Section 08: The Photian Schism Reassessed
The historiographical heart of the collection, and a flagship treatment under METHODOLOGY §4. These files step back from the events to the question of how they have been told: the older Western narrative of two schisms and a villain Photius; Francis Dvornik’s overturning of that narrative in 1948; and the long history of how East and West have each remembered Photius and how the Catholic assessment, in particular, has changed.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox / Byzantine
Contents
| File | Topic |
|---|---|
| The Dvornik Rehabilitation | Francis Dvornik’s The Photian Schism: History and Legend (1948): the thesis that the “two schisms / villain Photius” story is largely legend, that Photius died in communion with Rome, and that the hostile dossier was compiled later — and how this changed even Catholic scholarship |
| East and West on Photius | The long divergence of memory: the Orthodox veneration and the Western hostility (Hergenröther, Fortescue), and the modern convergence on the factual record even as the dogmatic disputes remain |
How to Use
- Read The Dvornik Rehabilitation for the decisive modern reassessment; read East and West on Photius for the longer history of the two traditions’ memory and its convergence.
- These files presuppose the events of Sections 02 and 07; they are the place where the difference between what happened and what was later told is drawn together.
Cross-References
- For the modern academic literature in detail, see Modern Scholarship
- For the conciliar disputes that remain even after the factual convergence, see The Ecumenical Councils
References
- See the collection README for the principal sources; each content file carries its own full reference list.