from Jerusalem answers that Ignatius's right was so evident that it had not needed their support, and, in any case, the Patriarch of Old Rome had done all that was needed. The session then ended with the usual acclamations, the Polychronion that Greeks will always work in on every possible occasion: "To the Lord Basil Augustus many years! To the pious Lady Eudokia Augusta many years! To the Roman Pope Nicholas eternal memory! To the Pope Adrian, to Ignatius and the three holy Patriarchs many years! To the Orthodox Senate many years! To the holy and œcumenical synod eternal honour!"
The next sessions appointed penances to the repentant Photian bishops. On the whole they got off very easily. They expressed the deepest sorrow for their schism; there were ten bishops, eleven priests, nine deacons, six sub-deacons, who signed a document expressing their contrition. They are suspended till Christmas (this was in October); during that time they are to abstain from fleshmeat, fish, cheese, and eggs every Wednesday and Friday, say Kyrie eleison and "Lord have mercy on me a sinner" a hundred times a day, and say the 5th, 37th and 50th psalms[1] once a day. Then on Christmas Day they are all to be restored to their functions. In the fifth session the arch-offender of all, Photius himself, is brought before the council. He could not possibly expect to be acknowledged by this synod as Patriarch of Constantinople, that it should declare him an intruder was its obvious duty. Nor could the synod allow him to exercise the orders he had received from the excommunicate Gregory Asbestas. Otherwise he was treated well and respectfully. But he himself behaved very badly. First he sulked; then he played the martyr, and finally used the words that our Lord had spoken at his trial, making a comparison that was simply blasphemous. At first he would not speak at all. "Speak, Lord Photius," said Baanes, the Emperor's delegate; "say whatever you will to justify yourself. The whole world is represented here; take care that the synod does not withdraw all sympathy from you. To what tribunal would you appeal? To Rome? It is represented here. To the East? Here are its delegates.
- ↑ Of course in the LXX numbering.
