Chrysos, Rome and Constantinople - Copy (original) (raw)

In a recent paper on patriarchs and popes who, in apparent violation of the Canon Law, were elected while being minors, I had the opportunity to study how ecclesiastical and political authorities in East and West dealt with the established legal prescriptions by either exploiting them as convenient tools of support of their aims or ignoring them.1 The principle applied in these cases of compromising with the rules is the so-called "κατ΄ οἰκονομίαν" (in Latin dispensatio) as opposite to "ἀκρίβεια" (in Latin accuratio).2 This contribution is devoted to another case of application of the Canon Law in East and West, namely in an area where, due to local conditions, the two Churches had developed varying perceptions and priorities for the implementation of the originally common regulations. We shall examine the decision of Pope Nicholas i (858-67) to deny recognition of Patriarch Photius's ordination to the patriarchal throne because he had received the episcopal grade ἀθρόον [Latin subito], i.e. directly from the status of a layman by obtaining the other grades within one week. The controversial discussion about the application of the canonical 1 Evangelos Chryos, "Minors as patriarchs and popes," in Prosopon Rhomaikon: Ergänzende Studien zur Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit, Alexander Beihammer et al., eds., Millenium Studies (Frankfurt, 2017), pp. 221-39. 2 Amilkas S. Alibizatos, Die Oikonomia (Frankfurt am Main, 1998). Francis Thomson, "Economy: An examination of the various theories of Economy held within the Orthodox Church, with special reference to the Economical Recognition of the validity of non-Orthodox sacraments,"