Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PHOTIUS (c. 82o-891)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 484 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PHOTIUS (c. 82o-891)  , See also:patriarch of See also:Constantinople (858–867 and 878-886) . From his See also:early years he displayed an extra-See also:ordinary See also:talent and appetite for knowledge, and as soon as he had completed his own See also:education he began to See also:teach with distinguished success See also:grammar, See also:rhetoric, divinity and See also:philosophy . The way to public See also:life was probably opened for him by the See also:marriage of his See also:brother See also:Sergius to the princess See also:Irene, See also:sister of See also:Theodora, who, upon the See also:death of her See also:husband See also:Theophilus in 842, had assumed the regency of the See also:empire . See also:Photius became See also:captain of the guard and subsequently first imperial secretary . The dissensions between the patriarch See also:Ignatius and Bardas, the See also:uncle of the youthful See also:Emperor See also:Michael III., brought promotion to Photius . Ignatius was arrested and imprisoned (Nev . 858), and upon refusing to resign his See also:office was illegally deposed, while Photius, although a layman, received all the necessary sacerdotal orders within six days, and was installed as patriarch in his See also:place . Ignatius, continuing to refuse the See also:abdication which could alone have given Photius's See also:elevation a semblance of legality, was treated with extreme severity . His cause was subsequently espoused by See also:Pope See also:Nicholas in a manner highly offensive to the891 . For See also:long after Photius's death his memory was held in no See also:special See also:honour by his countrymen . But when, in the crusading See also:age, the See also:Greek See also:Church and See also:state were alike in danger from Latin encroachments, Photius became a See also:national See also:hero, and is at See also:present regarded as little See also:short of a See also:saint . To this See also:character he has not the least pretension .

Few men, it is probable, have been more atrociously calumniated; but, when every specific statement to his See also:

prejudice has been rejected, he still appears on a See also:general See also:review of his actions worldly, crafty and unscrupulous . Yet he shows to no little See also:advantage as an ecclesiastical statesman . His firmness was heroic: his sagacity profound and far-seeing; he supported. See also:good and evil See also:fortune with equal dignity; and his fall was on both occasions due to revolutions beyond his See also:control . In erudition, See also:literary See also:power, and force and versatility of See also:intellect he far surpassed every contemporary . The most important of the See also:works of Photius is his renowned Bibliotheca or Myriobiblon (ed . I . See also:Bekker, 1824–1825), a collection of extracts from and abridgments of 28o volumes of classical authors (usually cited as Codices), the originals of which are now to a See also:great extent lost . The See also:work is specially See also:rich in extracts from See also:historical writers . To Photius we are indebted for almost all we possess of See also:Ctesias, See also:Memnon, See also:Conon, the lost books of Diodorus Siculus, and the lost writings of See also:Arrian . See also:Theology and ecclesiastical See also:history are also very fully represented, but See also:poetry and See also:ancient philosophy are almost entirely ignored . It seems that he did not think it necessary to See also:deal with those authors with whom every well-educated See also:man would naturally be See also:familiar . The literary criticisms, generally distinguished by keen and See also:independent See also:judgment, and the excerpts, vary considerably in length .

The numerous See also:

biographical notices are probably taken from the work of See also:Hesychius of See also:Miletus . The+ See also:Lexicon (A&femv Euvaymyit), published later than the Bibliotheca, was probably in the See also:main the work of some of his pupils . It was intended as a See also:book of reference to facilitate the See also:reading of old classical and sacred authors, whose See also:language and vocabulary were out of date, The only MS. of the Lexicon is the Codex Galeanus, formerly in the See also:possession of See also:Thomas See also:Gale (q.v.), and now in the library of Trinity See also:College, See also:Cambridge (ed . S . A . Naber, 1864, with introduction on the authorities, See also:critical commentary, and valuable indexes) . His most important theological work is the Amphilochia, a collection of some 300 questions and answers on difficult points in Scripture, addressed to Amphilochius, See also:archbishop of See also:Cyzicus (ed . See also:Sophocles Oeconomus, See also:Athens, 1858) . Other similar works are his See also:treatise in four books against the Manichaeans and See also:Paulicians, and his controversy with the Latins on the Procession of the See also:Holy Spirit . His Epistles, See also:political and private, addressed to high church and state dignitaries, are valuable for the See also:light they throw upon the character and versatility of the writer (ed . J . Valettas, See also:London, 1864) .

A large number of his speeches and homilies have been edited by S . Aristarches (1900) . The only See also:

complete edition is See also:Bishop See also:Malou's in See also:Migne's Patrologia graeca, ci.–cv . R . Reifzenstein (Der Anfang See also:des Lexikons des Photius, 1907) has published a hitherto unedited MS. containing numerous fragments from various See also:verse and See also:prose authors . After the allusions in his own writings the See also:chief contemporary authority for the life of Photius is his See also:bitter enemy, Nicetas the Paphlagonian, the biographer of his See also:rival Ignatius . The See also:standard See also:modern work is that of See also:Cardinal See also:Hergenrother, Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel (1867–1869) . As a dignitary of the See also:Roman See also:Catholic Church, Cardinal Hergenrother is inevitably biased against Photius as an ecclesiastic, but his natural candour and sympathy with intellectual See also:eminence have made him just to the man . See also See also:article by F . Kattenbusch in See also:Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklop6.See also:die See also:fur protestantische Theologie (1904), containing full See also:bibliographical details; J . A . See also:Fabricius, Bibliotheca graeca, x .

67o-776, xi . 1–37 ; C . See also:

Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur, pp . 73-79, 515–524 (2nd ed., 1897) ; J . E . See also:Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship (2nd ed., 1906) .

End of Article: PHOTIUS (c. 82o-891)
[back]
PHOTIUS
[next]
PHOTOCHEMISTRY (Gr. 4&n, light, and " chemistry ")

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.