercations between Emperor Basil I and his heir Leo VI, Photios took the side of the Byzantine emperor. In 883, Basil accused Leo of conspiracy and confined the prince to the palace; he would have even have Leo blinded had he not been dissuaded by Photios and Stylianos Zaoutzes, the father of Zoe Zaoutzaina, Leo's mistress.[29] In 886, Basil discovered and punished a conspiracy by the domestic of the Hikanatoi John Kourkouas the Elder and many other officials. In this conspiracy, Leo was not implicated, but Photios was possibly one of the conspirators against Basil's authority.[30]

Basil died in 886 injured while hunting, according to the official story. Warren T. Treadgold believes that this time the evidence points to a plot on behalf of Leo VI, who became emperor, and deposed Photios, although the latter had been his tutor.[31] Photios was replaced by the Byzantine emperor's brother Stephen, and sent into exile to the monastery of Bordi in Armenia. It is confirmed from letters to and from Pope Stephen that Leo extracted a resignation from Photios. In 887, Photios and his protégé, Theodore Santabarenos, were put on trial for treason before a tribunal headed by senior officials, headed by Andrew the Scythian. Although the sources sympathetic to Photios give the impression that the trial ended without a conviction, the chronicle of Pseudo-Symeon clearly states that Photios was banished to the monastery of Gordon, where he later died. Latin sources confirm that while he did not die in a state of complete excommunication, having been reinstated by a council which was approved by Pope John VIII, his ecclesiastical career was viewed in utter disgrace by Catholic authorities and many of his theological opinions were condemned posthumously. [32] Yet it appears that he did not remain reviled for the remainder of his life.[33]

Photios continued his career as a writer throughout his exile, and Leo probably rehabilitated his reputation within the next few years; in his Epitaphios on his brothers, a text probably written in 888, the Emperor presents Photios favorably, portraying him as the legitimate archbishop, and the instrument of ultimate unity, an image that jars with his attitude to the patriarch in the previous year.[34] Confirmation that Photios was rehabilitated comes upon his death: according to some chronicles, his body was permitted to be buried in Constantinople. In addition, according to the anti-Photian biographer of Ignatius, partisans of the ex-patriarch after his death endeavored to claim for him the "honor of sainthood". Furthermore, a leading member of Leo's court, Leo Choirosphaktes, wrote poems commemorating the memory of several prominent contemporary figures, such as Leo the Mathematician and the Patriarch Stephen, and he also wrote one on Photios.[35] Shaun Tougher notes, however, that "yet Photios's passing does seem rather muted for a great figure of Byzantine history [...] Leo [...] certainly did not allow him back into the sphere of politics, and it is surely his absence from this arena that accounts for his quiet passing."[36]

The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates Photios as a saint, his feast day being February 6, as well as Ignatius, whose feast day is on October 23. Ignatius is also venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

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Bardas

Bardas

Bardas was a Byzantine noble and high-ranking minister. As the brother of Empress Theodora, he rose to high office under Theophilos. Although sidelined after Theophilos's death by Theodora and Theoktistos, in 855 he engineered Theoktistos's murder and became the de facto regent for his nephew, Michael III. Rising to the rank of Caesar, he was the effective ruler of the Byzantine Empire for ten years, a period which saw military success, renewed diplomatic and missionary activity, and an intellectual revival that heralded the Macedonian Renaissance. He was assassinated in 866 at the instigation of Michael III's new favourite, Basil the Macedonian, who a year later would usurp the throne for himself and install his own dynasty on the Byzantine throne.

Theoktistos

Theoktistos

Theoktistos or Theoctistus was a leading Byzantine official during the second quarter of the 9th century and the de facto head of the regency for the underage emperor Michael III from 842 until his dismissal and murder in 855. A eunuch courtier, he assisted in the ascent of Michael II to the throne in 822, and was rewarded with the titles of patrikios and later magistros. He held the high posts of chartoularios tou kanikleiou and logothetēs tou dromou under Michael and his son Theophilos. After Theophilos' death in 842, Theoktistos became member of the regency council, but soon managed to sideline the other members and establish himself as the virtual ruler of the Empire. Noted for his administrative and political competence, Theoktistos played a major role in ending the Byzantine Iconoclasm, and fostered the ongoing renaissance in education within the Empire. He also continued the persecution of the Paulician sect, but had mixed success in the wars against the Arabs. When Michael III came of age in 855, his uncle Bardas persuaded him to throw off the tutelage of Theoktistos and his mother, the Empress-dowager Theodora, and on 20 November 855, Theoktistos was assassinated by Bardas and his followers.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque was originally built as an Eastern Orthodox church and was used as such from the year 360 until the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. It served as a mosque until 1935, when it became a museum. In 2020, the site once again became a mosque.

Pope

Pope

The Pope, also known as supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome, head of the worldwide Catholic Church, and has also served as the head of state or sovereign of the Papal States and later the Vatican City State since the eighth century. From a Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013.

Pope Nicholas I

Pope Nicholas I

Pope Nicholas I, called Nicholas the Great, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 858 until his death. He is remembered as a consolidator of papal authority, exerting decisive influence on the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe. Nicholas I asserted that the pope should have suzerainty over all Christians, even royalty, in matters of faith and morals.

Council of Constantinople (861)

Council of Constantinople (861)

The Council of Constantinople of 861, also known as Protodeutera, was a major Church Council, convened upon the initiative of Emperor Michael III of Byzantium and Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople, and attended by legates of Pope Nicholas I. The Council confirmed the deposition of former Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople, and his replacement by Photios. Several dogmatic, ecclesiological and liturgical questions were also discussed, and seventeen canons were produced. Decisions of the Council were initially approved by papal legates, but their approval was later annulled by the Pope. In spite of that, the Council is considered as valid by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Photian schism

Photian schism

The Photian Schism was a four-year (863–867) schism between the episcopal sees of Rome and Constantinople. The issue centred on the right of the Byzantine Emperor to depose and appoint a patriarch without approval from the papacy.

Excommunication

Excommunication

Excommunication or disfellowshiping is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose of the institutional act is to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular, those of being in communion with other members of the congregation, and of receiving the sacraments.

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit

In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as an agent of divine action or communication. In the Baha’i Faith, the Holy Spirit is seen as the intermediary between God and man and "the outpouring grace of God and the effulgent rays that emanate from His Manifestation".

Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. Bulgaria covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), and is the sixteenth-largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities are Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas.

Assessments

Photios is one of the most famous figures not only of 9th-century Byzantium but of the entire history of the Byzantine Empire. One of the most learned men of his age, and revered – even by some of his opponents and detractors – as the most prolific theologian of his time, he has earned his fame due to his part in ecclesiastical conflicts, and also for his intellect and literary works.[37][38]

Analyzing his intellectual work, Tatakes regards Photios as "mind turned more to practice than to theory". He believes that, thanks to Photios, humanism was added to Orthodoxy as a basic element of the national consciousness of the medieval Byzantines, returning it to the place it had had in the late Roman (early Byzantine) period. Tatakes also argues that, having understood this national consciousness, Photios emerged as a defender of the Greek nation and its spiritual independence in his debates with the Western Church.[39] Adrian Fortescue regards him as "one of the most wonderful men of all the middle ages", and stresses that "had [he] not given his name to the great schism, he would always be remembered as the greatest scholar of his time".[40] Yet, Fortescue is equally adamant of his condemnation of Photios' involvement in the Schism: "And yet the other side of his character is no less evident. His insatiable ambition, his determination to obtain and keep the patriarchal see, led him to the extreme of dishonesty. His claim was worthless. That Ignatius was the rightful patriarch as long as he lived, and Photius an intruder, cannot be denied by any one who does not conceive the Church as merely the slave of a civil government. And to keep this place Photius descended to the lowest depth of deceit."[41]

Writings

Bibliotheca

The most important of the works of Photios is his Bibliotheca or Myriobiblon, a collection of extracts and abridgements of 280 volumes of classical authors (usually cited as Codices), the originals of which are now to a great extent lost. The work is especially rich in extracts from historical writers.[17]

To Photios, we are indebted for almost all we possess of Ctesias, Memnon of Heraclea, Conon, the lost books of Diodorus Siculus, and the lost writings of Arrian. Theology and ecclesiastical history are also very fully represented, but poetry and ancient philosophy are almost entirely ignored. It seems that he did not think it necessary to deal with those authors with whom every well-educated man would naturally be familiar. The literary criticisms, generally distinguished by keen and independent judgment, and the excerpts vary considerably in length. The numerous biographical notes are probably taken from the work of Hesychius of Miletus.[17]

Some older scholarship speculated that the Bibliotheca was compiled in Baghdad at the time of Photius's embassy to the Abbasid court, since many of the mentioned works were rarely cited during the so-called Byzantine Dark Ages c. 630 – c. 800, and it was known that the Abbasids were interested in works of Greek science and philosophy.[42] However, specialists of this period of Byzantine history, such as Paul Lemerle, have shown that Photios could not have compiled his Bibliotheca in Baghdad because he clearly states in both his introduction and his postscript that when he learned of his appointment to the embassy, he sent his brother a summary of books that he read previously, "since the time I learned how to understand and evaluate literature" i.e. since his youth.[43] Moreover, the Abbasids were interested only in Greek science, philosophy and medicine; they did not have Greek history, rhetoric, or other literary works translated; nor did they have Christian patristic writers translated.[44] Yet the majority of works in Bibliotheca are by Christian patristic authors, and most of the secular texts in Bibliotheca are histories, grammars or literary works, usually rhetoric, rather than science, medicine or philosophy. This further indicates that the majority of the works cannot have been read while Photios was in the Abbasid empire.

Other works

The Lexicon (Λέξεων Συναγωγή), published later than the Bibliotheca, was probably in the main the work of some of his pupils. It was intended as a book of reference to facilitate the reading of old classical and sacred authors, whose language and vocabulary were out of date. For a long time, the only manuscripts of the Lexicon were the Codex Galeanus, which passed into the library of Trinity College, Cambridge[17] and Berolinensis graec. oct. 22, both of which were incomplete. But in 1959, Linos Politis of the University of Thessaloniki discovered a complete manuscript, codex Zavordensis 95, in the Zavorda Monastery (Greek: Ζάβορδα) in Grevena, Greece, where it still resides.[45]

His most important theological work is the Amphilochia, a collection of some 300 questions and answers on difficult points in Scripture, addressed to Amphilochius, archbishop of Cyzicus. Other similar works are his treatise in four books against the Manichaeans and Paulicians, and his controversy with the Latins on the Procession of the Holy Spirit.[46] Photios also addressed a long letter of theological advice to the newly converted Boris I of Bulgaria. Numerous other Epistles also survive.

Photios is also the writer of two "mirrors of princes", addressed to Boris-Michael of Bulgaria (Epistula 1, ed. Terzaghi) and to Leo VI the Wise (Admonitory Chapters of Basil I).[47]

Photios' epitome of Philostorgius' Church History is the principle source for the work, which is now lost.

The first English translation, by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, of the "Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit" by Photios was published in 1983.[48] Another translation was published in 1987 with a preface by Archimandrite (now Archbishop) Chrysostomos of Etna.[49]

Discover more about Writings related topics

Bibliotheca (Photius)

Bibliotheca (Photius)

The Bibliotheca or Myriobiblos was a ninth-century work of Byzantine Patriarch of Constantinople Photius, dedicated to his brother and composed of 279 reviews of books which he had read.

Ctesias

Ctesias

Ctesias, also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire.

Conon (mythographer)

Conon (mythographer)

Conon was a Greek grammarian and mythographer of the age of Augustus, the author of a work titled Διηγήσεις (Narrations), addressed to Archelaus Philopator, king of Cappadocia. It was a collection of fifty narratives relating to the mythical and heroic period, and especially the foundation of colonies.

Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily, was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history Bibliotheca historica, in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, between 60 and 30 BC. The history is arranged in three parts. The first covers mythic history up to the destruction of Troy, arranged geographically, describing regions around the world from Egypt, India and Arabia to Europe. The second covers the time from the Trojan War to the death of Alexander the Great. The third covers the period to about 60 BC. Bibliotheca, meaning 'library', acknowledges that he was drawing on the work of many other authors.

Arrian

Arrian

Arrian of Nicomedia was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period.

Hesychius of Miletus

Hesychius of Miletus

Hesychius of Miletus, Greek chronicler and biographer, surnamed Illustrius, son of an advocate, lived in Constantinople in the 6th century AD during the reign of Justinian. His writings contain more references to pagan Greek culture than Christianity, but his religion remains a matter of dispute among scholars.

Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon. In 762 CE, Baghdad was chosen as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, and became its most notable major development project. Within a short time, the city evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning".

Grevena

Grevena

Grevena is a town and municipality in Western Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the Grevena regional unit. The town's current population is 13,374 citizens (2011). It lies about 420 kilometres from Athens and about 180 km from Thessaloniki. The municipality's population is 25,905. Grevena has had access to the Egnatia Odos since the early 2000s, which now connects Igoumenitsa with Thessaloniki and Alexandroupoli at the border with Turkey. Mountains surround the municipality, which is situated by the river Greveniotikos, which itself flows into the Aliakmon. Other significant towns in the municipality are Amygdaliés and Méga Seiríni. Grevena Municipal Museum is located in the town.

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit

In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as an agent of divine action or communication. In the Baha’i Faith, the Holy Spirit is seen as the intermediary between God and man and "the outpouring grace of God and the effulgent rays that emanate from His Manifestation".

Epitome

Epitome

An epitome is a summary or miniature form, or an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents "to the degree of." An abridgment differs from an epitome in that an abridgment is made of selected quotations of a larger work; no new writing is composed, as opposed to the epitome, which is an original summation of a work, at least in part.

Archimandrite

Archimandrite

The title archimandrite, used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise several "ordinary" abbots and monasteries, or as the abbot of some especially great and important monastery.

Archbishop

Archbishop

In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdiocese, or are otherwise granted a titular archbishopric. In others, such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden, the title is only borne by the leader of the denomination.

Source: "Photios I of Constantinople", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, January 8th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photios_I_of_Constantinople.

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Further Reading

Fourth Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox)

Basil I

Michael I Rangabe

Michael III

Leo VI the Wise

Ignatios of Constantinople

Photian schism

Macedonian Renaissance

Fourth Council of Constantinople (Catholic Church)

Christianity in the 9th century

Council of Constantinople (867)

Constantine (son of Basil I)

Council of Constantinople (861)
See also
Notes

^ a: The exact dates of Photios's birth and death are not known. Most sources list circa 810 and others circa 820 as his year of birth. He died some time between 890 and 895 (probably 891 or 893).[50]

^ b: The case of pseudo-Simeon's Chronicle is characteristic: the author argues that Photios was educated after an agreement he concluded with a Jewish magician who offered him knowledge and secular recognition, in case he renounced his faith.[51]

^ c: David Marshall Lang argues that "Photius [...] was only one of many Byzantine scholars of Armenian descent".[52] Peter Charanis notes that "John the Grammarian, Photius, Caesar Bardas and Leo the Philosopher seem to have been the prime movers. All four were, at least in part, of Armenian descent [...] as for Photius, the fact is that his mother Irene, was the sister of Arshavir, the Arshavir who had married Calomaria the sister of Bardas and the empress Theodora."[53] Nicholas Adontz stresses that "Arshavir, Photius' uncle, must not be confused with Arshavir, the brother of John the Grammarian".[54]

^ d: G. N. Wilson regards Leo the Mathematician as Photios's teacher, but Paul Lemerle notes that Leo was not one of the persons with whom Photios had a correspondence.[55]

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Photius the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople". Online Chapel. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  2. ^ a b Fr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materials in Canon Law: A Textbook for Ministerial Students, Revised Edition" [Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1990]), p. 61
  3. ^ White, Despina Stratoudaki (1981). The Life of Patriarch Photios. Patriarch Photios of Constantinople, His Life, Scholarly Contributions, and Correspondence, Together with a Translation of Fifty-two of His Letters. ISBN 978-0-91658626-3. Retrieved 2014-01-03.
  4. ^ Louth 2007, Chapter Seven: "Renaissance of Learning: East and West", p. 159; Mango 1980, p. 168.
  5. ^ Treadgold 1983, p. 1100
  6. ^ Jenkins 1987, Chapter Thirteen: "Ignatius, Photius, and Pope Nicholas I", p. 168.
  7. ^ a b c d Cross & Livingstone 2005, "Photius".
  8. ^ Durant 1972, p. 529.
  9. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 484.
  10. ^ Photios. Epistola II, CII, 609; Tougher 1997, p. 68.
  11. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 68.
  12. ^ Gren 2002, p. 110: "Something of it, though, has been saved for posterity in the extracts made later by the Greek Byzantine patriarch Photios..."
  13. ^ Dunlop 1954, p. 194; Fortescue 2001, Chapter IV: "The Schism of Photius", pp. 146–147.
  14. ^ a b Tatakes & Moutafakis 2003, p. 102.
  15. ^ Mango 1980, pp. 168–169; Treadgold 1983, p. 1100.
  16. ^ Vlasto, A. P. (1970). The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 33.
  17. ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911, p. 483.
  18. ^ Plexidas 2007, "Introduction", p. 17; Shepard 2002, p. 235.
  19. ^ Norwich 1991, pp. 63–64
  20. ^ Janin, Raymond (1953). La Géographie Ecclésiastique de l'Empire Byzantin. 1. Part: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique. 3rd Vol. : Les Églises et les Monastères. Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines.
  21. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 69
  22. ^ Dvornik 1948, pp. 39–69.
  23. ^ Dvornik 1948, pp. 70–90.
  24. ^ Fortescue 2001, pp. 147–148; Louth 2007, p. 171; Tougher 1997, p. 69.
  25. ^ Chadwick 2003, Chapter 3: "Early Christian Diversity: The Quest for Coherence", p. 146.
  26. ^ Treadgold 1997, Chapter Fourteen: "External Gains, 842–912", p. 457.
  27. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 70–71.
  28. ^ Green 2006, pp. 123–168.
  29. ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 460.
  30. ^ Vlyssidou 1997, p. 33.
  31. ^ Treadgold 1997, p. 461.
  32. ^ "The Errors of the Greeks Condemned in Three General Councils". 17 January 2018.
  33. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 73–76, 84.
  34. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 85–86.
  35. ^ Tougher 1997, pp. 87–88.
  36. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 88.
  37. ^ Louth 2007, Chapter Seven: "Renaissance of Learning: East and West", p. 171.
  38. ^ Tougher 1997, p. 68.
  39. ^ Tatakes & Moutafakis 2003, p. 103.
  40. ^ Fortescue 2001, p. 138.
  41. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Photius of Constantinople".
  42. ^ Jokisch 2007, pp. 365–386.
  43. ^ Jokisch 2007, pp. 365–386; Lemerle 1986, p. 40.
  44. ^ Lemerle 1986, pp. 26–27.
  45. ^ "The Lexicon of Photius" by Roger Pearse, January 15, 2011.
  46. ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 483–484.
  47. ^ Paidas 2005, passim.
  48. ^ Photius (1983). On the Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit. Studion Publishers. ISBN 0-943670-00-4.
  49. ^ Photius; Joseph P. Farrell (1987). The Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit. Holy Cross Orthodox Press. ISBN 0-916586-88-X.
  50. ^ Mango 1980, p. 169; Plexidas 2007, "Introduction", p. 15.
  51. ^ Symeon Metaphrastes (?). Chronicle, PG 109, 732 BC; Plexidas 2007, "Introduction", p. 15.
  52. ^ Lang 1988, p. 54.
  53. ^ Charanis 1963, pp. 27–28.
  54. ^ Adontz 1950, p. 66.
  55. ^ Lemerle 1971, p. 159; Plexidas 2007, "Introduction", p. 16.

Primary sources

Recent years have seen the first translations into English of a number of primary sources about Photios and his times.

  • Featherstone, Jeffrey Michael and Signes-Codoñer, Juan (tranlators). Chronographiae quae Theophanis Continuati nomine fertur Libri I-IV (Chronicle of Theophanes Continuatus Books I-IV, comprising the reigns of Leo V the Armenian to Michael III), Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015.
  • Kaldellis, A. (trans.). On the reigns of the emperors (the history of Joseph Genesios), Canberra: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies; Byzantina Australiensia 11, 1998.
  • Ševčenko, Ihor (trans.). Chronographiae quae Theophanis Continuati nomine fertur Liber quo Vita Basilii Imperatoris amplectitur (Chronicle of Theophanes Continuatus comprising the Life of Basil I), Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011.
  • Wahlgren, Staffan (translator, writer of introduction and commentary). The Chronicle of the Logothete, Liverpool University Press; Translated Texts for Byzantinists, vol. 7, 2019.
  • Wortley, John (trans.). A synopsis of Byzantine history, 811-1057 (the history of John Scylitzes, active 1081), Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Secondary sources

External links
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