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Saint Photios was Patriarch of Constantinople from 858 to 867 and from 877 to 886.
He was an intimate
of the powerful, a courtier, an intellectual, an encyclopedist, a teacher, and a voracious student of anything
that books could offer.
At the same time he was a strong upholder of Orthodoxy, the savior of
Constantinople, the father of his flock, and the spiritual adviser of kings.
In his writings and activities
Photios embodied the intellectual pattern which represented the Byzantine spirit in subsequent centuries.1
In the ninth century, with Photios begins, as is correctly stated by Professor Zakythinos, "the orbis
byzantinus."2
Photios came from a well-to-do upper-class family.
His father was Sergios, a spatharios in the palace;3 his
mother's name was Irene.
It seems that a member of his family- it is not clear who-married into the
imperial family; thus Photios was distantly related to the Amorian dynasty.4 He had four brothers; Sergios
and Constantine who became protospatharii; Tarasios who became a patrikios and Theodoros who
probably was the youngest and who is called by Photios simply "brother."5 His father was related to
Patriarch Tarasios whom Photios called "uncle from his father's side."6 In his writings Photios constantly
refers to the sufferings of his parents for their beliefs, sufferings which they undoubtedly endured during
the iconoclastic persecutions of the first part of the ninth century.7
The exact dates of the birth and death of St Photios are not known.
The various biographers of the
patriarch set the date of his birth sometime in the first quarter of the ninth
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