Photios of Constantinople - An Eastern Catholic Saint?

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Zekariya

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St Photios is commemorated by the Melkite Greek Catholic Church on February 6.

From Melkite Sophia Press, Vespers (speaking of Rome’s treatment of St Photios in a negative light):
By a lawless decree, O holy one, you were torn from your faithful flock and suffered grievously for the Faith, O radiant hierarch, most glorious, blessed Photios of great renown, firm foundation of the Church, steadfast pillar of piety. Hence we honor you with all zeal, O initiate and teacher, wise in the doctrine of Orthodoxy and far-famed herald of grace and truth.

He is also called by the Melkite Sophia Press Menaion: “Our Father among the Saints, Photios the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople and Confessor”.

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Interesting post. I believe that he is on my list to read. Looking forward to it. 🙂
 
Really? Since when? I had thought, perhaps wrongly, that he was regarded as a heresiarch, or at least a fomenter of schism. The Catholic Encyclopedia (ca. 1917), for example, takes a rather dim view of him. What am I missing here?
 
Ad_Orientem said:
Really? Since when? I had thought, perhaps wrongly, that he was regarded as a heresiarch, or at least a fomenter of schism. The Catholic Encyclopedia (ca. 1917), for example, takes a rather dim view of him. What am I missing here?
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The Western perspective of him differs from the Eastern perspective. He was a Melkite saint even before the Melkite Church came into Communion with Rome. 🙂
 
That’s very good to know! I’m glad this thread was created!
 
Peter_J said:
That’s alright. I don’t see any need for every church (sui iuris) that uses the Byzantine Rite to have the same list of saints.

See previous post. 🙂
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I’ve searched the Menaion approved for the Metropolia of Pittsburgh. The St Photius listed is not St Photius the Patriarch, but The holy martyrs Photius and Anicetus, who died in 305AD.

Photius the Patriarch is referenced in the Menaion text for St’s Cyril, Apostle of the Slavs. (14 feb)
 
Aramis,

If you are referring to the Divine Liturgy menaion on the Metropolitan Cantor Institute website - those books were intended to provide the hymns of the day for the principal commemoration of each day, using hymns from the Book of Matins published by the Sisters of Saint Basil in 1986. It is NOT intended to cover all the “minor saints of the day” in the menaion (though we tried to include all the PATRONAL saints of parishes in the Byzantine Catholic Church). Furthermore, the MCI menaion is permitted for use until something official is promulgated by the bishops, but itself it has no authority; it was created to fill a need.

Photius is likewise not listed in the official calendar of saints in the Liturgikon (which likewise does not list ALL the saints for each day).

On the other hand, Fatther David Petras annual Typikon IS officially sanctioned for use in the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, and for February 6 it lists, in the third place, “Our Venerable Father and Confessor Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople”, and gives the page numbers for his service in the Melkite menaion.

In 1961-1963, the diocesan newspaper, the Byzantine Catholic World, ran a series of articles on Patriarch Photius by a regular columnist, Fr. Ludvik Nemec, based on Francis Dvornik’s work; the first was entitled “Photius’ Orthodoxy Irreproachable”. Similar articles appeared in 1974 or 1975.

Jeff Mierzejewski
 
Of course he is a saint. I would highly recommend reading works by Catholic priest, Fr. Francis Dvornik.

• The Photian Schism: History and Legend
• Byzantium and the Roman Primacy

Both titles deal with St. Photios, obviously the first being more in depth to the particular requested topic. I haven’t found a reasonably priced copy of the first title, but the second can be found used for under $20 on eBay, Amazon Marketplace, etc. Another store worth browsing for a copy is Windows Booksellers in Oregon. In brief, much of the reason for questioning St. Photios’s recognized sanctity is due to the fact of a similar misattribution or outright forgery a la Donation of Constantine that seems to pop up when political forces of the West decide to get their nose in Church business.
 
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