. . . 
PREVIOUS . . . . . . . . 19 . . . . . . . . NEXT
the members of the regency. Theoktistos had proved to be a very competent and, at the same time, a very faithful servant. He had served Michael II, Theophilos' father, and Emperor Theophilos, who had appointed him to the regency council for his son Michael.37 He served Theodora with the same zeal and devotion. Theoktistos, recognizing Photios' administrative abilities, named him protoasecretis around 851, with the rank also of protospatharios. This meant that Photios was the director of the imperial chancellery, or, according to Anastasios Bibliothekarios, "director of the office of asecretis."38 Some scholars believe that the appointment of Photios as protoasecretis was much earlier, probably around 843, and that Photios succeeded the iconoclastic Zelix. Mystery still surrounds the figure of Zelix, who occupied this high position in Byzantium.39 The next man we know to have held the office of protoasecretis is Photios. Photios, Theoktistos, and Bardas together initiated a far- reaching educational program. It was during the regency that Leo the Mathematician, Photios, and later Constantine-Cyril taught at the university. In the words of Father Dvomik:
The regime of Theoktistos represents the continuation of the literary and scientific movement which in Byzantium continues from the learned Patriarch John the Grammarian to Leo the Mathematician and from Theophilos to Photios and their school.40
Unfortunately, in 847, the fourth year of his elevation,41 Patriarch Methodios died and was succeeded by Ignatios from the party of the extremists. Ignatios, or Niketas, as he was baptized, was the son of Emperor Michael I Rangave (811-813).42 He was tonsured after the death of his father and retired as abbot of the monasteries which he had founded on the island of Terebinthos. Ignatios, in contrast to Photios, disliked secular learning and spent most of his life up to his appointment as patriarch seeking monastic perfection.
It seems that a faction of the iconophile clergy headed by the monks of Studion, in their zeal to preserve traditional Christianity, were opposed to government controls as well as
PREVIOUS . . . . . . . . 19 . . . . . . . . NEXT
Web designer's note: This is a page from the first chapter of the book by D. S. White, Copyright © 1982 by Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 50 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02445, Tel (617)731-3500, used with permission.
Web site designed and hosted by Photius Coutsoukis