- St Photios, patriarch of Constantinople (891)
- St Photios, along with St Mark of
Ephesus and St Gregory Palamas, is counted as one of the Three Pillars of Orthodoxy,
who stood against Latinizing influences on the Orthodox Church.
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He was born in Constantinople in 810, son of pious parents belonging to one of
the prominent families of the City. Both his parents were martyred during the
Iconoclast persecution, leaving their son an example of adherence to the True Faith even
unto death. He received a superb education, and was widely considered the single
most learned person of his time. He was elevated to the Patriarchal throne in 858, after
being raised through all the degrees of the priesthood in six days.
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Throughout his Patriarchal reign he was troubled by the usual political battles
and intrigues and, more importantly, by various threats to the Faith in the form of
Manicheans and Iconoclasts.
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Photios showed a special concern for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
throughout the world: it was he who commissioned Sts Cyril and Methodius to embark
on their mission to the Slavs.
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Most memorably, it was the Patriarch's lot to stand against the arrogant,
uncanonical and heretical claims of Pope Nicholas I of Rome, who openly asserted for
the first time the Pope's pretensions to universal jurisdiction over the Church. When
the Patriarch opposed these claims, Pope Nicholas summoned a council of western
bishops, which "deposed" Photios and excommunicated all clergy whom he had
ordained. In 867 the Emperor Michael III was assassinated, and his successor Basil I
deposed Photios, had him imprisoned, and reinstated his predecessor Ignatius. To gain
legitimacy for this widely-opposed move, he submitted it to the Pope for approval.
Delighted, the Pope ratified the Emperor's decision and used it to advance the claims of
the Papacy. When the eastern bishops realized what was happening they prevailed on
the Emperor to release Photios from his three-year imprisonment; and when Ignatius
died, the Church unanimously returned Photios to the Patriarchal throne. A Council in
Constantinople in 879-880, at which Photios presided, restored communion between the
Eastern and Western Churches but at the same time anathematized the heretical
addition of the filioque to the Creed, which the Papacy had been promoting.
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When Leo VI succeeded Basil I as Emperor, the Patriarch was once again
deposed, and was imprisoned in the Monastery of the Armenians for five years. During
this time he wrote the Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, a learned and eloquent refutation of
the filioque heresy. The Saint, still imprisoned, reposed in peace in 893.
source: http://www.abbamoses.com
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