Authoritative Commentaries and Criticism.

Under the reign of John n Comnenos (1118-1143), John Zonaras, an encyclopaedic Byzantine scholar and historian, composed a commentary on the anonymous canonical collection in fourteen titles. A systematic mind, Zonaras, clarifies the canonical texts in order of importance. In doing so, he adopts a logically coherent but historically artificial scheme, which considers the so-called Apostolic Canons to be of greater authority than conciliar texts and the decisions of ecumenical councils of greater weight than those of local councils; he attributes the least value to the canons of individual “fathers.” The difficulty in applying this logical principle consistently (for ecumenical councils often issued decrees of passing and casual significance while important doctrinal and ecclesiological points are made in texts which Zonaras would consider “secondary”) was undoubtedly felt by Zonaras’ contemporary, Alexios Aristenos, the author of a more literal and brief commentary based upon a shortened collection, epitome, of canons. His aim is mainly to explain the meaning of the texts in their historical setting rather than to judge their relation to each other and their respective importance.

The third great commentator of the twelfth century, Theodore Balsamon, in his major work based on Photius’ Nomocanon in its entirety pursued a specific task entrusted to him by Emperor Manuel I Comnenos (1143-1180) and ecumenical Patriarch Michael of Anchialos (1170-1178): a coordination between ecclesiastical and imperial legislation. The task implied, in fact, a codification of the imperial laws, some of which contained contradictions in their stipulations concerning the Church. Balsamon’s concrete task involved those instances when a law of Justinian included in the Nomocanon was either omitted or contradicted in the Basilics. As a principle, he gives preference to the Basilics over Justinian and consequently in some cases over Photius’ Nomocanon. Balsamon’s greater emphasis on imperial legislation in its more recent form does not prevent him from affirming explicitly the precedence of ecclesiastical canons over laws⁵ though in practice he does at times overrule clear conciliar definitions by referring to imperial laws.⁶ This emphasis on the role of the emperor prompts Balsamon also to stress the authority of the ecumenical patriarch in general Church affairs; he always visualizes the Church as centralized in the framework of an ideally universal Christian empire.

An abundant canonical literature whose authors it would be impossible to enumerate here discusses issues arising from the canons, from imperial legislation, and from the commentaries: this literature, mostly polemical in nature, constitutes one of the major sources for our understanding of Byzantine Medieval ecclesiology, which otherwise is not expounded in any systematic way.

One of the major issues arising in this literature is the canonical relationship between the patriarch and the provincial primates, metropolitans. Actually, the controversies on this issue touched implicitly upon the role of the emperor in Church affairs; for it was an agreed fact that the ecumenical patriarch was not only an ecclesiastical but also a state, official. His secular function was expressed in the right to crown the emperor (a privilege, which dated from the tenth century) and through the custom of his assuming the regency in case of need. The patriarch’s appointment as a state official formally depended upon an “investiture” by the emperor, which followed an election of three candidates by the synod.⁷ Meanwhile, the texts foresaw no official intervention of the emperor in the election of local metropolitans, and several canons even severely condemned it. Thus, dependence or independence of the metropolitans upon the patriarch as civil servants involved their relation to the emperor as well.

In the tenth century, a discussion arose between Euthymios, Metropolitan of Sardis, who defended the right of the patriarch to choose metropolitans from among the three candidates preserved by the synod, and an anonymous author who interpreted the canons as attributing to the patriarch the right of the ordination of the metropolitans but not that of election. Nicetas, Metropolitan of Amaseia, then wrote a treatise in favour of patriarchal rights.⁸

It seemed that the debate ended in favour of imperial and patriarchal centralization, an idea, which had also been expressed in Balsamon’s commentaries (particularly on Canon 28 of Chalcedon). But in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as the imperial power weakened, the patriarchate acquired greater prestige independent of the empire. A series of patriarchs of the Paleologan period simultaneously asserted a greater independence from the state and a wider authority over the metropolitans. Patriarch Athanasius I (1289-1293, 1303-1310) even dismissed the synod altogether. His unedited correspondence and encyclicals offer a considerable canonical and ecclesiological interest.⁹ The example of Athanasius will be followed by the patriarchs of the fourteenth century, especially Callistos and Philo-theos, with their concept of “universal leadership” (kēdemonia pantōn), which they attribute to the patriarch of Constantinople and which is reflected in the patriarchal Acts of their time.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 517