Section 05: Pastor and Preacher
Photius not as controversialist or scholar but as a working bishop of the imperial city: the preacher of the surviving homilies, including the two great sermons on the Rus’ attack of 860 and the homily at the unveiling of the Hagia Sophia apse mosaic; and the canonist and administrator whose legal and conciliar work shaped the Byzantine theory of the relation between patriarch and emperor.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox / Byzantine
Contents
| File | Topic |
|---|---|
| The Homilies | The eighteen surviving homilies in Mango’s edition; the two homilies on the 860 Rus’ attack and the question of the Theotokos’s robe; the inaugural homily on the Hagia Sophia apse mosaic of the Virgin (867) |
| Governance and Canons | The canons of the Prōtodeutera (861); the Eisagoge and the theory of the two powers, emperor and patriarch; the Nomocanon associated with his name |
How to Use
- Read The Homilies for Photius the preacher and for the careful distinction of what his own sermons say about 860 from the later miracle tradition.
- Read Governance and Canons for his administrative and legal legacy, above all the Eisagoge’s theory of patriarch and emperor.
- The 860 attack connects to the Mission to the Slavs (the Rus’ would later be evangelized under Photius); the canons of 861 to Section 02.
Cross-References
- For the institutional patriarchate whose powers the Eisagoge theorizes, see Constantinople and The Byzantine Church
References
- See the collection README for the principal sources; each content file carries its own full reference list.