Abstract: The so-called Anti-Photian Collection comprises various documents related to the successive appointments and depositions of Ignatius and Photius as Patriarchs of Constantinople. Among these is a letter from Epiphanius, Archbishop of Cyprus, addressed to Patriarch Ignatius. In this epistle, Epiphanius offers his congratulations on Ignatius’s reinstatement to the Patriarchal See. This epistle is not an autograph document but a copy preserved in two manuscripts owned by Cardinal Bessarion, from which all subsequent copies derive. The text follows the typical themes and structure of Byzantine epistolography but it is clearly an excerptum. However, since no official documentation from Ignatius’s Patriarchate has survived, this letter stands as a unique record of the autocephalous Church of Cyprus’ adherence to the decrees of the Eighth Ecumenical Council. Notably, no Cypriot representative was present at the anti-Photian synod, as recorded in the acta conciliaria.

Author: Ibáñez Chacón, Álvaro

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2025.18.1.17-29

Publication order reference: Álvaro Ibáñez Chacón; University of Granada, Lecturer in Greek Philology at the Department of Greek and Slavonic Philology, Campus of Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4126-5641

Source: Konštantínove listy, 2025, vol.: 18, issue: 1, pages: 17-29 (PDF file)

Keywords: ANTI-PHOTIAN COLLECTION, PHOTIUS, IGNATIUS, EPIPHANIUS OF CYPRUS, EIGHTH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL

Language: ENGLISH

Recommended Citation:

Ibáñez Chacón, Álvaro. 2025. An Epistle from Epiphanius of Cyprus to Patriarch Ignatius and the Adherence of the Cypriot Church to the Anti-Photian Council. In Konštantínove listy [Constantine’s Letters] 18/1, 17-29.