inventor of lies, to the new
Judas! Anathema on all his followers and protectors! Everlasting glory
to the most holy Roman Pope Nicholas! Long life to Adrian, the holy
Father in Rome!" At the next sitting of the council, a collection of
spurious and falsified writings, together with the acts of the synod
which Photius had held against Pope Nicholas, and which were filled with
lies and invective and had forged signatures appended to them, were
publicly burned in the church. But hardly had Ignatius died in the year
879, when the crafty Photius, who knew well how to ingratiate himself
with the Emperor, reascended the ill-fated chair and began afresh his
old courses. His rule did not last long. He was again deposed and
banished to a monastery, where he died about the year 891. His death,
however, in nowise healed the wounds which he had inflicted on the
Eastern Church. His party survived him. He had filled most of the Greek
sees with men of his own cast, and had illegally bestowed benefices on
great numbers of priests. These all harbored a deep-seated dislike
towards Rome, and only awaited a favorable opportunity to renew the
breach with her. Thus that sectarian spirit which Photius had kindled
continued to smoulder on like a spark beneath the ashes, and spread
itself wider and wider, as well among the worst sort of the clergy as
among the fickle and discontented population.

It was after all this that the patriarchs of Constantinople attempted to
make themselves fully independent of the West. The splendor of the
imperial city of Byzantium was a constant incitement to their desire for
freedom, and they were certain for the most part of being supported in
their endeavors by the emperors. As early as the time of Pope Gregory
the Great, the patriarch John the Faster had taken on himself the title
of "Oecumenical," or universal bishop, whilst Gregory, in apostolic
humility, chose that of "Servant of the servants of God." It was in the
middle of the eleventh century that a complete separation was
accomplished. The universally recognized precedence of the See of Peter
was intolerable to the ambitious spirit of the patriarch Michael
Cerularius. To aid him in casting off the hated yoke, he circulated,
like Photius, a document in which the Western Church was loaded with
invective and all manner of accusations laid to her charge. The celibacy
of the secular clergy, the use of unleavened bread for the sacrifice,
fasting on Saturdays,