Photius (c. 820-891)

Patriarch of Constantinople. During his reign the first dispute concerning the filioque occurred, marking the start of the division between the Eastern and Western churches.

After holding high office at the Byzantine court Photius was, in 858, elected patriarch in place of Ignatius, who was deposed for political reasons. Pope Nicholas I, however, supported Ignatius and refused to recognize Photius, who in return excommunicated the Pope. A dispute over Latin missionaries in Bulgaria made matters worse. In 867 Photius convened a council at Constantinople to which the papal legates were not admitted, and denounced Latin errors, including the filioque addition to the creed. But on the accession of Basil I, that same year, Ignatius was restored. On the latter's death (877), Photius again became patriarch, recognized this time by Pope John VIII, only to be exiled once more, by Leo VI, in 886. Treated as a saint by the Greek Church, and as an arch-enemy and cause of schism by the Roman Church, he has been successfully vindicated by the scholar, Dvornik, as a great churchman and Christian, and the most learned and cultured scholar of his day, who shared, but did not inspire, the anti-Western prejudices of his time. His outburst against Rome in 867 acquired an historical significance out of all proportion to its contemporary importance. The cause of the schism undoubtedly lay deeper, in the age-long inability of the Eastern and Western empires to believe in the good faith of the other.