Photius

(c. 810–c. 895)

   Patriarch, Theologian and Saint.

   Photius was born of a noble family in Constantinople. He quickly became known for his learning and administrative abilities and in 858, while still a layman, he was elected Patriarch. His predecessor, Ignatius, had been deposed as a result of a palace intrigue and in order to regularise his position, Photius summoned a synod at Constantinople. This included legates from Pope nicholas i. Although the synod con- firmed Ignatius’s deposition, in 863 a synod in Rome annulled its proceedings. Photius and all the clergy he had promoted were declared deposed. Although there were signs of a possible reconciliation, the quarrel re-emerged after Photius, in an encyclical letter, condemned the practices of the Western Church and, in particular, rejected the ‘filioque’ in the Nicene Creed. Subsequently in 867 a Council in Constantinople excommunicated and deposed the Pope. The situation was complicated still further by the accession of a new Emperor who deposed Photius and reinstated Ignatius, with the result that at the Council of Constantinople in 869, reconciliation was effected with Rome. Ignatius died in 877 and Photius was again appointed Patriarch and seems to have been accepted as such by the papal legates. None the less conflict arose again when another new Emperor, Leo VI, deposed Photius in 886 and he may have been excommunicated by Pope Formosus in 892. His last years are obscure. Photius himself was an outstanding scholar. Among his surviving works are the Amphilochia, the Bibliotheke and the Lexicon. He also produced several treatises against the Manichaeans and an important work on the Holy Spirit. In the Eastern Church he is regarded as a saint.

   F. Dvornik, The Photian Schism (1948).