Nomocanon de photius biography

From the Greek words νόμος (law) and κανών (a rule). The word nomocanon was first used in the 11th century to indicate canonical collections that were composed of both ecclesiastical and civil laws dealing with ecclesiastical matters. The word was used later to indicate a book containing "cases of conscience," that was employed by the monks of Mt. Athos. The most popular use of the word, however, was in regard to canonical collections containing both secular and ecclesiastical laws. This type of canonical collection was proper to the Oriental Churches from the early Middle Ages and played an important role in the history of Oriental Canon Law.

From the fourth century on, an important place was accorded to ecclesiastical matters in imperial law, such as in the Theodosian Code, the Justinian collections, and the Novellae and Bascilicae. From the time of Constantine, civil rulers had taken on the role of protectors of the Church. As a result civil rulers became involved in matters exclusively, or at least partially, ecclesiastical; and they began to order these matters with civil laws. Collections of these imperial laws dealing with ecclesiastical matters were made and at first added to strictly canonical collections as appendices. They were later included in the main body of canonical collections, alongside strictly ecclesiastical materials, thus giving rise to a new species of canonical collection that became known as a collection of nomocanons. A "rubric" (a brief sentence indicating the subject matter) was followed by several texts that were intended to demonstrate and support the particular norm in question. These texts were drawn from both civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Frequently only a summation of the text was given, with an indication where it could be found in its entirety.

Collections of nomocanons have been among the principal sources of Oriental Canon Law since the early

PHOTIUS, fo'shi-us.

Photius, twice patriarch Of Constantinople in the ninth century, enjoys an almost unparalleled preeminence in both the Greek and the Russian Church of the present day. Though in his own time he had enemies, and though circumstances clouded his fame at Rome and at the Byzantine court, he took deep hold among his people from the first, and soon after his death his Church put his name in her calendar of saints. To judge his character is not easy. He was not the tyrant that his opponents represented him to be, though he could be hard and domineering. He was crafty, double-tongued, and vain, but to be so lay in the character of his time and in the atmosphere of the Constantinople in which he lived. He was a sort of universal genius�philologian, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, man of science, orator, and poet; no original thinker but of powerful memory, of iron industry, of good esthetic sense, of great dialectic skill, far-seeing and clever in practical matters, of commanding will-power, a profound judge of men, and true in friendship, though also always exacting the return. His piety in its way was real. To him the Orthodox Church owes her understanding and appreciation of her distinction from the Latin. Proud already of her inheritance, Photius intensified and confirmed her self-consciousness, and gave her the pregnant catchwords which have never been forgotten.

I. Life

1. Early Life.

Photius was born at Constantinople, probably between and , and died in the Armenian monastery of Bordi Feb. 6, or He was of a family of quality, rigidly orthodox, and friendly to images. His parents died early, "adorned with the martyr's crown," this probably mean

§ Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople.

I. Photius: Opera omnia, in Migne, “Patrol. Gr.” Tom. CI.-CIV. (). Also Monumenta Graeca ad Photium ejusgue historiam pertinentia, ed. Hergenröther. Regensburg,

II. David Nicetas: Vita Ignatii, in Migne, CV., – The part which relates to Photius begins with col. ; partly quoted in CI. iii. P. De H. E. (anonymous): Histoire de Photius. Paris, Jager: Histoire de Photius. Paris, , 2d ed., L. Tosti: Storia dell’ origine dello scisma greco. Florence, , 2 vols. A. Pichler: Geschichte der kirchlichen Trennung zwischen Orient und Occident. Munich, –65, 2 vols. J. Hergenröther: Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel. Sein Leben, seine Schriften und das griechische Schisma. Regensburg, –69, 3 vols. (The Monumenta mentioned above forms part of the third vol.) Cf. Du Pin, VII., –; Ceillier, XII., –

Photius was born in Constantinople in the first decade of the ninth century. He belonged to a rich and distinguished family. He had an insatiable thirst for learning, and included theology among his studies, but he was not originally a theologian. Rather he was a courtier and a diplomate. When Bardas chose him to succeed Ignatius as Patriarch of Constantinople he was captain of the Emperor’s body-guard. Gregory of Syracuse, a bitter enemy of Ignatius, in five days hurried him through the five orders of monk, lector, sub-deacon, deacon, and presbyter, and on the sixth consecrated him patriarch. He died an exile in an Armenian monastery,

As the history of Photius after his elevation to the patriarchate has been already treated, this section will be confined to a brief recital of his services to literature, sacred and secular.

The greatest of these was his so-called Library, which is a unique work, being nothing less than notices, critiques and extracts of two hundred and eighty works of the most diverse kinds, which he had read. Of the authors quoted about eighty are known to us only through this work. The Library was the re

Collection of ecclesiastical law in Eastern Christian tradition

A nomocanon (Greek: Νομοκανών, Nomokanōn; from the Greek nomos 'law' and kanon 'a rule') is a collection of ecclesiastical law, consisting of the elements from both the civil law and the canon law. Nomocanons form part of the canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches (through the Eastern Catholic canon law) and of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Byzantine nomocanons

Nomocanon of John Scholasticus

The first nomocanon, in the sixth century, is ascribed, though without certainty, to John Scholasticus, whose canons it utilizes and completes. He had drawn up (about ) a purely canonical compilation in 50 titles, and later composed an extract from the Justinian's Novellae in 87 chapters that relate the ecclesiastical matters. To each of the 50 titles was added the texts of the imperial laws on the same subject, with 21 additional chapters, nearly all borrowed from John's 87 chapters.

Nomocanon in 14 titles

The second nomocanon dates from the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (–), at which time Latin was replaced by Greek as the official language of the imperial laws. It was made through the fusion of the Collectio tripartita (collection of Justinian's imperial law) and Canonic syntagma (ecclesiastical canons). Afterwards, this collection would be known as Nomocanon in 14 titles.

Nomocanon of Photios

The Nomocanon in 14 titles nomocanon was long held in esteem and passed into the Russian Church, but it was by degrees supplanted by the Nomocanon of Photios in

The great systematic compiler of the Eastern Church, who occupies a similar position to that of Gratian in the West, was Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople in the 9th century. His collection in two parts—a chronologically ordered compilation of synodical canons and a revision of the Nomocanon—formed and still forms the classic source of ancient Church Law for the Greek Churc