Victor R. Claveau, MJ
The assassination of the unworthy Emperor Michael, surnamed the Drunkard, put a stop for the present to the machinations of Photius. The false patriarch fell with his patron. The first act of the new Emperor, Basil the Macedonian, was to depose and banish Photius and recall the much tried Ignatius to his see, A. D. 867. Basil, at the advice of Ignatius, wrote to the Pope to inform him of the change and request him to assemble a General Council, in order to heal the wounds inflicted on the Church by the schism of Photius.
Pope Nicholas having meanwhile died, his successor, Hadrian II., convened the Eighth General Council to restore peace to the Greek Church. The Council was opened in the Church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, A. D. 869. The papal legates presided. Ignatius was declared the legitimate patriarch, and Photius forever deposed from all clerical orders. The acts of the Council were subsequently confirmed by Hadrian. After the adjournment of the Council, the question of jurisdiction over Bulgaria was discussed between the papal legates, the Patriarch Ignatius, and the Bulgarian ambassadors. Notwithstanding the protest of the papal legates, after their departure, Bulgaria was assigned to the patriarchate of Constantinople, and ever since has recognized its dependence on that see.
Photius meanwhile succeeded in regaining the favor of the emperor, who, on the death of Ignatius, A. D. 877, reestablished him on the patriarchal throne. At the urgent request of the emperor and the Oriental patriarchs, Pope John VIIL, moved by unquestionably serious reasons of policy, consented to recognize Photius, on the condition, however, that he should in a public Synod apologize for his former conduct and acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Roman See over Bulgaria. He also sent legates to Constantinople to execute this decree of mercy.
But Photius would not brook submission, and resorted to his old arts. Ata numerously attended Synod, in 879, over which he presided himself, the Eighth Council was abrogated, the doctrine of the “Filioque” rejected, and the acts of Popes Nicholas and Hadrian condemned. The letters of Pope John VIII. were read, but in a mutilated and falsified translation. The papal legates being ignorant of the Greek language, and completely outwitted by the crafty Greeks, confirmed the enactments of the false Synod. On learning these disgraceful transactions, Pope John excommunicated both Photius and the faithless legates, and annulled the decrees of the pseudo-synod. This was occasion for a new rupture between Rome and Constantinople. Photius, however, remained in possession of the see he had usurped as long as Emperor Basil lived. But the son and successor of Basil, Leo VI. the Philosopher, caused the sentence of the Roman Pontiffs to be executed. Photius was deposed and exiled to a monastery, this time not to return, A. D. 886. His successor in the patriarchal see was Stephen, the brother of the emperor. Photius died in the year 891.
From that time, there was peace between Rome and Constantinople until toward the end of the tenth century, when the Patriarchs Sisinnius and Sergius renewed the old accusations against the Latins. Eustathius, who succeeded Sergius, applied to Pope John XIX. for the title of “Ecumenical Patriarch.” The request being refused, the name of the Pope was omitted from the diptychs by the angry patriarch. In the year 1048, the ambitious and turbulent Michael Cerularius was made patriarch. He revived the Photian schism. His chief accomplices were Leo of Achrida, Metropolitan of Bulgaria, and Nicetas Stethatus, a monk of the monastery of Studium. At the instance of Cerularius, Leo circulated a document in which the following charges were brought against the Latins as so many grievances:
- The use of unleavened bread in the holy Sacrifice;
- Fasting on Saturdays in Lent;
- The eating of blood and things strangled; and
- The omission of the “Alleluia” in Lent.
This was the beginning of new troubles. Pope St. Leo IX. addressed an eloquent letter to the schismatical prelates, in which he refuted their puerile incriminations. He also sent three legates, the Cardinals Frederic (afterward Stephen IX.) and Humbert, and Archbishop Peter to Constantinople to settle the prevailing difficulties. They were well received by Emperor Constantine IX., but the haughty Cerularius persistently refused all communication with them. Finding all their efforts useless, they proceeded to spiritual penalties. On July 16, A. D. 1054, the legates deposited on the altar of St. Sophia the excommunication of Cerularius and his adherents, and then departed for Rome. From this period, the definitive separation of the Greek Church from that of Rome is generally dated, though communication between them was at times resumed. After several ineffectual attempts at reunion, the evil became desperate in the fifteenth century, when the sword of the Mussulman was employed by Divine Providence to punish the obstinacy which no condescension on the part of Rome could cure.