Aug. 16, judgment, and supposed that the Byzantines would be willing to bear anything for the sake of obtaining his countenance. Two bishops and a priest were sent as legates, with letters 879. and instructions in which it was said that Photius might be restored if he would make satisfaction for his offences and would ask mercy of the synod; and it was insisted on that he should resign all pretensions to Bulgaria.* The ensigns of the patriarchal dignity were transmitted in the same manner which had been usual in bestowing the pall on metropolitans. The synod--the eighth General Council according to the Greek reckoning-was imposing as to numbers, consisting of 380 bishops from the empire, with the three Roman legates, and three deputies from the oriental patriarchs." The precedent set by the second council of Nicæa, of having representatives from the oriental thrones, had been followed in the council under Photius in 861, and in that under Ignatius in 869. But at the latter of these, the representatives of the east had declared that the orientals who had taken part in the synod under Photius were impostors, with forged credentials." Photius, however, asserted that those who made that declaration were themselves not only impostors, but agents of the Saracens ; and letters were now produced from Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, in which the patriarchs disavowed the persons who had acted in their names, and disowned all connexion with the proceedings against Photius. b C The Roman legates found that matters were conducted in a very different way from what the courteous behaviour of Photius had led them to expect. Instead of submitting himself to their judgment, he assumed the presidency of the council from the beginning, declaring that both his first and his second elevation had been forced on him that he had committed no wrong, and did not need any mercy. The pope's letters were read, but with omissions of the more violent pretensions, and with insertions to the honour of the patriarch. The demand of Bulgaria was, with great professions * Hard. v. 1165, 1185; vi. 207, 1085-9, 1100. 1168-9. y Hard. vi. 228. See Neand. vi. 323. Schröckh, xxiv. 188-9. The Greeks disallowed the council of 869. The synod discovered the persons who had taken on themselves the character of envoys. These said that, having come to Constantinople on other business, they had been induced by Photius to appear in his synod, and on this ground he was anathematised in the 9th canon. Hard. v. 874-7, 901, or b Ep. 116, p. 159. The explanation offered by the opposite party is, that the patriarch of Jerusalem, in order to avert the suspicions of the Saracens, had given the envoys instructions to negotiate for the redemption of Saracen captives at Constantinople. Hard vi. 1160; Hefele, iv. 423. c Hard. vi. 300, 301, 325. See Hard. v. 1165, seqq.; vi. 63-72, 231, seqq.; 246, seqq.; 277, seqq.; 1152. of respect for Rome, evaded as being foreign to the question in hand. The Greek bishops all supported the patriarch, and acted as if in entire independence of Rome; yet the legates allowed all to pass without a protest, and joined in anathematising the council of 869, by which Photius had been deposed. Aug. 13, 880. It was only by degrees that John became acquainted with the result of the council. At first, he declared himself willing to confirm its restoration of Photius, if he should find that the legates had not disobeyed their instructions. Misconstruing the polite phrases of the Greeks, he supposed that Bulgaria had been given up to him, and wrote to thank the emperor for the concession; while in a letter to Photius he expressed surprise that in some respects his directions had not been followed by the council.1 When, however, he discovered the real state of the matter, his exasperation was unbounded. He ascended the pulpit of a church, and, holding the book of the Gospels in his hand, threatened to anathematise all who should not regard Photius as one condemned by God's judgment, according to the sentences of Nicolas and Adrian;1 and he sent Marinus, one of the legates who had attended the council under Ignatius, to insist that matters should be restored to the state which had been established by that council. But the legate was treated with indignity, was imprisoned for a month at Constantinople, and returned without any success. On the death of John, Marinus was raised to the papacy; and the sentence against Photius was renewed by him," by Adrian III., and by Stephen V., f Hard. vi. 252, 309. Ib. 312, seqq.; Schröckh, xxiv. 192; Hefele, iv. 462-3. Although this synod answers all the conditions usually laid down for a general council, the Romanists speak of it as a Photian conventicle, and censure John for consenting to it in any degree. Baronius supposes the fable of Pope Joan to have taken its origin from the pope's weakness in yielding to the wishes of Basil (879. 4-6)-a supposition very inconsistent with the general character of John. The same historian ventures to conjecture that the acts of the council were forged by Photius (879. 73); and the extravagant idea has been more confidently repeated by others, as by Rohrbacher, who speaks in his index of the "Fourberie de Photius, peut-être unique dans l'histoire." (See also vol. xii. 237, and Schröckh, xxiv. 193-5; Giesel. II. i. 380.) This charge may have originated in the story told by the biographer of See Ep. 108 ad Phot.; Ep. 109 ad Imperatores, Hard. vi. i Hard v. 1161; Baron. 880. 11. who held an angry correspondence on the subject with Basil and his son Leo VI." Leo, formerly the pupil of Photius, on his accession in 886, deposed the patriarch, confined him in a monastery, and filled the see with his own brother Stephen, a boy of sixteen. The reasons of this step are unknown; the Greek writers in general trace it to a suspicion that Photius was implicated with a monk named Theodore Santabarenus, who is said to have gained an influence over the late emperor by magical arts, and had endeavoured by a double treachery to alienate him from his son.P An inquiry into the conduct of Photius took place, and no evidence could be found against him; yet he did not recover his see, and he died in exile in the year 891.9 The two parties which had divided the church of Constantinople were reconciled within a few years; but Pope John IX. made difficulties as to recognising the clergy who had been ordained by Photius. At length, however, the churches resumed communion, and the name of Photius himself was among those of the patriarchs acknowledged by Rome. But political jealousies, and the retention of Bulgaria by the Byzantine patriarchate, together with the difference as to rites and doctrine, continued to keep up a coolness between the sees, until at a later time they again broke out into open discord. A.D. 898. " See Hard. v. 1116, seqq.; vi. 365, up Stephen as an ecclesiastic. (Kircheng. seqq. iii. 301.) Symeon Magister describes Santabarenus as a Manichæan and a magician. De Basil. 17-18, 21. G. Hamart. Contin. p. 762. P Const. Porph. v. 101; vi. 2; G. Hamart. Contin. 768-770; Cedren. 593; Schröckh, xxiv. 198. The continuator of Hamartolus says that when, in consequence of Theodore's charges, Basil was about to blind his son, Photius successfully interceded for Leo (763). An unknown Greek writer, cited by Baronius (886. 16), ascribes the deposition to the emperor's regard for the pope. Gfrörer conjectures that Photius had a scheme for rendering the church independent, and that the emperor meant to defeat this by getting the patriarchate into his own family-Basil having already shown a like intention by bringing a Const. Porph. vi. 5; Cedren. 594-5; Pagi, xv. 424. Hard. vi. 479; Baron. 905 9; Pagi, xv. 539; Schröckh, xxiv. 198-207. $ See Baron. 905. 11-12, and Pagi's notes; Schröckh, xxiv. 201. In 923, the Bulgarian king Symeon, in dictating terms of peace to the emperor Romanus I., required that the chief bishop of Bulgaria should be acknowledged by Constantinople as an independent patriarch; and this lasted until John Tzimisces put an end to the Bulgarian kingdom, A.D. 972. Finlay, ii. 81. CHAPTER IV. SPAIN-ENGLAND · MISSIONS OF THE NINTH CENTURY. I. THE Christians of Spain after the Mahometan conquest, who were known by the name of Mustaraba or Mozarabes," enjoyed the free exercise of their religion, although on condition of paying a heavy monthly poll-tax. They generally lived on friendly terms with their Mussulman masters; many of them held office under the caliphs, and monks and clergy who understood both the Arabic and the Latin languages were employed in diplomatic correspondence. But, notwithstanding these relations, the difference of religion was a continual source of trouble. The Mahometan mobs often abused Christians in the streets; they shouted out blasphemies against the Christian name, while all retaliation was forbidden by law under very severe penalties. If a marriage took place between persons professing the two religions, the general law against apostasy from Islam made it death for the Mahometan party to embrace Christianity; and the questions which in such marriages naturally arose as to the religion of the issue produced very serious difficulties. Moreover, the hostility of the Mussulmans towards the Christians who dwelt among them was excited by the persevering efforts of those who in other parts of the peninsula carried on a war of independence; while these efforts served also to raise among the Christians under the Mahometan rule a desire to do something for the more public assertion of their faith.d The Christians were divided into two parties. The one of these was bent on preserving peace with their rulers, as far as possible, and enjoying the toleration which was allowed them. The other party regarded this acquiescence as unworthy; they thought that their brethren had been corrupted by intercourse with the Moslems into a blameable laxity of opinions. They declared that the offices of Mahometan courts could not be held without compliances a The name does not mean (as has been mistakenly said) mixti Arabibus, but Arabes insititii-grafted on the stock of the Araba Arabi, or pure Arabs. Giesel. II. i. 147. b Eulogii Memoriale Sanctorum, in Bibl. Patr. xv. 249, b. (or in Patrol. cxv.). Neand. v. 462-3. d Giesel. II. i. 147. unbecoming a Christian; that those who occupied such offices were obliged to refrain from openly signing themselves with the cross, and from other outward manifestations of their faith; that they were obliged to speak of the Saviour in such terms as might not be offensive to the unbelievers. They complained that the Christian youth preferred the cultivation of "Chaldean" to that of ecclesiastical literature; that they were more familiar with Arabic than with Latin." A.D. 850. About the middle of the ninth century a persecution of the Christians broke out at Cordova under the reign of Abderrahman II. The first sufferer was a monk named Perfectus, who, having fallen in with some Mahometans in the neighbourhood of the city, was questioned by them as to the opinion which Christians entertained of the Prophet. He attempted to evade the question, on the ground that he was unwilling to offend them; but, as they continued to urge him, and assured him that no offence would be taken, he said that Mahomet was regarded by Christians as one of the false prophets foretold in Scripture; and he remarked on some parts of his history, as scandalous, and as proving the falsehood of his pretensions. The Arabs, in consideration of the promise which they had given, restrained their anger for the time; but when Perfectus next appeared in public, he was seized, was dragged before a judge, on a charge of blasphemy against the Prophet, and was executed. The next victim was a merchant, who had given no provocation; but the third, a young monk named Isaac, courted his fate. He went before the judge of the city, professing an inclination to embrace the religion of the Koran, and begging for some instruction in its doctrines; and when these were explained to him, he denounced their falsehood with great vehemence. The execution of Isaac was followed by an outburst of fanatical zeal. Clergymen, monks, nuns, and laity rushed to the Mahometan tribunals, reviling the Prophet as an impostor, an adulterer, a sorcerer, and declaring that his followers were in the way to perdition.' And, besides those who voluntarily thrust themselves on death, many children of mixed marriages were delated by their Mahometan relations as apostates, although they had probably been brought up from the first in the religion of the Christian parent.k A.D. 851. e Alvari Indicul. Luminosus, c. 9, in Flores, España Sagrada, xi. Madr. 1792 (or in Patrol. cxxi.). f Alvar. 3; Eulog. ii. 1. Eulog. col. 246, f.; Alvar. 5. g Eulog. Praef. 243; Alvar. 12. Eulog. ad Willesind. (Bibl. Patr. xv. 300, c.) Details of the martyrdoms in Mem. SS. ii. 3, seqq. See Eulog. Mem. SS. ii. 8. |