Oxford history of the christian church

2. Patriarchs (1025-1081).

During the years 1025-81 none of the five patriarchs in office could be considered a nonentity. In their different ways they reflect something of the strength and weakness of Byzantine ecclesiastical life. Alexius Studites (12 December 1025-20 February 1043), ² the abbot of the Studite house in Constantinople, was appointed by Basil IIshortly before his death. Basil however did not observe the usual practice of asking the metropolitans for nominations from which to select a candidate. Later in 1037 when Alexius came up against the ambitions of the minister John the Orphanotrophus, the brother of the Emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian, his election was declared invalid by a group of metropolitans mustered by John. Alexius adroitly foiled the plot by offering to resign provided that all his metropolitan ordinations were also declared invalid and anathemas pronounced against the emperors whom he had crowned. ³ Understandably Alexius was among the opponents of the Paphlagonian house and supported the Macedonian party who produced as Empress the reluctant Theodora, an elderly nun and the last of that dynasty. The patriarchal register though sparse indicates the range of Alexius's interests and activities. He was much concerned with settling individual marriage problems as well as with the general rules governing the complicated laws of kindred and affinity. But he was no Nicholas Mysticus. Despite his Studite upbringing and the canonical rulings his attitude to imperial infringements was somewhat flexible, though in the case of the old Empress Zoe's forbidden third marriage to Constantine IX Monomachus at least he himself did not perform the ceremony or give the blessing, but simply offered the kiss of peace after the marriage. It was one of those political dilemmas which constantly involved the Church and demanded the exercise of oeconomia or expediency. For Zoe had the disposition of a mule and was unlikely to be dissuaded from the marriage. It was also obvious that the Empire needed some kind of male guidance. As the contemporary historian Psellus cynically remarked 'It might be said that the Patriarch recognised the problem and accepted the will of God in the matter'. ⁴

Patriarch Alexius's rulings on matters of discipline concerning both lay and ecclesiastical circles point to old problems. He was much concerned with the misuse of monasteries and strict rules were laid down to prevent illegal hiring out or handing over to lay control either the house or its property. In a synodal ruling he attempted to provide means for regulating clerical disputes and eliminating uncanonical acts. In particular all clerics and monks were forbidden to resort to secular judges, evidently a frequent practice and already condemned before Alexius's day. ⁵

Most important of all was Alexius's attitude towards heresy. Here Alexius and his eleventh-century successors seemed obsessed with a desire to bring non-Chalcedonian Armenians and Jacobites into the Orthodox Church, unlike Basil II who had wisely allowed some latitude, certainly in Mesopotamia though not in Antioch. In 1029 the Jacobite Patriarch John VIII Bar Abdoun was called to Constantinople where he spent some months. But all attempts to convert him failed and he was excommunicated by the synod there and exiled. ⁶ Similarly charges were brought against Jacobites in the region of Melitene and the leaders of the heresy were questioned before the synod. Many members of the senate were also present for a drive against heresy in Byzantium was a combined operation of church and state. The Jacobite Patriarch was inflexible, but some bishops abjured their errors and were received back into office (with certain restrictions). ⁷ Evidently the non-Chalcedonians continued to prosper in Melitene and its environs. A few years later a number of synodal rulings were issued penalizing mixed marriages, debarring heretics from testifying against the Orthodox and limiting their right of inheritance. ⁸ The continued antagonism roused by such restrictions, even though they were clearly largely ineffective, did not make for loyalty towards Constantinople in the face of the Turkish advance. Thus for Byzantium the problem was not purely a religious one. The significant ethnic changes caused by the immigrant Syrians and Armenians affected the recently conquered eastern regions as well as eastern Asia Minor. These were the very provinces which were under attack in the eleventh century and it would have been politic to pursue a policy of religious toleration. As it was, religious dissidents must have felt that they were probably better off in the long run under Muslim than Orthodox rule. ⁹

Alexius Studites' successor was Michael Cerularius (25 March 1043-2 November 1058). ¹⁰ Apart from Photius he is probably (and undeservedly) the best known of the Byzantine patriarchs because he was associated by later generations with a supposed formal schism between Rome and Constantinople. He did not come from the learned circles then flourishing in the City, nor did he appear to have any genuine monastic vocation though he was a monk at the time of his enthronement. He had been involved in a conspiracy against Michael IV and may have become a monk to avoid paying the penalty for his treason. The Empress Zoe's third husband, Constantine IX Monomachus, had been a fellow conspirator and was his friend. After Constantine's marriage to Zoe, Cerularius was in favour at court and he became the Patriarch Alexius's protosyncellus. When Alexius died Constantine raised Cerularius to the patriarchal throne. If the Emperor thought that he now had a cooperative ally as patriarch he was mistaken. Throughout his long office under three Emperors and an Empress Cerularius proved arrogant and overbearing, though it should be said that in his private life he did at least show some better feelings and took care to arrange for the education of his two young nephews. He entrusted them to the scholar Michael Psellus, though even this was probably directed towards his own interests.

Michael Cerularius's patriarchal register shows the usual activities, such as dealing with the complicated rulings on marriage, with episcopal difficulties and disputes, and monastic problems as the reopening of Nea Mone, the house on Chios which had been temporarily closed by reason of alleged occult practices. Apart from such daily routine carried out by his secretariat, his patriarchate was characterized by his attempt to exalt the position of the Byzantine Church. Following his predecessor's policy he tried to bring the separated Churches of the monophysites under his control. He evidently considered that he was the superior of the three eastern patriarchates, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. He regarded himself as the equal of the Pope and censured Latin practices where these differed from those of the Greek Church. Further, and Byzantine sources seem to regard this as his worst offence, he criticized imperial policy, stressing the superiority of his own position. All four rulers during his patriarchate, Constantine IX, Theodora, Michael VI, and Isaac I, found his attitude and many of his activities often disruptive and even intolerable.

With the annexation of Ani in 1045 the last remaining kingdom of Armenia had fallen to Byzantium. It no doubt seemed undesir able to Orthodoxy to have an independent non-Chalcedonian Church within the Empire and, however unwise from the political angle, Byzantine religious policy towards the Armenians was in accordance with usual practice. The Armenian Church did not recognize the council of Chalcedon, and many of its customs differed from those of Constantinople, such as its use of unleavened bread in the Divine Liturgy, or fasting on Saturdays. It was probably with conformity in mind that in 1048 Constantine IX invited Peter I, Catholicus of the Armenian Church, to Constantinople. ¹¹ The meeting in 1048 was amicable but negative in result and subsequent relations were to deteriorate as attacks on the monophysites were intensified later on during Constantine X's reign. The Armenian Church had always been the symbol of its people's nationalism. Annexation and dispersal could not extinguish this spirit, as the successful establishment of Lesser Armenia in south-east Asia Minor was soon to demonstrate. ¹² It was unfortunate that Byzantium's eleventh-century ecclesiastical policy towards Armenia should have exacerbated the long-standing antagonism between Greek and Armenian, provoking endless friction in Asia Minor just at a time when a united front against Turkic invaders was needed.

In their Armenian policy Constantine IX and Cerularius were at one. It was otherwise with western affairs. Throughout Constantine IX's reign the political situation in Italy presented increasing problems. Under the leadership of the Hauteville family the Normans were eating into the central Italian Lombard principalities as well as the remaining Byzantine provinces in South Italy. The Byzantine governor Argyrus had the strong support of Constantine. But he was a Lombard belonging to the Latin rite and was greatly disliked by Cerularius. Argyrus tried to strengthen his position by allying with Pope Leo IX who had been appointed in 1048 by the German Emperor Henry III. Leo was from Lorraine where the pre-Gregorian reformers had long been active. Though in a sense owing his position to Henry (who supported church reform) Leo quickly showed that the papacy was going to be independent of secular control. And the whole reform movement tended to exalt the position of the Pope, as Leo's friend Hildebrand made clear when he became Pope as Gregory VII in 1073. Leo was not the man to be browbeaten by an arrogant eastern Patriarch, and like his predecessors he never forgot the lost jurisdiction in South Italy and Illyricum and took every opportunity to encourage Latin churches in the disputed areas. But he was anxious to check the aggressive Normans and was willing to join forces with Argyrus. Both the Pope and the Byzantines also hoped for support from Henry III, but this did not effectively materialize. In the event Argyrus was defeated by the Normans in February 1053 and later in June Leo was captured by them. He was well treated and was able to continue to deal with ecclesiastical matters.

At this juncture when it was still hoped that a coalition between eastern and western powers might halt the Normans a provocative letter from Leo, archbishop of Ochrida, to John, the Greek bishop of Trani in Apulia, reached the Pope by hand of Humbert, cardinal bishop of Silva Candida, who had translated it into Latin. In the Latin version it purported to come from Michael, 'universalis patriarcha Novae Romae', as well as from Leo of Ochrida. ¹³ Whether the insertion of Michael's name was due to Humbert or not, the document certainly reflected the Patriarch's views and he no doubt stirred up Archbishop Leo to send it regardless of the difficult political situation. In this letter John of Trani was charged to see that it reached 'all Frankish bishops and priests and peoples and the most reverend Pope himself' so that they might correct their errors. The letter selected minor differences of usage, as rules for fasting in Lent, or the shaven versus the bearded face for clerics as well as the much disputed use of unleavened bread at mass. It was offensive and all the more so in that it followed on the closing of the Latin churches in Constantinople by Cerularius. The Pope responded, assisted by Humbert who was throughout most unconciliatory. But before his reply was sent off two letters from Constantinople reached him. One was from Constantine IX who had been informed of the worsening situation in Italy by John of Trani who came in person to see the Emperor. The other letter was from Michael Cerularius, evidently more conciliatory in tone but still unacceptable to Rome. These letters are known only from the papal replies. ¹⁴ To Constantine, 'his beloved son, the glorious and devout Emperor of New Rome', the Pope was graciously encouraging, hoping for action against the Normans from Argyrus and Henry III as well as from the Byzantine Emperor, but he strongly condemned Cerularius's recent activities. In contrast to his letter to Constantine there was a studied coldness in his reply to 'the archbishop of Constantinople' who was particularly admonished for his offer to see that the papal name was commemorated in all the churches 'in toto orbe terrarum' provided that his own name was equally recognized in the Roman Church. Evidently here Leo had misunderstood the use of 'oecumene' which to the Greeks meant only 'throughout the Empire'. In this and other correspondence it was made clear to the Greeks that the Roman Church was the 'caput et mater ecclesiarum'; there was no question of primus inter pares. Thus the views of the western reformed Church and those of the Byzantine Patriarch were diametrically opposed.

The two papal letters were taken to Constantinople by legates sent to deal with the political and ecclesiastical situation. This embassy was headed by Humbert who had played a major part in formulating the papal replies. He was a prominent leader in the campaign for purifying the Latin Church, particularly from simony, and was a staunch supporter of the papal claim to plenitude of power. He was as intolerant and overbearing as Cerularius and not the man to promote conciliation and understanding. The legates reached Constantinople in April 1054 and were well received by the Emperor but virtually boycotted by Cerularius. Evidently there was a public debate on the ecclesiastical points at issue. Nicetas, a Studite monk and disciple of the distinguished abbot Symeon the New Theologian, supported the Greek side, but was induced to withdraw his advocacy and his works were burnt. All this was under imperial, and not patriarchal, auspices.

Then, exasperated beyond bearing at the failure to draw Michael Cerularius and perhaps aware of the hostility of the clergy and populace of Constantinople, on 16 July Humbert took final action and excommunicated the Patriarch and his close associates in a bull which was left on the altar of the Great Church at the morning liturgy. A subdeacon tried to return the bull but it was flung to the ground and eventually reached the Patriarch. The legates left Constantinople on 18 July, parting on friendly terms with the Emperor. But they were recalled to the capital by Constantine that they might meet the synod to discuss the bull. The Emperor then discovered that he was not to be allowed to attend this meeting. He realized that Cerularius was fomenting popular fury at the excommunication and fearing for the safety of the legates he hurriedly sent them off again. When the synod met it drew up a statement refuting the charge of heresy brought against Cerularius and included in this an accurate Greek translation of the bull. ¹⁵ Cerularius argued that the legates were impostors and that the papal letters were forged by Humbert in consultation with the Patriarch's alleged enemy Argyrus. He pointed out that Humbert had visited Argyrus en route and that the seals of the letters had been tampered with. Thus the embassy ended leaving a seemingly triumphant Michael Cerularius and an unreconciled papacy. Leo IX had died on 19 April 1054 when the embassy had just reached Constantinople but the actions of his emissaries during the interregnum were probably valid. In any case they represented views acceptable in western ecclesiastical circles.

These contrasting points of view are to some extent reflected in the correspondence of the Pope and the Patriarch with Peter III, Patriarch of Antioch. Peter was on friendly terms with Pope Leo IX and had sent him the usual synodica announcing his appointment and containing his profession of faith. Leo reciprocated, ¹⁶ exhorting him to resist any encroachments on the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Antioch, a reference to Michael Cerularius who had already had to apologize to Antioch for interfering in its affairs. ¹⁷ But, as in his letters to Constantinople, the Pope particularly emphasized the position of the apostolic see as head of all Churches, a view which ran counter to the eastern conception of ecclesiastical government through the pentarchy of the old patriarchates. For his part Cerularius was anxious to justify his actions to the eastern patriarchs. In two letters to Peter of Antioch he pressed his case too far and made false statements concerning the points at issue between Rome and Constantinople. ¹⁸ His accuracy was challenged by Peter. For instance, his assertion that the name of the Pope had been omitted from the diptychs since Justinian I's day was untrue. Peter himself had heard it commemorated in the liturgy when he was in Constantinople forty-five years earlier. Further Cerularius had unfairly implied that the bull had excommunicated the whole Orthodox Church. In fact both Humbert and Cerularius had been careful to limit their censures. Humbert praised the most Christian and Orthodox City, its rulers, clergy, senate, and people and specifically anathematized only Cerularius and his close associates. ¹⁹ Likewise the Patriarch hurled anathemas only against the authors of the impious bull and of the letters, which he believed to be a forgery concocted by impostors and not coming from the Pope. In fact since neither Church was attacked as such the way was open for reconciliation. Peter of Antioch, like Archbishop Theophylact of Bulgaria, was one of the more tolerant Greek ecclesiastics and he urged Cerularius to show forbearance and understanding. He stressed the relative unimportance of many of the differences. The filioque and unleavened bread he thought mattered, but, he said, if only Rome would omit the added filioque in the creed a blind eye might be turned to the rest, including the unleavened bread. ²⁰ But, tolerant as he was, like other eastern churchmen he stood by the traditional form of government through the pentarchy and general councils. ²¹

It was partly this fundamental conflict between the western view of the papacy and Byzantine tradition which contributed to the failure of the papal mission of 1054. No effective political alliance was formed. The Norman position in Italy was further consolidated when the papacy was forced to make the best bargain open to it and in 1059 had to recognize the new settlers as its vassals. In the papal view the Normans were at least of the Latin Church and to that extent strengthened the papal position at the expense of the Greek churches in Italy.

Viewed in their historical framework the events of 1054 have in a sense been magnified out of all proportion. It is true that at the time there was great strength of feeling on both sides. One only has to look at the documents to realize the deliberate provocation and discourtesy towards each other of both Humbert and Cerularius, as well as the insistence of the Pope on claims which seemed to go far beyond accepted tradition in the eastern Churches. Posterity has however read into this dramatic episode 'a formal schism' which did not then exist. What the quarrel did was to bring to the surface once again differences in doctrine and custom which had long been recognized and which were to be exaggerated and worked over in the bitter polemic of the later middle ages. But that time had not yet come. Once the Roman legates had left in July 1054 it was no doubt thought that normal relations between Constantinople and the curia would eventually resume — particularly vital at this time as the Pope could be an important factor in a difficult political situation. And this is in fact what happened. What Constantinople had not yet really grasped were the implications and problems inherent in the western concept of the Pope as caput et mater of all Churches. That was to come together with the intensified embitterment engendered by the Latin crusading movement and its culmination in 1204. That was when the real schism occurred. ²²

The Humbert — Cerularius quarrel made virtually no impact at the time on Byzantine society and gets hardly a mention in contemporary writings. Cerularius may well have been congratulating himself on his firm assertion of his position as leading churchman in the Aegean and Middle East. In fact his downfall was impending and for quite another reason.

Constantine IX died in 1055 soon after the affair with Humbert. Though he had originally been the friend of Michael Cerularius their relations had become strained. Succeeding rulers were to find the Patriarch's ambitions equally unacceptable. The old Empress Theodora, the last of the Macedonian dynasty, ruled from 1055-6. The contemporary historian Psellus, who was immersed in court activities, said that the Empress detested Cerularius once she came to power because he openly expressed his dislike of a woman on the throne. This may not be entirely unrelated to criticism of Cerularius's interest in a suspect prophetess who was exiled. Psellus hints that Theodora was preparing to depose him when she died. Theodora's successor was Michael VI, an indecisive elderly civilian. Cerularius and others intrigued against him and forced him to resign in favour of Isaac Comnenus who came from a prominent landed family, one of a group of military men concerned at the neglect of imperial defences. Isaac I (1057-9) needed money for defence purposes and the Church was not exempt. He was charged by Cerularius with ignoring the rights of church property and soon the two men came into open conflict. It is not clear exactly what authority Cerularius was claiming. Psellus, who was at the centre of the crisis, wrote to him 'You despise emperors and oppose all authority.' ²³ Another historian alleged that the Patriarch maintained that there was no difference between the priesthood and the Empire, or very little, and implied that the priesthood was the more important. ²⁴ Cerularius certainly wore the purple shoes then regarded as an imperial prerogative. This time he had gone too far. Isaac exiled him and called a synod to depose him. The chief charges against him were drawn up by Psellus in a document known as the Accusation. But the indictment remained undelivered because on 2 November 1058 the Patriarch suddenly died on his way to attend the synod, which had been summoned at a place well away from Constantinople for fear of popular support for him in the capital. Psellus Accusation is an informative document. ²⁵ The main charges were treason and heresy. Cerularius was accused of trying to supplant the Emperor, but it is not clear whether he meant to combine the imperial and patriarchal offices. If so, he was attacking the basic structure of the Empire and was unlikely to succeed. He evidently thought the priesthood superior to secular office and here again he was stressing something alien to the established interdependence of church and state each essential to the other and with different functions. Cerularius was also charged with heresy and accused of dabbling in occult mysteries and consulting unsavoury soothsayers whom he allowed into the Great Church. Many details bring to life his character and activities. For instance in his colourful arrogance he set up looms in the vaults of Hagia Sophia to spin the exclusive imperial gold cloth for his own use. Had he lived he would certainly have been deposed, though there was some risk in this because of his following in the capital and his links with the influential Ducas family to whom he was related by marriage. Isaac probably later paid the penalty for his attack on Cerularius which would certainly have roused the antipathy of the Ducas and may have contributed to his own somewhat sudden and unexplained abdication in 1059.

After such a firebrand as Cerularius the next two patriarchs must have proved a welcome relief. Constantine III Lichudes (2 February 1059-9/ 10 August 1063) had been a distinguished and valued minister, proedrus, and protovestiarius. He was one of several candidates and was chosen for his statesmanlike and virtuous qualities. Scylitzes Continuatus spoke of an election by 'clergy and people' as well as the synod, ²⁶ unusual if so, but perhaps a sop allowed by the Emperor to compensate for his unpopular attack on the late Patriarch. Before his ordination and enthronement were permitted the Emperor (always in financial difficulties) made him give up the administration (and revenues) of the Mangana which he had received from Constantine IX before he became patriarch. ²⁷ The most significant aspect of Lichudes' patriarchate was the continued persecution of the monophysites, all the more disastrous in view of defence problems and the possibility that if driven too far the Syrians and the Armenians would join, or at any rate tolerate, the Turkic invaders, which was in fact what happened. Michael the Syrian reported two edicts in Constantine Ducas's reign under an unnamed Patriarch whose sudden death he considered to be a sign of divine displeasure. This must have been Lichudes. All nonChalcedonians were to be evicted from Melitene and their sacred books burnt. ²⁸

John Xiphilinus (1 January 1064-2 August 1075), who followed Lichudes, belonged to the same circle of intellectuals as Psellus. ²⁹ He had been nomophylax in charge of the Law School set up by Constantine IX in 1045 and then later in the reign fell into disfavour at court, the victim of an intrigue. Like his friend Psellus he went into a monastery on Bithynian Mount Olympus. Unlike Psellus he found his vocation there, stayed on and became head of the house. With reluctance he agreed to take up the patriarchal office, in his eyes no promotion but a descent from a higher form of divine service. During the first year of Xiphilinus's patriarchate the drive against the monophysites continued. The Jacobite Patriarch Athanasius and some of his bishops were imprisoned for a time in the monastery of the Greek metropolitan of Melitene. Then they were summoned to Constantinople, as well as Ignatius, the Jacobite metropolitan of Melitene. Athanasius died en route but Ignatius arrived and was exiled by the synod to Mount Ganos in Gallipoli. ³⁰ Later in 1065 the Armenians, ecclesiastics and princes, were summoned to Constantinople and pressed to agree to ecclesiastical union but without success. Their hatred of the Greeks was only intensified and the Armenians living in Asia Minor vented their fury on their Greek neighbours. The Greek metropolitan of Caesarea was seized and cruelly killed by Kakig the ex-king of Ani. But this was not merely a religious problem; it reflected deeprooted racial antipathy of long standing which was only exacerbated by Constantinople's religious policy. As usually the case in Byzantium, orthodoxy was more important than political expediency and here Xiphilinus was in the normal Byzantine tradition. Xiphilinus's expertise as a jurist served him well in dealing with intricate marital problems of canon and civil law, as is seen in the synodal rulings of 1066 and 1067. ³¹ From Psellus's eulogy on him he is revealed as a man of compassion, aware of the needs of the poor, as in his organization of a daily distribution of bread behind the phiale of Hagia Sophia. ³² His attitude towards the state was firm rather than aggressive. He did not hesitate to uphold ecclesiastical prerogative against imperial claims, as for instance in his rejection of an imperial attempt to appoint a bishop in a way contrary to canon and civil law. ³³ Towards the end of his patriarchate he was closely involved in matters of state. Constantine X died in 1067 leaving three minors. It was Xiphilinus who acted with the senate in absolving their mother Eudocia from her promise to Constantine not to marry again. It was obviously in the interests of the Empire to have a military man in charge and in 1068 Eudocia chose as her second husband the general Romanus Diogenes (1068-71). Xiphilinus lived on into the succeeding reign of the young Ducas Michael VII (1071-8) and supported his attempt to ally with the Norman Robert Guiscard and to betroth his son Constantine to Guiscard's daughter Helen. ³⁴ Xiphilinus was the finest of the eleventh-century patriarchs, humane, a philosopher as well as a jurist, balanced in outlook, a spiritually-minded man with a strong sense of duty.

Cosmas I of Jerusalem (8 August 1075-8 August 1081) had a reputation for sanctity. His term of office covered the troubled period preceding Alexius Comnenus's successful coup of 1081. Michael VII had been deposed in 1078; he became a Studite monk and was subsequently elected by the synod to be metropolitan of Ephesus. ³⁵ Cosmas could not approve the third marriage of Michael's successor, Nicephorus III Botaneiates, to the Alan princess Maria, Michael's ex-wife, though he went no further than degrading the priest who married them. ³⁶ But Cosmas did successfully oppose Alexius Comnenus's attempt to repudiate his wife Irene Ducaena when he wanted to marry the fascinating already twicewed ex-Empress Maria Alania. Alexius even had himself crowned without Irene which alarmed the Ducas family. Alexius's mother, the redoubtable Anna Dalassena, hated Irene and the Ducas connection. Moreover she had in mind to replace Patriarch Cosmas (who was pro-Ducas) with her own favourite monk Eustratius Garidas. According to the historian Anna Comnena, Cosmas agreed to abdicate provided that he was first allowed to crown Irene Empress. This he did and then went. The most significant synodal act during his office was the condemnation of certain heretical views connected with the teaching of the scholar John Italus who was a friend of the Ducas family. This was during the period 1076-7. ³⁷ At this time the Ducas family were still in power. John Italus was not then mentioned by name and the more important sequel to this action took place in the succeeding reign of Alexius Comnenus, the rival of the Ducas family whose protégé the Emperor was not inclined to favour. Thus when Patriarch Cosmas departed from office the issue of the philosophers versus the theologians was left largely unresolved. This is only one of various pointers indicating that in many respects the year 1081 did not really mark a break in continuity for the Empire.