640 FOURTH PEKIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
of Canons " and "A Collection of Ecclesiastical and Civil Laws." l To these some add a third. The second of these works, the Nomocanon, is authoritative on canonical law in the Greek Church.2 The word "Nomocanon" itself is the Greek name for a combination of ecclesiastical laws (xavovsT) and secular, espe cially imperial, laws (v6tuoe). Photius made such a collection in 883, on the basis of earlier collections. It contains (1) the canons of the seven universally accepted ecumenical councils (325-787), of the TrulJan council of 692 (Quinisexta), the synods of 861 and 879; and (2) the laws of Justinian relative to the Greek Church. Photius was not only a collector of canonical laws, but also a legislator and commentator. The canons of the councils held by him in 861 and 879, and his canonical letters or decretals had a great and permanent influ ence upon Greek canonical law. The Nomocanon was enlarge*' and commented on by Balsamon in the twelfth century, and is usually published in connection with these commentaries. It is used in the orthodox church of Russia under the name Kormczia Kniga, i. e., " The Book for the Pilot." As in his other works, he builded upon the foundations of his predecessors. The historical and dogmatico-polemical writings of Photius may be divided into two classes, those against the Paulicians or Manichseans, and those against the Roman Church. In the first class are four books which bear in the editions the general title " Against the new Manichseans." 3 The first is a history of the old and new Manichseans, written during Photius' first patriarchate,
1 Commonly called Syntagma Canonum, Migne, CIV. col. 441-976, and No mocanon, ibid. col. 976-1217.
2 The Nomocanon is minutely discussed by Hergenrother, I. c. iii. 92-128. See also F. A. Biener, Geschichte der NoveUen Justinians, Berlin, 1824; and De Collectionibus canonum ecdesice, Grcecce. Schediasma litlerarium. Berlin, 1827. Card. J. B. Pitra, Juris eccles. Grcec. historia et monumenta. Rome, 1868. Her genrother, Griech. Kirchenrecht bis zum Ende des 9ten Jahrhunderts. Mainz, 1870.
3 ktyyTjcis jrspi rrjq TUV vso^dvTuv Mavix^iuv ava{W.a,GT7?aea)c., in Migne, CII. col. 16-264. Cf. Hergenrother, I c. iii. 143-153.
\ 145. PHOTIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE. C41
and apparently largely borrowed from a contemporary author ; the remaining three are polemical treatises upon the new Manichseans, in which biblical rather than philosophical arguments are relied upon, and mostly those which had already been used against the Manichseans.
The works against the Latin Church embrace (1) The Mystagoyia, or doctrine of the Holy Spirit; his most important writing against the Latins.1 It is a discussion of the procession alone, not of the personality and divinity, of the Holy Spirit, for upon these latter points there was no difference between the Latin and Greek Churches. It appears to be entirely original with Photius.2 It is characterized by acuteness and great dia lectical skill. There exists an epitome of this book,3 but it is doubtful whether Photius himself made it. (2) A collection4 of ten questions and answers upon such matters as, "In what respects have the Romans acted unjustly?" "How many and what true patriarchs are not recognized by the Romans, except compromisingly?" "Which emperor contends for the peace of the Church?" The collection has great historical interest, since it embraces materials which otherwise would be entirely lost. (3) Treatise against the Roman primacy. (4) Tractate against the Franks, from which there are extracts in the Kormczaia Kniga of the Oriental Slavs, which was extensively circu lated in the thirteenth century, and enjoys among the Russians great authority as a book of canonical law. It has been attrib uted to Photius, but in its present shape is not his.5 (5) His famous Encyclical Letter to the Eastern Patriarchs, written in 867.6
The genuine works of Photius include besides those already
1 Liber de S. Spirits Mystayogia, first published by Hergenrother at Regensburg, 1857; comp. his Photius, III. 154-160, and Migne, CII. 280-400. The word nvcirayuyia is used in the same sense as iepohoyia or deo"koyiat sacra doctrina.
2 Hergenrother, Photius, III. 157. 3 Ibid. 160-165. * Si'wj-wjai KOI (i;rdfff/£F/f aitpifals, in Migne, CIV. col. 1220-1232.
5 Hergenrother, I c. p. 174. 6 See above, p. 314 sq.