most important is by an anonymous Constantinopolitan author of the first half of the seventh century, who in fifteen books presented testimonies in favor of Christianity by different Greek, Persian, Thracian, Egyptian, Babylonian, Chaldean and Jewish scholars.

Unique and invaluable as the Library is, it has been criticized because more attention is given to some minor works than to other important ones; the criticisms are not always fair or worthy; the works spoken of are really few, while a much larger anthology might have been made; and again there is no order or method in the selection. It is, however, to be borne in mind that the object of the work was to mention only those books which had been read in the circle to which he and his brother belonged, during the absence of the latter; that it was hastily prepared, and was to have been followed by a second.' Taking these facts into consideration there is nothing but praise to be given to the great scholar who in a wholly undesigned fashion has laid posterity under heavy obligation by jotting down his criticisms upon or making excerpts of the more important works which came under his observation during a comparatively short space of time.

Among the Greek fathers, he esteems most highly Athanasius, Chrysostom, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Epiphanius, Ephræm, Cyril of Alexandria, the fictitious Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus; among the Latin fathers, Leo. I. and Gregory I. He recognizes also Ambrose, Augustin, and Jerome as fathers, but often disputes their views. Of the ante-Nicene writers he has a rather low opinion, because they did not come up to his standard of orthodoxy; he charges Origen with blasphemous errors, and Eusebius with Arianism.

One of the earlier works of Photius, perhaps his earliest, was his Greek Lexicon, which he began in his youth and com

1 Hergenrother, p. 14, 28-31.

2 Best edition, by Dobrée, wrím Kĺžewv ovvaywyh. Photii Lexicon e codice

pleted before the Library, although he revised it from time to time. He made use of the glossaries and lexica of former workers, whose names he has preserved in his Library, and has been in turn used by later lexicographers, e. g. Suidas (ninth century). Photius designed to remove the difficulties in the reading of the earlier and classic Greek profane and sacred literature. To this end he paid particular attention to the explanation of the old Attic expressions and figures of speech.

The most important of the theological works of Photius is the Amphilochian Questions1—so called because these questions had been asked by his friend, Amphilochius, metropolitan of Lyzikus. The work consists of three hundred and twenty-four discussions, mostly in biblical exegesis, but also dogmatical, philosophical, mythological, grammatical, historical, medical, and scientific. Like the other works of Photius it displays rare learning and ability. It was composed during his first exile, and contains many complaints of lack of books and excerpts. It has no plan, is very disjointed, unequal, and evidently was written at different times. Many of the answers are taken literally from the works of others. The same question is sometimes repeatedly discussed in different ways.'

Although it is doubtful whether Photius composed a complete commentary on any book of the Old Testament, it is very likely that he wrote on the Gospels and on Romans, Corinthians and Hebrews, since in the printed and unprinted catena upon these books there are found many citations of Photius. No such commentary as a unit, however, now exists.

Two canonical works are attributed to Photius, "A Collection

Galeano descripsit R. Porsonus. London. 1822, 2 vols.; reprinted 1823 in Leipzig.

1 Migne, CI. col. 45-1172.

2 Hergenrother (vol. iii., pp. 31 sqq.) tells at length the curious story of the singular way in which the Amphilochia has gradually come to the knowledge of modern scholars.

3 Collected in Migne, l. c. col. 1189-1253

of Canons" and "A Collection of Ecclesiastical and Civil Laws." To these some add a third. The second of these works, the Nomocanon, is authoritative on canonical law in the Greek Church. The word "Nomocanon" itself is the Greek name for a combination of ecclesiastical laws (zavóve) and secular, especially imperial, laws (voor). Photius made such a collection in 883, on the basis of earlier collections. It contains (1) the canons of the seven universally accepted oecumenical councils (325-787), of the Trullan council of 692 (Quinisexta), the synods of 861 and 879; and (2) the laws of Justinian relative to the Greek Church. Photius was not only a collector of canonical laws, but also a legislator and commentator. The canons of the councils held by him in 861 and 879, and his canonical letters or decretals had a great and permanent influence upon Greek canonical law. The Nomocanon was enlarge and commented on by Balsamon in the twelfth century, and is usually published in connection with these commentaries. It is used in the orthodox church of Russia under the name Kormezia Kniga, i. e., "The Book for the Pilot." As in his other works, he builded upon the foundations of his predecessors.

The historical and dogmatico-polemical writings of Photius may be divided into two classes, those against the Paulicians or Manichæans, and those against the Roman Church. In the first class are four books which bear in the editions the general title "Against the new Manichæans." The first is a history of the old and new Manichæans, written during Photius' first patriarchate,

1 Commonly called Syntagma Canonum, Migne, CIV. col. 441-976, and Nomocanon, ibid. col. 976-1217.

2 The Nomocanon is minutely discussed by Hergenröther, l. c. iii. 92–128. See also F. A. Biener, Geschichte der Novellen Justinians, Berlin, 1824; and De Collectionibus canonum ecclesiæ Græcæ. Schediasma litterarium. Berlin, 1827. Card. J. B. Pitra, Juris eccles. Græc. historia et monumenta. Rome, 1868. Her genröther, Griech. Kirchenrecht bis zum Ende des 9ten. Jahrhunderts. Mainz, 1870.

8 Διήγησις περὶ τῆς τῶν νεοφάντων Μανιχαίων αναβλαστήσεως, in Migne, CII. col. 16-264. Cf. Hergenröther, l. c. iii. 143–153.

and apparently largely borrowed from a contemporary author; the remaining three are polemical treatises upon the new Manichæans, in which biblical rather than philosophical arguments are relied upon, and mostly those which had already been used against the Manichæans.

The works against the Latin Church embrace (1) The Mys tagogia, or doctrine of the Holy Spirit; his most important writing against the Latins. It is a discussion of the procession alone, not of the personality and divinity, of the Holy Spirit, for upon these latter points there was no difference between the Latin and Greek Churches. It appears to be entirely original with Photius. It is characterized by acuteness and great dialectical skill. There exists an epitome of this book, but it is doubtful whether Photius himself made it. (2) A collection1 of ten questions and answers upon such matters as, "In what respects have the Romans acted unjustly?" "How many and what true patriarchs are not recognized by the Romans, except compromisingly?" "Which emperor contends for the peace of the Church ?" The collection has great historical interest, since it embraces materials which otherwise would be entirely lost. (3) Treatise against the Roman primacy. (4) Tractate against the Franks, from which there are extracts in the Kormczaia Kniga of the Oriental Slavs, which was extensively circulated in the thirteenth century, and enjoys among the Russians great authority as a book of canonical law. It has been attributed to Photius, but in its present shape is not his." (5) His famous Encyclical Letter to the Eastern Patriarchs, written in 867.6

The genuine works of Photius include besides those already

1 Liber de S. Spiritus Mystagogia, first published by Hergenröther at Regensburg, 1857; comp. his Photius, III. 154-160, and Migne, CII. 280-400. The word μυσταγωγία is used in the same sense as ἱερολογία or θεολογία, sacra doctrina. 2 Hergenrother, Photius, III. 157. 3 Ibid. 160-165.

4 Συναγωγαὶ καὶ ἀπόδειξεις ἀκριβεῖς, in Migne, CIV. col. 1220-1232. 5 Hergenrother, l. c. p. 174.

6 See above, p. 314 so
sq.

mentioned three books of letters of different contents, private and public, written generally in verbose style; homilies, two printed entire and two in fragments and twenty unprinted; several poems and moral sentences, probably a compilation. Several other works attributed to Photius are only of doubtful genuineness.

3

§ 146. Simeon Metaphrastes.

I. SIMEON METAPHRASTES: Opera omnia, in Migue, Patrol. Gr. Tom.

CXIV.-CXVI.

II. Panegyric by PSELLUS, in Migne, CXIV. col. 200-208; LEO ALLATIUS: De Symeonum scriptis, in Migne, CXIV. col. 19–148; and the Preface to Migne's ed. Cf. DU PIN, VIII. 3; CEILLIER, XII. 814-819.

This voluminous author probably lived in Constantinople during the reigns of Leo the Philosopher (886-911) and Constantine Porphyrogenitus (911-959). He was the Imperial Secretary, High Chancellor and Master of the Palace. When somewhat advanced in years he was sent by the Emperor Leo on a mission to the Cretan Arabs for the purpose, which was accomplished, of turning them from their proposed campaign against the Thessalonians. It was on this journey that he met on the island of Pharos, an anchorite, who suggested to him the writing of the lives of the saints and martyrs.

To this collection Simeon owes his fame." He apparently never carried out his original plan, which was to cover the year, for the genuine Lives of his now extant are nearly all of September (the first month of the Greek Church year), October, November and December. The remaining months have very few. But how many he wrote cannot be determined. Allatius credits him with only one hundred and twenty-two. MSS. attributed

1 Migne, CII., col. 585-989. They are analyzed by Du Pin, l. c. 106-109. 2 Migne, CII., col. 548-576. 3 Ibid. col. 577-584.

2

4 Cf. GASS in Herzog IX. pp. 677–679.

5 It is found in Migne, and utilized in the great hagiographies of A. Lippomani (Paris, 1551–60, 8 vols.), Surius (Cologne, 1570–79, 6 vols.) and the Bollandists (1643-1675, 61 vols.).