As patriarch, Ignatius denounced iconoclasm, secured jurisdiction over Bulgaria for the Eastern Church, and played an important role in conflicts over papal supremacy.

Indeed, Photius I, who replaced Ignatius as patriarch when was deposed in 859, condemned the pope and the Western Church in 867 for adding the Filioque ("and the Son") to the Nicene Creed.

He also founded three monasteries on the Princes' Islands, a favorite place for exiling tonsured members of the imperial house.

[2] Bardas exiled Empress Theodora, attempting to gain more power, but Ignatius refused to approve of this.

A synod was convened which deposed Ignatius on the basis of a canon which prohibited a bishop being appointed by a secular power.

A synod of 170 bishops deposed and anathematised Ignatius, but the schism escalated when Pope Nicholas I stepped in.

Photius I excommunicated Pope Nicholas I and all Latin Christians in a council in Constantinople in 867 for believing that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, as well as adding that belief (the Filioque) to the Nicene Creed in the West.

The controversy over the Filioque played a key role in the eventual schism that would split the two Churches for over a thousand years.

Basil I effectively undid the last nine years of church history, restoring the Ignatian bishops and nullifying everything Photius I did, securing his political position as emperor.

A council was convened at Constantinople in 869 for the eastern bishops to review Pope Adrian II's decision.

The council met, condemned Photius I, and reinstated Ignatius, but many eastern bishops did not show up and the papal supremacy canons were rejected.