. . .
Son as well as the Father. Unfortunately, very little of what
occurred at this synod has reached us, and the meager
information we have comes exclusively from anti-Photian
sources.99 What can be inferred with certainty is that the
synod did take place and was attended by many bishops. Pope
Nicholas was condemned for the Latin practices in Bulgaria;
the Roman doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from
the Father and the Son was rejected as henetical and Roman
interference in the affairs of the Byzantine Church was pro-
nounced unlawful;100 iconoclasm was condemned once more
and Louis II was recognized as emperor of the West at the
closing of the synod. Patriarch Photios for many years occu-
pied himself with the Fllioque question. In consequence, in
883 he sent the famous letter to the metropolitan of Aquileia,
in which at great length he defended the position of the
Eastern Church on this issue. Very upset, the patriarch wrote:
It has come to our ears that some of those vwho live in the
West. either because they have not been fully satisfied with
the Lord's utterance, or because they have no understanding
of the definitions and dogmas of both the Fathers and synods.
or because they over-look the precisions therefrom, or
because they have minds tat are insensible to such matters, not
knowing how else one would state it; nevertheless.
surreptitiously introduce the teaching (would that they had
not) that the Divine and all-Holy Spirit proceeds not only
from God, that is, the Father. but also from the Son, and
through such an utterance produce extensive harm to those
who believe it101
Again in 885 he wrote the long treatise on the Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit 102
Pope Nicholas died on 13 November 867 without hearing
the sentence passed on him by the Eastern bishops and was
succeeded by Adrian II. Meanwhile, in Constantinople, more
dramatic events were happening. On the night of 23 Septem-
ber 867, Emperor Michael Ill was murdered in his quarters
by his 'friend' Basil, whom he had elevated to co-emperor and
who then assumed the sole power as Emperor Basil I (867-886)
and became the founder of the so-called Macedon ian Dynasty.103
Upon his ascent to the throne Basil sided with
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