(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
St. Photios was a patriarch of Constantinople. He was considered the
greatest of all Byzantine patriarchs. He was educated in ancient Greek
literature and philosophy as well as Christian theology. He was a
professor of philosophy at the famous University of Constantinople—the
first university (or “higher school”) to be established in medieval
Europe. The West at this time was stuck in the mire of the barbaric
Dark Ages.
St. Photios was
born around 820 A.D. His parents, persecuted for defending icons, were
exiled from Constantinople. He later became Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople during the middle of the ninth century. He is remembered
for his defense of Orthodoxy against heretical papal practices of the
time, his ability to love others, and for his meekness. He vigorously
opposed the addition of the filioque clause to the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and wrote On The Mystagogy Of The Holy Spirit to
preserve “the purity of our religion” and to hinder “those who chose to
promote any other definition of dogma than the unanimous and common
faith of the pious.”
For his stand against the
church of Rome St. Photios was forced to become Patriarch of
Constantinople. He took his work seriously and went to work as a man of
God. One of his activities was to correct the error of Pope Nicholas of
Rome, who enslaved the people of the West with threats of condemnation
to hell for disobedience to the pope. Writing to Nicholas, “Nothing is
dearer than the Truth.” In the same letter he noted, “It is truly
necessary that we observe all things, but above all, that which
pertains to matters of Faith, in which but a small deviation represents
a deadly sin.”
Photios was a scholar, clearly. He is believed to be responsible for a new codification of canon (church) law, the Collection of 14 Titles, and probably for a new legal code, the Epanagoge, which
spelled out a new importance for the patriarch with respect to the
Emperor. Photios is possibly best known for converting the Slavic
peoples. It was Photios who in 862 A.D. went into the semi-barbaric
Moravian Slavs (in today’s Czechoslovakia), to convert them. Cyril (or
Konstantinos) and his brother Methodios, two Greeks from Thessalonia,
who were fluent in the Slavonic language, translated the Greek liturgy
into Slavonic. The translations kept the Slavs tied to Constantinople
instead of to Rome which also sought the Slavs conversion but would not
permit the liturgy to be translated into Slavonic. Photios also
converted the Bulgars who were undecided between Roman Catholicism and
Orthodoxy. It was Photios’ conversion of the Moravians and Bulgars,
through the work of Cyril and Methodios, that later led to the
Byzantine conversion of the Russian Slavs.
Photios
established a patriarchal school in Constantinople for the education of
priests in literature and philosophy as well as in theology. He was
considered by the Roman Church as the arch-heretic, the one most
responsible for originating the schism (split) between the Churches of
Rome and Constantinople. He formulated the Orthodox Greek charges
against innovations (kenotomies) in doctrine and practices of the Roman Church. It taught the doctrine of the flioque (that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both
the Father and Son), contrary to explicit pronouncements of the early
Ecumenical Councils that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father
alone, (Ekporevetai ek tou Patros) a belief considered
necessary in the view of the Orthodox in order to preserve the unitary
nature of God. There can be only one fundamental archic source for the
Godhead, not two. If there are two sources, there would in effect be
two Gods. However, pluralism in the Church can be attributed to
Photios. Because of his work, human beings were allowed freedom of
expression living their oneness of faith by local customs and language
accorded by the region of the land that they lived in. Religious
traditions could be replaced with a freedom of expression and a faith
in unity. “The different expression, alternative (ετερότnς) does not
hinder the unity (ενοειδή) of the Spirit’s grace.”