What's your opinion of Photius. I heard he was an illegitimate child and his mother was a run away nun from Catholics and I also heard he was a great Saint from Orthodox. What is this guy's real story? Was splitting the church part of his plan? of course!
What's your opinion of Photius...
Adrian Gonzalez
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Thomas Bell
Read Francis Dvornik's "The Photian Schism: History and Legend".
In 843, the second Iconoclast crisis ended in the East, as Ecumenical Patriarch John VII was removed by Empress Theodora. But after the death of Ecumenical Patriarch Methodius in 847, the tension between Iconodules and Iconoclasts began to spark again, and Ecumenical Patriarch Ignatius was chosen by Empress Theodora, due to his non-involvement with the matter. But he made things worse, by condemning the Archbishop of Syracuse with a synod, and this archbishop, Gregory Asbestas, appealed the case to Rome.
According to Byzantine sources, Pope Leo IV asked Ecumenical Patriarch Ignatius to send representatives to Rome to discuss the matter, and Pope Benedict III confirmed Gregory's condemnation. But according to Pope Nicolas, what happened was that Popes Leo and Benedict refused to judge it, and so Gregory's condemnation is not canonical because the Church of Rome, even though it holds the final judgement for everything, did not get a say in it. Again according to Pope Nicholas, Pope Benedict asked for Ecumenical Patriarch Ignatius to send representatives, but he did not do so. Francis Dvornik speculates that this is because Ignatius did not consider it necessary for the Pope to give his judgement on an issue that he himself, the Patriarch of Constantinople, has already confirmed.
In 858, Empress Theodora was forced out of power by her son Emperor Michael III, and Ignatius was replaced with Ecumenical Patriarch Photius, as punishment for not sanctioning the deposition of the empress. Photius was a well-learned scholar, but was elevated to the status of Patriarch in a very irregular manner, receiving the status of lector, subdeacon, priest, then bishop within 5 days. Pope Nicholas argued against the deposition of Ignatius and the elevation of Photius however, because the Church of Rome had not been notified of this and its judgement was not seeked.
In 861, the papal legates arrived in Constantinople and demanded to judge the case. Although they were told off at first (due to the Constantinopolitan bishops feeling that the judgement of Rome was unecessary and the issue was already settled), they were then allowed to do so, to honor the Apostolic See. They recognized the elevation of Photius, which greatly angered Pope Nicholas.
Pope Nicholas was further motivated by pro-Ignatius partisans in Rome who suggested to him that Ignatius would recognize papal jurisdiction over Illyricum if he were re-instated, and so, in 863, the Pope held a synod at the Lateran deposing Photius and re-instating Ignatius as Ecumenical Patriarch… except this synod would simply be ignored by Constantinople.
King Boris of the Bulgars took profit of this situation. Although the Bulgarian Church had Constantinople as its mother Church, he feared the growing hegemony of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and therefore wrote to Pope Nicholas to ask to be put under the spiritual authority of Rome instead, with the hope that the Pope may recognize the Church of Bulgaria as a Patriarchate. King Boris ejected the Byzantine missionaries to receive Frankish ones, and the Byzantines observed the Latin practices of the Franks and reported them back to Photius. Angered by the "betrayal" of the Bulgars and the "attack" of the Franks upon Byzantine jurisdiction, Photius wote an "Encyclical to the Eastern Patriarchs", accusing the Western Church of heresy because of its non-compliance to the Quinisext Council. In response, Pope Nicholas asked Hincmar of Reims, Liutbert of Mainz, Aeneas of Paris, and Ratramnus of Corbie to write something refuting Photius's attacks on Latin Christianity and proving the orthodoxy of the West. Meanwhile, Photius (possibly) wrote the "Mystagogia of the Holy Spirit" and Niketas Byzantinos wrote the "Syllogistic Chapters".
(cont)
Jeremiah Butler
In 867, Photius held a council in Constantinople to anathematize Pope Nicholas. But Pope Nicholas had already died, and Emperor Michael III also died the same year. His successor, Emperor Basil, decided to re-instate Ignatius as Ecumenical Patriarch to re-establish good relations with Rome, calling for a council to end the dispute.
In 869-870, the council was held in Constantinople, called the 8th Ecumenical Council in Catholicism. Photius was officially anathematized, Ignatius was officially recognized as Ecumenical Patriarch, But Rome did not walk out of the council with everything it wanted - the Greeks insisted on not recognizing papal jurisdiction over Bulgaria. As such, afterward, Ecumenical Patriarch Ignatius was threatened to be de-instated by the same Pope who had re-instated him.
Photius and Ignatius became on good terms, and at the end of his life, Ignatius recommended that Photius be his successor. A council was held in Constantinople in 879-880 to recognize Photius as Ecumenical Patriarch, annul the councils of 863 and 869-870, recognize papal jurisdiction over Bulgaria, and, concerning Photius's earlier accusations against the West, an anathema was placed on those who add to the Creed but Photius otherwise simply recognized that the Latin traditional practices are their own and they do not need to adhere to the Quinisext Council.
For political reasons, Photius was de-instated in 886 and died in exile in 895. But he died in communion with Rome.
Brayden Sanchez
Thank you. I will check this book out.
Asher Fisher
In other words, St. Ignatius was thrown out of his Seat due to politics and was replaced with Photius, a lay-man who was promoted to priest-> patriarch within six days. This is the very reason why the Church made it mandatory that Priests serve at least 10 years before being thrown up into a position like this.
interesting verbiage, considering that St. Ignatius was still the righteous Patriarch and the Emperor/Civil Government has zero right to depose any Bishop. apparently anyone who stood up for the Church's right was a "partisan".
Photius was very angry that the Pope attempted to defend his right to promote Bishops and wanted him anathematized. btw, Photius is the father of the Great Schism in doing all this.
more likely because St. Ignatius didn't want to die leaving his vacant seat a cause for insurrection in the Church.
a better one would be "Heresies and their Refutation" by St. Alphonsus Maria De Ligouri.
Elijah Wright
Because of his role in the Filioque controversy most people will either portray him as the spawn of the devil or a perfect angel. I'd recommend reading his works directly and decide for yourself:
b-ok.org
Some of his homilies
myriobiblos.gr
Mystagogy of the Holy Spirity
tertullian.org
His "Bibliotheca", a collection of summaries and reviews of almost 300 ancient books.
Also, most stories about his early life are pure bullshit made to smear him. The story you heard about his mother being a runaway nun is one such example.
Justin Miller
One needs only look at his actions during his bishopric to see how rotten he was, but his genius in theology and history had never been disputed, even by hard-line Catholics that condemn him upon examination of the historical record (Fortescue, St. Alphonsus)
Photius is basically an Origen who got away with it.
Mason Campbell
Most of that seems like the Emperor's fault, not Photius's.
The roots of the Great Schism can be traced all the way back to St. Augustine.
Conjecture.
Isaac Edwards
I'm not sure how, Photius didn't have to accept, nor did he have to write false letters and persecute St. Ignatius or his friends.
Photius is also the author of the Filioque controversy, it seems pretty obvious that the real issue was Photius himself. Didn't help that the Orthodox made the guy a saint, solidifying the schism probably until the end.
Joshua Gutierrez
Wasn't it all a massive and unnecessary punch-up over "muh ecclesiastical power" between the pope and Emperor? Photius was just the man in the middle, a mere pawn in greater men's powers.
But, I am sure both sides made up hagiographies and condemnations about him to strengthen the propagandarist cases for/against him. Search the archives in Rome, I'm sure he was a child porn star. Search them in Byzantium and I'm sure he was birthed by Mary herself.
What is any of this to us?
The Church should never have gotten entwined with government. Thanks Constantine.
Evan Rivera
No, both Fortescue and St. Alphonsus looked at the historical record (ignoring all the smears) and actually declared that Photius was squeaky-clean in his personal life. However, the crime of Schism is far greater than any good works like chastity.
The root of the schism itself.
Thanks Photius, you mean. Photius should have never accepted St. Ignatius' bishopric in the first place. Had he done so, the great schism would have been avoided.
Jackson Lee
Yes, it was bound to happen anyway. That Catholics don't understand the fundamental differences on the nature of God is why. And nothing they bring up about politics or St. Photius changes the fact that they changed the Nicene creed.. and seemingly think nothing of it. Wanting ecumenism for the sake of it a Catholic desire. Orthodox define themselves by that very name… hinting at precision and rightness. As long as these differences remain, the Schism is a good thing.
Logan Nelson
We were One Church for over a 1,000 years, we shared the same great Saint you accuse of being such a terrible author of heresy! It'd be a shame if you were the ones wrong in this.
Schismatics by any other name.
Adrian Hall
actually, we still share St. Augustine, surprised Orthodox haven't de-sainted the poor man yet
Parker Baker
I don't get the hatred for St. Augustine. Is it because he shows some of their theology was not believed by the Church back then?
Parker Williams
Read the Photian Schism as the other user said, it was writen by a Catholic priest but is very unbiassed, it basically changed a lot of the older narrative Catholics had for Phorius.
Juan Wilson
So he wasn't a bastard who destroyed the church so that he could get power?
Jeremiah Garcia
Read the book and you'll see that it was all bullshit, the writer was a Catholic priest and historian and he admits it himself.
Owen Scott
No one hates St Augustine, he is loved by many Orthodox for his confessions and is most definitely a saint. He did have errors in his theology as any saint can. This is why in the Orthodox Church we don't base our theology off of single people.
Blake Martinez
Why in the bloody blue blazes would we do such a thing?
Xavier Campbell
In St. Photius, Christ's words ring true: "Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted."
It would have been even more to the point if God had raised up a small child to the office of Bishop, just to confound and dismiss others. But I'll take a humble priest just as well. We need no real qualifications to be raised up to defend our church or even to be a saint. It's the same reason why Mt. Athos remains the heart of Orthodoxy.. often run by monks of humble origins. Or why we don't even give the title of "theologian" unless you are a monk or ascetic. You don't get to talk in depth about God without actually knowing God through prayer and dedication. These same lower class, lower ranked men can come into a diocese and the whole church will listen, if it needs correction.
Angel Cruz
And how does he justify that we got it all wrong from the beggining?
Forgive me but when there are priests who write books that say Jews will be saved or that sodomy is fine I doubt about everything.
Noah Rogers
Neither do we. We admit that Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and all the others erred in some minor things.
Benjamin Bell
For
Anthony Carter
Borrowing from Origen and Plotinus on defining the very nature of God is not some "minor thing".
Noah Harris
Jay plz go
Isaiah Allen
...
Nicholas Reed
The Catholic Church does not base its theology off of a single person.
Wyatt Rivera
Well, he didn't write just some book about his personal opinion on social issues, he was an academic and historian, his work is unique and hasn't be disputed by anyone since. He was also awarded by the Pope. How are you suppose to form an opinion about Photius without even reading what Catholic historians have to tell?
Julian Hughes
Yeah you are right ill heave to read it.
Jose Long
which is why in 1000 years orthodoxy has spread to uh russia? cmon man. you also can't deny that many in the byzantine empire willingly converted to islam.