Photian schism

In 857, Ignatius was deposed or compelled to resign as Patriarch of Constantinople under the Byzantine Emperor Michael III for political reasons.

That same year, high ranking courtier Basil I usurped the imperial throne from Michael III and reinstated Ignatius as patriarch.

[1] The schism arose largely as a struggle for ecclesiastical control of the southern Balkans and because of a personality clash between the heads of the two sees,[2] both of whom were elected in the year 858 and both of whose reigns ended in 867.

The Photian Schism thus differed from what occurred in the 11th century, when the Pope excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople on the grounds of having lost that authority through heresy.

[1] The Photian Schism helped polarize the East and West for centuries, partially over a false but widespread belief in a second excommunication of Photius.

[3] The situation reached a high point in 832 when Emperor Theophilos issued a decree banning the "worship" of idols in the Roman Empire.

A number of people, including monks and bishops, were put in prison after they were discovered to have created sacred images or written in their defense.

For reasons unclear, the Holy See allowed his case to continue into the reign of Leo’s successor, Pope Benedict III.

[8] Another accusation made by Ignatius's enemies was that because he had not been elected in a synod and subsequently confirmed by the local emperor, instead simply being appointed by Theodora, he was not a true patriarch.

Lazarus, Ignatius's envoy to Rome, had struggled to refute the charge, which seemed to create papal interest in Byzantine affairs.

Because of this accusation, Ignatius publicly denied him the Eucharist in the Hagia Sophia, the main church structure of Constantinople, putting himself in open opposition to the imperial court.

Not long after, he, conspiring with the teenaged Michael, accused Theodora of intrigue and, as it was thought inappropriate to kill members of the imperial family, exiled her to a monastery.

[17] Photius was hurriedly tonsured a monk on December 20, 858 and on the following four days was successively ordained lector, sub-deacon, deacon and priest.

When some bishops and most of the monasteries (most notably that of Studion) refused to recognize him, Photius held a synod in 859 that declared Ignatius no longer patriarch.

[10] Despite the difficulties the papacy had experienced with Ignatius, the Pope strongly disapproved of what he considered to be the irregular nature of his apparent deposition.

He reproved his hurried uncanonical consecration, but promising that, if the legates' examination into the conduct of Ignatius supported the accusations made, he would accept Photius as patriarch, reserving judgement to himself.

In one of his sermons, supposedly delivered in the legates' presence, he said: Peter who denied his master on being questioned by a maid, and declared under oath that he did not know Him, and although convicted of perjury, yet with his tears he cleansed the pollution of his denial so thoroughly, that he was not deprived of being the chief of the apostolic chair, and has been established as the foundation-rock of the Church, and is proclaimed by Truth to be the keybearer of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In Nicholas's response, he strongly defends the superiority of see of Rome as the only jurisdiction with immutable claims to apostolic tradition.

Khan Boris I fought the Byzantines in a short war that resulted in his capitulation and conversion to Christianity and promise to convert his people.

[35][34] The delegation was led by the Bishop of Porto, the future Pope Formosus, who actively tried to convert the population to Latin Christianity.

He denounced Byzantine customs of clerical marriage, the use of leavened instead of unleavened bread in the Eucharist, and the omission of the filioque in the Nicene Creed.

Canon law forbade anyone from serving as bishop of two diocese at once, and Nicholas was unwilling to relieve him of his lower duties and give him a promotion.

The West held that the term was theologically sound, and that the Pope, as Vicar of Christ and successor to Saint Peter, had the right to add it to the Creed if he wished.

Photius was aware of Boris's approaches and sought to ease his mind on how to be a Christian leader by writing him a lengthy letter called "On the Duties of a Prince".

[43] Further north than Bulgaria, in Greater Moravia, the Slavic prince asked Photius to send Byzantine missionaries to his jurisdiction.

[10] With the approval of the Emperor, who feared an advance of the Franks close to his capital, Photius invited the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem to meet in Constantinople and pronounce on the "encroachment" into Bulgaria.

The Council, remembering how Photius came to power, declared that no man could be raised to the rank of bishop without having spent at least ten years in a lower clerical state.

Ignatius, suffering from a shortage of clergy, wrote to Adrian II asking that penalties imposed on bishops who had supported Photius be lifted.

In his letter to Basil, he acknowledged with gratitude the Emperor's submission, invoking the Biblical passage in which Jesus instructed Peter, the first pope, to "Feed my sheep."

The legates conceded to his demands and on their own authority absolved Photius of fulfilling this request in return for an acknowledgement of papal supremacy in Bulgaria.