In response, Bardas' nephew, the youthful Emperor Michael III engineered Ignatius's deposition and confinement on the charge of treason.
The deposition of Ignatius without a formal ecclesiastical trial and the sudden promotion of Photios caused scandal in the church.
[citation needed] This state of affairs changed when Photius's patrons, Bardas and Emperor Michael III, were murdered in 866 and 867, respectively, by Basil the Macedonian, who now usurped the throne.
Photios was deposed as patriarch, not so much because he was a protégé of Bardas and Michael, but because Basil was seeking an alliance with the Pope and the western emperor.
Anthony Edward Siecienski writes: "In 879 the emperor called for another council to meet in Constantinople in the hopes that the new pope, John VIII (872-882) would recognize the validity of Photius's claim upon the patriarchate.
According to non-Catholic Philip Schaff, "To the Greek acts was afterwards added a (pretended) letter of Pope John VIII to Photius, declaring the Filioque to be an addition which is rejected by the church of Rome, and a blasphemy which must be abolished calmly and by degrees.
[4] Philip Schaff opines that the pope, deceived by his legates about the actual proceedings, first applauded the emperor but later denounced the council.