notorious scandal throughout the Empire. Again he warned him, and commanded him to put away Eudokia. Bardas took no notice, and then, while still in this state of sin, he came with the rest of the Court to receive Holy Communion on the Epiphany in 857. The Patriarch refused it to him. That was his treason and offence. Michael was furious at the insult offered to his uncle, but Ignatius stood firm. A man who continued to live in public sin could not receive Holy Communion. Then came the affair of Theodora. Michael and Bardas thought they could get her out of the way by making her a nun, so they wanted the Patriarch to cut off her hair and put her into a nunnery. This, too, he refused to do as long as she herself was unwilling. The Emperor and the Cæsar then determine to get rid of Ignatius. They join forces with the party of Gregory Asbestas, condemn Ignatius to be deposed and exiled as a traitor. On November 23, 857, he is dragged off to the island Terebinth. The last thing he did before going into exile was to forbid his clergy to say the liturgy or to perform any rites in the cathedral till he came back. He put the great church under an interdict.[1] Michael and Bardas, having got rid of the lawful Patriarch, now look around for some more complaisant person to intrude into his see. They found the very man they wanted in Photius.
2. Photius.
Photius (Φώτιος) was one of the most wonderful men of all the middle ages. Had he not given his name to the great schism, he would always be remembered as the greatest scholar of his time, and as, in every way, the greatest man in the Byzantine Church. Since St. John Damascene († 744) no Eastern Church has produced any one who could be compared to Photius. He was born about 827; his father's name was Sergius. In after years his enemies had many stories to tell about his birth. The mother, they said, was an escaped nun; many holy bishops and confessors had foretold such horrible things of his future that
- ↑ For all this story see Hergenröther, i. 357–373, and the authorities there quoted. The facts are not, as far as I know, disputed by any one. Ignatius was condemned and exiled without any sort of trial, l.c. 372.
