November 858-867
A.D. Photius I the
Great—Constantinople’s 86th;
Most Important & Learned Patriarch Since John Chrysostom; 9th Century Renaissance; Slavic
Conversions; Photian Schism with Rome;
Possesses Large Personal Library; Ambassador to Abbasids in Baghdad; Pope
Deposes Him; He Deposes Pope Over Heresy
of Inclusion of Filioque in Creed;
Jurisdictional Dispute Over Bulgaria; Various Imperial Intrigues; Author of Bibliotheca and Amphilochia
Photios I of Constantinople
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
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Photios
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Greek icon:
Saint Photios
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The Great
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Born
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c. 820
Constantinople |
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Died
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February 6, 893
Bordi, Armenia |
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Honored in
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Photios
I (Greek: Φώτιος Phōtios; c. 810 – c. 893a[›]), also spelled Photius(/ˈfoʊʃəs/) or Fotios, was the Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople from 858 to 867 and from 877 to 886;[1] He is recognized in the Eastern Orthodox churches as St. Photios the Great.
Photios is widely regarded as
the most powerful and influential Patriarch of Constantinople since John Chrysostom, and as the most important intellectual of his time, "the leading
light of the ninth-century renaissance".[2] He was a central figure in both the conversion of the Slavs to
Christianity and the Photian schism.[3]
Photios was a well-educated
man from a noble Constantinopolitan family. Photius's great uncle was a
previous Patriarch of Constantinople, Tarasius.[4] He intended to be a monk, but chose to be a scholar and statesman instead.
In 858, Emperor Michael III (r. 842–867) deposed Patriarch Ignatius of
Constantinople, and Photios, still a layman, was appointed in his place.[5] Amid power struggles between the pope and the Byzantine emperor, Ignatius
was reinstated.[5] Photios resumed the position when Ignatius died (877), by order of the
Byzantine emperor.[5] The new pope, John VIII, approved Photios's reinstatement.[6]Catholics regard a Fourth
Council of Constantinople (Roman Catholic) as anathematizing Photios as legitimate.[5] Eastern Orthodox regard a second council named the Fourth
Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox), reversing the first, as legitimate.[5] The contested Ecumenical Councils mark the end of unity represented by the first seven Ecumenical Councils.
Contents
Biography
Secular life
Most of the primary sources
treating Photios's life are written by persons hostile to him. 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 Tarasios had been the Patriarch of Constantinople from
784–806 under both Empress Irene (r. 797–802) and Emperor Nikephoros I (r. 802–811).[7] During the second Iconoclasm, 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.[8] Certain scholars assert that Photios was, at least in part, of Armenian descentc[›]while other scholars merely refer to him as a "Greek Byzantine".[9] 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.[10]
Although Photios had an
excellent education, we have no information about how he received this
education.d[›] The famous library he possessed attests to his enormous erudition
(theology, history, grammar, philosophy, law, the natural sciences, and
medicine).[11] Most scholars believe that he never taught at Magnaura or at any other university;[12] 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".[11]
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 the Empress Theodora, who upon the death of her husband Emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842) in 842, had assumed the regency of the
Byzantine Empire. 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.[13]
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
deposition and confinement on the charge of treason, thus leaving the
patriarchal throne empty. The throne was soon filled with a kinsman of Bardas,
Photios himself; he was tonsured on December 20, 858, and on the four following
days he was successively ordained lector, sub-deacon, deacon and priest. He was
consecrated as Patriarch of Constantinople on Christmas Day.[14]
The deposition of Ignatios and
the sudden promotion of Photios caused scandal and ecclesiastical division on
an ecumenical scale as the Pope and the rest of the western bishops took up the cause
of Ignatios. The latter's deposition 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. 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.[15] The situation was additionally complicated by the question of papal authority over the entire Church and by disputed jurisdiction over newly
converted Bulgaria.[16]
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, 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.[17] 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.[18]
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 demanded apology to the Pope, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction
over Bulgaria, and the addition of the filioque to the Nicene creed by the Western church. 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.
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.[19] In 886, Basil discovered and punished a conspiracy by the domestic of the Hikanatoi John Kourkouas and many other officials. In this conspiracy, Leo was not implicated, but
Photios was possibly one of the conspirators against Basil's authority.[20]
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.[21]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 tribuneal headed by senior officials, headed byAndrew 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. Yet it appears that he did not remain reviled for
the remainder of his life.[22]
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.[23] 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 asLeo the Mathematician and the Patriarch Stephen, and he also wrote one on
Photios.[24] 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."[25]
The Eastern Orthodox church
venerates Photios as a saint; his feast day is February 6.
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[26][27]
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 Byzantines.
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.[28] Adrian Fortescue regards him as "the most wonderful man of all
the Middle Ages", and stresses that "had not given his name to the
great schism, he would always be remembered as the greatest scholar of his
time".[29]
Writings
The most important of the
works of Photios is his renowned 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.
Some older scholarship
speculated that the Bibliotheca was in fact 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.[30] However, specialists of this period of Byzantine history, such as Paul Lemerle, have shown that Photius 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.[31] 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.[32] 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
Photius was in the Abbasid empire.
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.
The Lexicon, 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 and Berolinensis graec. oct. 22, both of which were
incomplete. But then in 1959, Linos Politis of the University of Thessalonika
discovered a complete manuscript in a monastery in western Macedonia, codex
Zavordensis 95.[33]
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 theManichaeans and Paulicians, and his controversy with the Latins on the
Procession of the Holy Spirit. 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).[34]
The chief contemporary
authority for the life of Photios is his bitter enemy, Nicetas the
Paphlagonian, the biographer of his rival Ignatios.
The first English translation,
by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, of the "Mystagogy of
the Holy Spirit" by Photios was published in 1983.[35] Another translation was published in 1987 with a preface by Archimandrite (now Archbishop) Chrysostomos ofEtna.[36]
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).[37]
^ 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.[38]
^ c: David
Marshall Lang argues that "Photius [...] was only one of many Byzantine
scholars of Armenian descent".[39] 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."[40] Nicholas Adontz stresses that "Arshavir, Photius' uncle, must not be confused with
Arshavir, the brother of John the Grammarian".[41]
^ d: G.
N. Wilson regards Leo the Mathematician as Photios's teacher, but Paul Lemerle notes that Leo was not one the persons with whom Photios had a
correspondence.[42]
References
1. Jump up^ White, Despina Stratoudaki. "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.
2. Jump up^ Louth 2007, Chapter Seven: "Renaissance of Learning:
East and West", p. 159; Mango 1980, p. 168.
9. Jump up^ Gren 2002, p. 110: "Something of it, though, has
been saved for posterity in the extracts made later by the Greek Byzantine
patriarch Photios..."
16. Jump up^ Chadwick 2003, Chapter 3: "Early Christian Diversity: The
Quest for Coherence", p. 146.
35. Jump up^ Photius (1983). On the
Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit. Studion Publishers. ISBN 0-943670-00-4.
36. Jump up^ Photius; Joseph P. Farrell
(1987). The
Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit. Holy Cross Orthodox Press. ISBN 0-916586-88-X.
38. Jump up^ Symeon Metaphrastes (?). Chronicle, PG 109, 732 BC;Plexidas 2007, "Introduction", p.
15.
Sources
- Adontz, Nicholas (1950). "Role of the Armenians in Byzantine Science". Armenian Review 3 (3): 55–73.
- Chadwick, Henry (2003). East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church: From Apostolic Times until the Council of Florence. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-926457-5.
- Charanis, Peter (1963). The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire. Lisbon, Portugal: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
- Cross, Frank Leslie; Livingstone, Elizabeth A. (2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280290-9.
- Dorfmann-Lazarev, Igor (2004). Arméniens et Byzantins à l’Époque de Photius: Deux Débats Théologiques Après le Triomphe de l’Orthodoxie. 609 (Subsidia Tomus 117). Louvain, Belgium: Éditions Peeters (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium). ISBN 90-429-1412-2.
- Fortescue, Adrian (2001). The Orthodox Eastern Church. Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 0-9715986-1-4.
- Gren, Erik (2002). Orientalia Suecana, Volumes 51-52. Stockholm, Sweden: Almquist & Wiksell Periodical Company.
- Jenkins, Romilly James Heald (1987). Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, AD 610-1071. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Medieval Academy of America (University of Toronto Press). ISBN 0-8020-6667-4.
- Jokisch, Benjamin (2007). Islamic Imperial Law: Harun-al-Rashid's Codification Project. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter.ISBN 3-11-019048-6.
- Lang, David Marshall (1988). The Armenians: A People in Exile. London, United Kingdom: Unwin Paperbacks.
- Louth, Andrew (2007). Greek East and Latin West: The Church, AD 681-1071. Crestwood, New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press. ISBN 0-88141-320-8.
- Mango, Cyril A. (1980). Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-16768-9.
- Paidas, Konstantinos D. S. (2005). He Thematike ton Byzantinon "Katoptron Hegemonos" tes Proimes kai Meses Byzantines Periodo (398-1085). Symbole sten Politike Theoria ton Byzantinon(in Greek). Athens, Greece.
- Plexidas, Ioannis (2007). The Prince of Photios (in Greek). Athens, Greece: Armos. ISBN 978-960-527-396-5.
- Shepard, Jonathan (2002). "Spreading the Word: Byzantine Missions". In Cyril A. Mango. The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814098-3.
- Tatakes, Vasileios N.; Moutafakis, Nicholas J. (2003). Byzantine Philosophy. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated. ISBN 0-87220-563-0.
- Tougher, Shaun (1997). The Reign of Leo VI (886-912): Politics and People. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10811-0.
- Treadgold, Warren T. (October 1983). "Review: Patriarch Photios of Constantinople: His Life, Scholarly Contributions, and Correspondence together with a Translation of Fifty-Two of His Letters by Despina Stratoudaki White; The Patriarch and the Prince: The Letter of Patriarch Photios of Constantinople to Khan Boris of Bulgaria by Despina Stratoudaki White; Joseph R. Berrigan, Jr.". Speculum (Medieval Academy of America) 58 (4): 1100–1102. JSTOR 2853829.
- Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.
- Vlyssidou, Vassiliki N. (1997). "About the Deposition of Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos (907)". Byzantine Symmeikta (in Greek) 11: 23–36.
This article incorporates text from a
publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia
Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Photios I of
Constantinople.
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- The Excerpta of Photius Photius's summary of Books 9-16 of Memnon of Heraclea's history of Heraclea Pontica
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Preceded by
Ignatios |
Patriarch of Constantinople
858–867 |
Succeeded by
Ignatios |
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