Antonatos photius biography
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Photius (in Greek Φωτιoς; b. Constantinople ca.
Antonatos photius biography
820 – d. Bordi (Armenia), February 6, 891) is widely regarded as one of the greatest patriarchs of Constantinople (858–861 and 878–886) since the times of John Chrysostom. He was later recognized as a Saint by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Life
Little is known of his origin or family.
His Byzantine biographers reported that Emperor Leo VI once angrily called him "Khazar-faced", but whether this was a generic insult or a reference to his ethnicity is unclear.
As soon as he had completed his own education, Photius began to teach grammar, rhetoric, divinity and philosophy.
The way to public life was probably opened for him by the marriage of his brother Sergius to the princess Irene, sister of Theodora, who upon the death of her husband Theophilus in 842, had assumed the regency of the empire. Photius became captain of the guard and subsequently first imperial secretary.
The dissension between the