Saint Photios

This Saint is one of the most important you've never heard of.  He was born in Constantinople in 810 to parents who went on to be Christian martyrs.  He received a superb education and distinguished himself at all levels of his education.  In 858 he was elevated to the patriarchal throne.  He was an excellent chief bishop for the Eastern Church and was noted for missionary spirit.  (It was he who sent Saints Cyril and Methodius to evangelize the Russians, who received from them kyrilitsa, the notable alphabet used by Russians and other Slavic language groups.

Photios was soon noted for clashing with Nicholas I, the Pope of Rome, on two principle subjects.  Nicholas was the first Pope in history to utter pretensions to having universal jurisdiction over the whole Church.  He also dared to alter the Nicene Creed from the ecumenical council of 325 A.D., inserting the expression filioque ("and the Son") to the statement about procession of Holy Spirit.

Photios's patriarchate was rocky, interrupted by political intrigues against him, and finally he ended up imprisoned in the Monastery of the Armenians, where he composed his masterwork, Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, and died in peace in 893.

We owe much to Photios who had the courage to stand against Papal usurpations.  A few centuries later, we Anglicans would follow suit in separating from Papal domination.  And the bishops of our Episcopal Church, USA, have stated that, during the next revision of our Book of Common Prayer, the Creed will be restored to its original language, discarding Pope Nicholas's arrogant revision and coming into common practice with the Eastern Orthodox Communion of the Church.