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In studying the life and the works of Patriarch Photios of Constantinople, one is struck by the insistence with which the patriarch dwelt on the issue of Iconoclasm throughout his long life. We know that the main reason for the summoning of the Synod of 861 by Emperor Michael III, during St. Photios' first patriarchate was to condemn Iconoclasm.' Again, at the Synod of 867, Patriarch Photios proposed that the Second Synod of Nicaea of 787, which condemned Iconoclasm, should be added to the other great six Synods and be numbered the Seventh Ecumenical Synod. Finally, the Synod of 879-880, which was called by Patriarch Photios during his second patriarchate, in its fifth session, recognized the Synod of 787, the Second of Nicaea, as the Seventh Ecumenical Synod by both the Church of Constantinople and the Church of Rome.2
The question arises: Why is Patriarch Photios so concerned over Iconoclasm, a heresy which supposedly had been suppressed and dealt with? The late Father Dvornik tried to show that Patriarch Photios, attitude was directed by the continued vigor of the Iconoclastic party at the second part of the ninth century. Iconoclasm, he says, was "still rampant"3 at that late date. It is true that some remnants of Iconoclasm are still in evidence in the Byzantine Empire. For example, in the revised version of the life of St. Peter of Atroa, written ca. 860-865, some concern is shown to silence the Iconoclasts.' We also read that at the Synod of Ignatios of 869, four persons of iconoclastic leaning were summoned and asked to repent. The three, a cleric named Nicetas and two laymen, Theophilos and Theophanes, comply, but the leader of the Iconoclasts, Theodore Crithinus, former bishop of Syracuse, clung to his opinions and the anathema was pronounced against him.5 These few isolated examples, however, could not convince us that Iconoclasm was "rampant" at this period.
On the other hand, Cyril Mango6 and other scholars of this period think that the attitude of St. Photios towards Iconoclasm is dictated by personal experiences, that is, his own sufferings as well as the sufferings of his parents and other relatives. In the writings of the Patriarch, indeed, we find several references to the martyrdom of his parents and...