Photius (b. Constantinople ca. 820 - Bordi (Armenia), February 6, 891) is widely regarded as the greatest patriarch of Constantinople (858-861 and 878-886) since the times of John Chrysostom. He was later recognized as a Saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church. ("Photius" is a westernized spelling, especially in its use of the letter "u", resulting from adaptation of the name to the Latin language. In Greek, the name is Φωτιoς.) Map of Constantinople. ... Events Michael II succeeds Leo V as Byzantine Emperor The Historia Brittonum is written (approximate date) Births Rhodri Mawr (the Great), ruler of Gwynedd (Wales) (approximate date) Photius I, patriarch of Constantinople (approximate date) Deaths December 24: Leo V, Byzantine Emperor (assassinated) Shankara, Hinduist teacher Tang Xian Zong, emperor of... February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events October 6 - Election of Pope Formosus Arnulf of Carinthia defeats the Normans at the Battle of Leuven Births Abd ar-Rahman III, emir and first caliph of Córdoba. ... The Patriarch of Constantinople is the Ecumenical Patriarch, the first among equals in the Eastern Orthodox Communion. ... Events Patriarch Ignatius is imprisoned and (December 25) deposed to be succeeded by patriarch Photius I. Louis the German invades West Francia, hoping to secure Aquitaine from his brother Charles the Bald, but fails. ... Events Carloman revolts against his father Louis the German. ... Events The Danes force king Alfred the Great of Wessex to retreat to a fort in Athelney, Somerset. ... Events The Glagolitic alphabet, devised by Cyril and Methodius, missionairies from Constantinople, is adopted in the Bulgarian Empire. ... John Chrysostom (347 - 407) was a notable Christian bishop and preacher from the 4th and 5th centuries in Syria and Constantinople. ... General definition of saint In general, the term Saint refers to someone who is exceptionally virtuous and holy. ... ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

Life

Little is known of his origin or family. His Byzantine biographers reported that Emperor Leo VI once angrily called him "Khazar-face", but whether this was a generic insult or a reference to his ethnicity is unclear. The Khazars were a Turkic semi-nomadic people from Central Asia who adopted Judaism. ...

As soon as he had completed his own education, Photius began to teach grammar, rhetoric, divinity and philosophy. The way to public life was probably opened for him by the marriage of his brother Sergius to the princess Irene, sister of Theodora, who upon the death of her husband Theophilus in 842, had assumed the regency of the empire. Photius became captain of the guard and subsequently first imperial secretary. This article is about grammar from a linguistic perspective. ... Rhetoric (from Greek ρητωρ, rhêtôr, orator) is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar). ... Divinity is seen as the existence of some entity or entities which are greater than humankind. ... Philosophy (from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom), as a practice, aims at some kind of understanding, knowledge or wisdom about fundamental matters such as reality, knowledge, meaning, value, being and truth. ... Theodora was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus. ... Theophilus (813 - 842) was Byzantine emperor from 829 to 842. ... Events Oath of Strasbourg - alliance of Louis the German and Charles the Bald against emperor Lothar - sworn and recorded in vernacular languages. ...

The dissension between the patriarch Ignatius and Bardas, the uncle of the youthful Emperor Michael III, brought promotion to Photius. Ignatius was arrested and imprisoned (858), and upon refusing to resign his office was deposed, while Photius was inducted into the priesthood within six days, and was installed as patriarch in his place. Michael III (839-867), the Drunkard, was grandson of Michael II, and succeeded his father Theophilus as Byzantine emperor when he was three years old in 842. ... Events Patriarch Ignatius is imprisoned and (December 25) deposed to be succeeded by patriarch Photius I. Louis the German invades West Francia, hoping to secure Aquitaine from his brother Charles the Bald, but fails. ...

Ignatius continued to refuse abdication. His cause was taken up by Pope Nicholas I in a manner highly offensive to the independence of the Eastern Church. Photius became the champion of Eastern Christianity against Latin pretensions; and when in 863 Nicholas finally anathematized and deposed him, he replied with a counter-excommunication. Nicholas I,(c. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Events Constantine I succeeds as king of Scotland. ... Excommunication is religious censure which is used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ...

The situation was suddenly changed by the murder of Photius's patron, Bardas, by order of the emperor Michael, who was himself assassinated by his colleague Basil I in the following year (867). The fall of Photius followed; he was removed from his office and banished about the end of September 867, a few days after the accession of Basil, and Ignatius was reinstated on November 23. About 876 Photius was suddenly recalled to Constantinople and entrusted with the education of Basil's children. On the death of Ignatius, probably in October 878, Photius, after a decent show of reluctance, again filled the patriarchal throne. Bardas Mamikonian was the regent (856_866) of Byzantine Emperor Michael III. Bardas was the son of Marinos Mamikonian and the brother of Theodora, the wife of Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. ... Basil I (known as the Macedonian, 811 _ 886), Byzantine emperor, was born to a family of Armenian (not Slavonic) descent, settled in Macedonia. ... Events September: Basil I becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... Events Seiwa is succeeded by Yozei as emperor of Japan. ... Events The Danes force king Alfred the Great of Wessex to retreat to a fort in Athelney, Somerset. ...

He then obtained the formal recognition of the Christian world. In November 879 a synod was convened at Constantinople. The legates of Pope John VIII attended, prepared to acknowledge Photius as legitimate patriarch, a concession for which John was much censured by Latin opinion. He stood firm, however, on the other two points which had long been contested between the Eastern and Western Churches, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Bulgaria and the introduction of the "filioque" clause into the creed (see also filioque clause). He disowned his legates, who had shown a tendency to yield, again excommunicated Photius, and thus aroused the open hostility which eventually led to the Great Schism in 1054. Strong in the support of Synod, Photius ignored him. Events Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona, founded the benedictine monastery at Ripoll. ... John VIII was pope from 872 to 882. ... The Nicene Creed, or the Icon/Symbol of the Faith, is a Christian statement of faith accepted by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and major Protestant churches. ... In Christian theology the filioque clause (and the Son) is a disputed part of the Nicene Creed. ... The East-West Schism, known also as the Great Schism (though this latter term sometimes refers to the later Western Schism), was the event that divided Christianity into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. ... Events Cardinal Humbertus, a representative of Pope Leo IX, and Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, decree each others excommunication. ...

At the height of success, he was suddenly brought down by another palace revolution. After the death of Basil (886), his son and successor Leo VI, who had formerly been devoted to Photius, but in recent years displayed great hatred toward him, deprived him of his office and banished him to the monastery of Bordi in Armenia. From this time Photius disappears from history. No letters of this period of his life are extant. The precise date of his death is not known, but it is said to have occurred on February 6, 891. Events The Glagolitic alphabet, devised by Cyril and Methodius, missionairies from Constantinople, is adopted in the Bulgarian Empire. ... This article is about the Byzantine Emperor. ... February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events October 6 - Election of Pope Formosus Arnulf of Carinthia defeats the Normans at the Battle of Leuven Births Abd ar-Rahman III, emir and first caliph of Córdoba. ...

He is now commemorated as a Saint within the Eastern Orthodox Church. General definition of saint In general, the term Saint refers to someone who is exceptionally virtuous and holy. ... ...

Writings

The most important of the works of Photius is his renowned Bibliotheca or Myriobiblon, a collection of extracts from and abridgments of 280 volumes of classical authors (usually cited as Codices), the originals of which are now to a great extent lost. The work is specially rich in extracts from historical writers.

To Photius we are indebted for almost all we possess of Ctesias, Memnon, Conon, the lost books of Diodorus Siculus, and the lost writings of Arrian. Theology and ecclesiastical history are also very fully represented, but poetry and ancient philosophy are almost entirely ignored. It seems that he did not think it necessary to deal with those authors with whom every well-educated man would naturally be familiar. The literary criticisms, generally distinguished by keen and independent judgment, and the excerpts vary considerably in length. The numerous biographical notes are probably taken from the work of Hesychius of Miletus. Ctesias, of Cnidus in Caria, was a Greek physician and historian, who flourished in the 5th century BC. In early life he was physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon, whom he accompanied in 401 BC on his expedition against his brother Cyrus the Younger. ... In Greek mythology, Memnon was an Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. ... For the Pope of this name, see Pope Conon. ... Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira, in the Province of Enna). ... Lucius Flavius Arrianus Xenophon (c 92-c 175), known in English as Arrian, was a Roman historian. ... Hesychius of Miletus, Greek chronicler and biographer, surnamed Illustrius, son of an advocate, flourished at Constantinople in the 5th century AD during the reign of Justinian. ...

The Lexicon, published later than the Bibliotheca, was probably in the main the work of some of his pupils. It was intended as a book of reference to facilitate the reading of old classical and sacred authors, whose language and vocabulary were out of date. The only manuscript of the Lexicon is the Codex Galeanus, which passed into the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is the True Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names - Established 1546 Sister College Christ Church Master Sir Martin Rees Location Trinity Street Undergraduates 656 Graduates 380 Homepage Boatclub Trinity College is one of...

His most important theological work is the Amphilochia, a collection of some 300 questions and answers on difficult points in Scripture, addressed to Amphilochius, archbishop of Cyzicus. Other similar works are his treatise in four books against the Manichaeans and Paulicians, and his controversy with the Latins on the Procession of the Holy Spirit. Manichaeism was one of the major ancient religions. ... The Holy Spirit, from the Christian viewpoint, while related to Gods will, is not Gods will personified. ...

The chief contemporary authority for the life of Photius is his bitter enemy, Nicetas the Paphlagonian, the biographer of his rival Ignatius.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...

External Link

• The Myrobiblion at Tertullian.Org (http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_01toc.htm)