Photios

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PHOTIOS

PHOTIOS (c. 820–891), patriarch of Constantinople, saint of the Orthodox church, was a scholar, public minister, diplomat, professor, organizer of missions, ecclesiastical writer, and hierarch. Photios was born into a noble family. His father, Sergius, was the brother of the patriarch Tarasios. Three of Photios's four brothers held high civil offices; because of his family's social position, he was able to obtain an advanced education.

In 850, when the university of Constantinople was reorganized (by Photios at the empress's request), Photios was one of the first professors called there to teach. He was sent to Baghdad in 851, together with Constantine the Philosopher, as diplomatic representative of the emperor to the caliph al-Mutawakkil. After intervention in 858 by the caesar Bardas, uncle of Michael III, the conservative patriarch Ignatius resigned. Photios as a layman was elected patriarch. Although he was eventually ordained, Nicholas I refused to recognize his election, and, under pressure from Ignatius's supporters, he officially condemned Photios in Rome (863). After the intervention of the new emperor, Basil I, in 867, Photios was deposed and Ignatius once again became patriarch.

A synod convened in 869, comprised of only a limited number of bishops, condemned Photios and definitively justified Ignatius. As Francis Dvornik has said, this synod was used exclusively by the Latins to define their attitude against Photios (Dvornik, 1948). However, ten years later, in 879, at the request of John VIII, another synod was held that canceled all decisions of the previous one and reelected Photios as patriarch. He died in the Monastery of Amoniakon, probably on February 6, 891.

Photios's most important theological views are expressed in his Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, which is a detailed analysis of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. According to Photios, the filioque clause, which claims that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father "and from the Son," was theologically unacceptable because it introduced a new principle into the Trinity. If the procession of the Holy Spirit was dependent upon procession from the Son, then this would create an unequal union among the three divine persons, destroying the balance.

Within the church, Photios thought true communion impossible without the coexistence of dogma and ethos. However, he saw the importance of accepting a diversity of institutions and ecclesiastical customs, a diversity that would be made whole by the effects of the Spirit. As a result of mission work, there were new Slavic churches demanding autonomy, which was giving impetus to changes in ecclesiastical organizations that had until that time remained uniform.

According to Photios, political authority is equal to ecclesiastical authority in the governance of a people; the functions of the emperor and patriarch are parallel. Photios's theory, known as the dual control theory, places responsibility for the subjects' material well-being in the emperor's hands; the patriarch is held accountable for their spiritual welfare. In other words, governance is equally distributed between the emperor and the patriarch, who work harmoniously for the good of the world.

Photios's theological and literary works continued to influence others long after his death. His theological work has had the most influence, especially his detailed presentation of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which was identical to that put forth by his successors. Photios's interest and participation in the theological and political discussions of his time directly determined the field of jurisdiction of the early Christian rulers in Slavic countries and contributed to the formation of laws and to the regulation of relations between church and state. Photios was, in fact, the first patriarch of Constantinople to initiate missionary work among the Slavs. He chose Cyril and Methodius from Thessalonica to preach Christianity in Russia, Bulgaria, Moravia, Croatia, and Slovenia. At the same time, Photios struggled to protect the rights of the ecumenical throne from the interference of the ambitious Nicholas I in southern Italy, Sicily, and on the Balkan peninsula.

Photios's corpus includes poetic and prose writings, literary works, and theological works. His most significant works are Lexicon, Ecclesiastic History Compendium, and Myriobiblion (or Bibliotheca ), which contains the literary analyses of 280 works studied by Photios, many of which are no longer extant. Photios's Amphilochia is an important collection of dogmatic essays, whereas his Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, an anti-filioque essay, presents all the arguments related to the teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father alone. His Against the Manichaeans refutes the Manichaean heresy and warns about the dangers it holds for the orthodox faith. Although the Nomocanon and the Epanagoge certainly reflect Photios's opinions and were for years attributed to him, they were most likely written by his students.

Bibliography

Only a few of Photios's works have been translated. See, for example, in English, The Homilies of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, translated, with commentary, by Cyril Mango (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), and, in Russian, Patriarkha Fotiia XLV neizdannykh pisem, edited and translated by Athanasios Papadopoulos-Kerameus (Saint Petersburg, 1896). Photios's writings are collected in Patrologia Graeca, edited by J.-P. Migne, with Joseph Hergenröther, vols. 101–104 (Paris, 1857–1866), and in Epistolai, edited by Ioannou Balettas (London, 1864). For critical discussion, see Francis Dvornik's "Photius, Father of Schism or Patron of Reunion?" in Report of the Proceedings at the Church Unity Octave, 1942 (Oxford, 1942), pp. 19–32, and the same author's The Photian Schism: History and Legend (Cambridge, 1948), which includes a full bibliography and explicates the false legends about Photios. In Greek, see my Theologia kai diaprosopikai skheseis kata ton M. Photion (Thessaloniki, 1974); in German, Joseph Hergenröther's Photius, Patriarch von Konstantinopel, 3 vols. (Regensburg, 1867–1869).