RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Nicetas Acominatus Nicholas I.
Cambridge, 1905; Braida, in MPG, lii. 875-1134; F. Kattenbusch, in Giessener Universitatsprogramm, 1892, pp. 34-52; T. Zahn, Das apostolische Symbolum, pp. 107- 130, Leipsic, 1893; idem, in NKZ, 1896, pp. 93 sqq.; G. Morin, iti Revue binidictine, xi (1894), part 2; DCB, iv. 37.
NICHOLAS: The name of five popes.
Nicholas L: Pope 858-867. He was a Roman by birth, son of the defensor Theodore, and was connected with the Lateran basilica as a subdeacon from the time of Sergius II. (844-47), as a deacon from that of Leo IV (847-55). His wisdom and eloquence had long been noted, and under Benedict III. he had exercised a great influence on the policy of the Church. When Benedict died (Apr. 7, 858), the Emperor Louis II. hastened to Rome to secure the election of a candidate to his liking, and it is possible that he was responsible for the choice of Nicholas. Consecrated on Apr. 24, he soon won the affection of the people, maintaining a monastic simplicity in his life and devoting himself to works of charity, to well-considered government, and to the erection of new churches. His historical importance, however, lies in the facts that he established a wholly new conception of the dignity and power of the papacy and that he made this theory practically felt throughout the West. Gelasius L, indeed, had given a standard expression to the papal claims, as they had developed in course of time, in the famous decretal Duo quippe, asserting that the pope, divinely chosen ruler of the Church, was as such equal in rank to the emperor and independent of him, though in temporal matters his subject, as the emperor was of the Church in spiritual things. But these claims had been of no effect in practise; it was Nicholas who made them effective, and drew their logical consequences. The pope, he asserted, was the absolute ruler of the universal Church, the bishops were his officers, and synods but instruments to express and register the papal will; church law is not law except when approved by the pope, who is the supreme judge, the personal representative of Christ. These far-reaching claims would probably not have found acceptance if the most powerful western church, that of the Frankish empire, had not been prepared for them by the Pseudo- Isidorian Decretals (q.v.). But these were not the source from which Nicholas derived them; it was not until after 864 that he even used this support for them. And he goes even beyond the assertions of the forged decretals, assuming not merely a precedence of etiquette over all secular princes but the power of commanding them as seems good to him. It is not, then, surprising that he regards the emperor as the vassal of St. Peter, and the papal unction, coronation, and confirmation as at least equally essential with the validity of royal descent. In a word, it is not too much to say that Nicholas created the medieval papacy.
He was particularly fortunate in being able to gratify his hierarchical ambition at the same time that he took the part of a champion of oppressed innocence. The first case in which this opportunity was offered him occurred in 860; the innocent victim was the patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople (q.v.), the unjust oppressors were the eastern Emperor VIII.— 11
Bardas and his intruding candidate Photius (q.v.). Nicholas answered their appeal for support not by confirming the new patriarch but by sending an embassy to investigate the circumstances of his election, at the same time taking occasion to enforce a number of Roman claims in the East. The party of Photius won over the papal legates; with their assent a great council in Constantinople (May, 861) declared for Photius. Ignatius appealed directly to the pope, and thus gave him a new occasion to interfere in Eastern affairs. In a solemn encyclical to the Eastern patriarchs (May 8, 862) he warned them not to acknowledge Photius, and when this method proved ineffective, at a Roman synod in April, 863, " by virtue of the judgment of the Holy Ghost speaking through him," he deposed and excommunicated Photius.
A similar conflict on behalf of oppressed innocence and at the same time of the claims of Rome was that with John, archbishop of Ravenna. Leo IV. had already threatened this violent man and his brother with severe penalties for their ill-treatment of papal subjects; and now the bishops of the jEmilia complained of illegal exactions and other misdeeds on his part. Nicholas saw an opportunity to dispose forever of Ravenna's pretensions to independence; he summoned John three times to appear before him, and excommunicated him in default. John sought help in vain from the emperor, and was finally forced to make submission at a Lateran synod (Nov. 18, 861), renouncing the special prerogatives of his see. Nicholas won a similar victory over the most powerful West-Frankish metropolitan, Hincmar (q.v.) of Reims, and thus succeeded in making effective against the Greeks the support of the Frankish church, which now obeyed him as it had obeyed Charlemagne. In the matter of the matrimonial relations of Lothair he once more masterfully asserted his personality and his principles. The conflict here [which concerned the power to divorce a queen (on false charges) and to marry another woman] was complicated by the fact that it was not only between the Frankish and the Roman conceptions of the power of the papacy but between Frankish and Roman marriage laws; but Nicholas had public opinion on his side, as contending for a sacred principle of morals. All his plans were on a large and impressive scale. He conducted the work of the Roman mission among the Bulgarians with such wisdom, as shown in the famous Responsa ad consulta Bulgarorum, that he deserves a place as a missionary organizer by the side of Gregory the Great (see Bulgarians, Conversion op the). In Moravia he did not give the first impulse to the mission, but by winning the support of Cyril and Methodius he secured the dominance of Roman instead of Greek Christianity. On the whole, he reached the goal at which he aimed. When he died (Nov. 13, 867) the pope, not the emperor, was recognized in the West as the head of Christendom. It should also be mentioned that Nicholas was an exception among the early popes for intellectual culture; he was not only a diligent student of the decretals of his predecessors but he knew the code of Justinian and had a respectable acquaintance with the Fathers. This wide reading
Nicholas H. — V.