Oxford history of the christian church

3. Ignatius's second patriarchate (867-877): the council of Constantinople (869-870).

In Basil I's day (as indeed at other times) there was certainly a dividing line between the monastic point of view and the liberal and humanist outlook of a man such as Photius, but it is probably misleading to speak of an 'extremist' and a 'moderate' party. ³⁷ Much was determined by opportunist political aims and personal expediency, though not necessarily to the exclusion of the needs of the Byzantine Church. Basil, who had attained the throne through certainly one, and probably two murders, needed to strengthen his position. He was well aware that he had participated in the council of 867 which had taken the extreme step of deposing Pope Nicholas I. He therefore hastened to rectify this by denouncing Photius and recalling Ignatius who was reinstalled on 23 November 867. Imperial letters were promptly dispatched to Rome. The first letter appears to have been lost, but is referred to in the second letter of 11 December 867. ³⁸ In these letters Basil deplored the state of the Byzantine Church and explained that this was due to the iniquities of Photius. He asked the Pope to set matters right. He hoped for the recognition of Ignatius's legitimate claim to the patriarchate and for the repudiation of the 867 and certain earlier synods. In the case of Photius's ordinations, he made a special plea for leniency in dealing with clerics who had offended but later repented. Basil had no option but to replace Photius if he wanted papal support. But obviously he had no wish to perpetuate a discontented clerical party in opposition or to ignore the need for an adequate supply of clergy. At the same time Ignatius sent a letter to the Pope asking for a ruling on the pressing question of the Photian clergy. ³⁹ Both Ignatius and Photius also sent representatives to put their respective cases (as Nicholas I had already suggested), though in the case of Photius this could only be a formality. Basil asked in his letter that legates should be sent to Constantinople to report on the papal investigation, for he planned to hold a council there. In December 867 an invitation to attend was sent to Jerusalem. ⁴⁰ The locum tenens of Antioch was included in this letter, and presumably Alexandria was also informed since its representatives turned up in time for the ninth session.

Pope Nicholas I had been succeeded by the benevolent elderly Hadrian II (867-72). It was therefore under Hadrian that the enquiry took place at St Peter's in Rome on 10 June 869 when a synod was held which condemned the Photian council of 867. It deposed clergy ordained by Photius and would only recognize Ignatian bishops who had subsequently supported Photius if they signed a statement (Libellus satisfactionis) anathematizing all heresies, as well as Photius and his activities, and specifically recognizing the authority of the apostolic see ⁴¹

In the autumn of 869 the papal decisions and the Libellus were taken to Constantinople by the Roman legates, Donatus, bishop of Ostia, Stephen, bishop of Nepi, and the deacon Marinus. The council met in the spacious galleries of Hagia Sophia and was presided over by the imperial representative, the patrician Baanes, as custom demanded, not by the Roman legates as the Pope had intended. Significantly only five metropolitans and seven bishops came to the first session, and even by the tenth and last session there were only about 103 present. As the legates pressed home Hadrian's unpalatable demands, Basil's conciliatory attitude rapidly changed to hostility. He was supported by the clergy who found the contents of the Libellus very hard to swallow; some refused outright to sign and many boycotted the council.

The strong Photian party felt itself hardly done by; even if its members submitted and did penance they were then only to be admitted to communion as laity. Further their condemnation was presented by the papal legates as a fait accompli. Even Basil objected to this and insisted that Photius be heard. In fact Photius was given the opportunity of appearing before the council. He was pressed to do so and came reluctantly on 20 and 29 October ⁴² but he refused to plead saying that his kingdom was not of this world. He and his followers were formally excommunicated in the seventh session and the offending Photian acta were burnt in a copper bowl at the eighth session.

Between the eighth and last sessions there was a long and unexplained gap (5 November 869-12 February 870). Apart from the imposition of penalties in the Ignatian-Photian controversy, a number of other canons were drawn up and approved at the tenth and last session at which the Emperor presided. ⁴³ These mainly dealt with abuses of a disciplinary or administrative nature. There was also a clear statement on the inviolable position in the Church of the five patriarchates, the pentarchy of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, in that order, with primacy of honour to the Elder Rome (can. 21), and a warning about lay interference in higher ecclesiastical elections, though with a loophole making possible normal Byzantine procedure in this respect (can. 22).

Throughout this council the growing antagonism between Rome and Constantinople was very near the surface. The Libellus was particularly resented. An attempt was even made surreptitiously to get back the bishops' signed statements from the Roman legates' rooms in the capital. Possibly the noticeably high-handed behaviour of the legates was due to their fear of deviating in any way from papal instructions, mindful of the fate of the more pliable legates Radoald and Zacharias on an earlier occasion.

The situation could hardly have been eased by the arrival of a Bulgarian embassy during the last session of the council. The Bulgarian ruler Boris wished to bring up once more the question of his ecclesiastical allegiance — was it to Rome or to Constantinople? The immediate problem had arisen because Rome had refused to grant him the archbishop of his choice, namely, the Latin Formosus. This clearly created an opportunity for Constantinople. A separate meeting was held under the Emperor's chairmanship. The matter was to be decided by the oriental patriarchs, to the fury of the papal legates. As might have been foreseen, the verdict was in favour of the patriarchate of Constantinople. ⁴⁴ A momentous but not unreasonable decision. ⁴⁵ The Roman legates however then produced a papal letter to Ignatius forbidding him any share in Bulgarian ecclesiastical affairs. The papal claims were later emphasized by Pope John VIII in a letter to Boris, ⁴⁶ avowing that Bulgaria was within Roman ecclesiastical jurisdiction, threatening to excommunicate Ignatius if he persisted in intruding and implying that his recognition had been conditional on non-interference in Bulgaria.

During the years of Ignatius's second patriarchate relations between Rome and Constantinople were scarcely more harmonious than under Photius. Ignatius was in difficulties because of lack of clergy, since so many pro-Photians had been put out of action. Both Ignatius and Basil wrote to Hadrian asking for some relaxation of the penalties imposed on Photian clergy, but without success. ⁴⁷ Rivalry over the Bulgarian Church was proving a constant irritant and it was hardly edifying for the new converts to see Greek and Latin missionaries literally chasing each other out of the country. ⁴⁸ By reason of scarcity of approved men, Ignatius seemed to have been driven to send clergy ordained by Photius to Bulgaria, which was an added papal grievance against him. Both Hadrian II and John VIII (872-82) threatened Ignatius on this score and also complained to the Emperor and to Boris but without result. ⁴⁹ A further problem was posed within the Byzantine Empire by the strength of the pro-Photian party. It was clear that some modus vivendi must be devised in order to avoid a continuing split within the Greek Church. Following the council of 869-70 the offending clergy had had a hard time. Photius was exiled to a monastery near the Bosphorus where he lamented his difficulties and particularly the lack of access to his books. But gradually a blind eye was turned on the conciliar condemnation. Photius was recalled and became tutor to Basil's sons. His condemnation by Hadrian II and the 869-70 council was ignored, and in any case Ignatius himself was hardly on very good terms with Rome. Photius's reconciliation with Ignatius followed some time after 872, possibly in 876. There are various accounts of this, describing Photius's frequent visits to Ignatius who was now old and ill. In the funeral oration on his father Basil I, Leo VI emphasized the disastrous impact which the schism had made on the Church, and he even spoke of the whole Church being in exile with its archbishop before the recall of Photius and the end of dissension and the holy kiss of peace. ⁵⁰