October 847-858 A.D. Ignatius I—Constantinople’s 85th; Son of Emperor Michael I; Staunch Iconodulolater; Conflicts Continue with Other Orthodox & Sicilian Bishops
October 847-858 A.D. Ignatius
I—Constantinople’s 85th; Son of Emperor Michael I; Staunch Iconodulolater; Conflicts Continue with Other Orthodox &
Sicilian Bishops
Patriarch Ignatius of
Constantinople
References
Sources
Patriarch Ignatius of
Constantinople
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Saint Ignatius of Constantinople
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St. Ignatius or Ignatios (Greek: Ιγνάτιος),
(c. 798–877) was a Patriarch of Constantinople from July 4, 847, to October 23, 858, and from November 23, 867, to his
death on October 23, 877. In the Roman Martyrology of the Roman Catholic Church, he is regarded as a saint, with a feast day of October 23.[1]
Ignatios, originally named
Niketas, was a son of the Emperor Michael I Rangabe and Prokopia. His maternal grandfather was Nikephoros I.
Although he was still a child,
Niketas had been appointed nominal commander of the new corps of imperial
guards, the Hikanatoi. He was forcibly castrated (and thus made ineligible for becoming emperor,
since the emperor could not be a eunuch) and tonsured after his father's deposition in 813. He founded three
monasteries on the Princes' Islands, a favourite place for exiling tonsured members of the imperial house.
The Empress Mother Theodora appointed
Ignatios, a staunch opponent of Iconoclasm, to succeed Methodios I as
patriarch of Constantinople in 847. Ignatios soon became embroiled in the
conflict between the Stoudites and the moderates in the Church, the issue being
whether or not to depose clergymen who had cooperated with iconoclast policies
in the past. Ignatios took the side of the conservative Stoudites and deposed
the archbishop of Syracuse, Gregory Asbestas, the leader of the moderate party. Asbestas appealed for
redress to Pope Leo IV and thus inaugurated a period of friction in
relations between the Roman and Constantinopolitan churches.
A fervent critic of the Caesar Bardas, Ignatios lost support after Emperor Michael III and Bardas removed Theodora from influence in 857.
Ignatios was forced to resign and was replaced by the layman Photios. When Photios reversed some
of his predecessor's policies, Ignatios's supporters appealed to Pope Nicholas I, who at first tried to stay out of the controversy, but
then condemned Photios. The immediate issues in the conflict were the question
of papal precedence over the patriarch, and jurisdiction over newly converted Bulgaria.
In 867 Basil I the Macedonian usurped the throne and, seeking an alliance with Nicholas I and Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor,
banished Photios and restored Ignatios on the patriarchal throne. Reinstated,
Ignatios refused to yield to the papacy and drew Bulgaria back into the orbit
of the Byzantine Church in 870. Since Ignatios and Photios pursued the same
policy, the latter was recalled and reinstated as tutor to the emperor's
children. When Ignatios died in October 877, Photios was reinstated as
patriarch and contributed to Ignatios' sanctification.
References
Sources
Patriarch
of Constantinople
847–858 |
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Patriarch
of Constantinople
867–877 |
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