very manfully and well. But still less can one forget the dishonesty with which he pushed his utterly unjust claim. "Whilst in writing himself to the Pope he explicitly acknowledges him as the head of the Church, at the same time, in the letter he composes for Michael to Nicholas, he directly denies the Primacy."[1] "The story of this man offers us two sides that must be well distinguished. The Christian conscience is deeply pained by the schism of which he was so entirely the cause, to which he gave a permanent theological basis, that he by every possible means fostered and nourished, misusing his magnificent gifts for shameful selfishness. But this will not prevent the historian from acknowledging his amazing learning, his rare merit as a theologian and philosopher, a philologist and historian—indeed, as a scholar of every branch of knowledge."[2] There is one short sentence of his predecessor, St. John Chrysostom, that Nicephorus the philosopher, Photius's friend, quotes. It stands as the reason of his final condemnation: "Nothing can hurt the Church so much as love of power."[3]
9. Reunion after Photius.
Once again after Photius had disappeared the quarrel between the Churches was patched up. At first Rome would not acknowledge the new Patriarch, Stephen, either; he had been intruded into the See of Constantinople just as much as Photius in 857, and he was only sixteen years old. Stephen tried to persuade the Pope (Formosus, 891–896)[4] to recognize him, but apparently in vain. Stephen, in spite of his uncanonical age, had a double title to Byzantine canonization; he was a Patriarch and a Prince. So he is another of these astonishing saints (p. 103). Anthony II (893–895), Stephen's successor, held a synod in the presence of Roman Legates, and a union was arranged that lasted more or less for a century and a half. But it was rather a half-hearted union. Officially the
