Amphilochia 231 of Patriarch Photius as a Possible Source on the Christology of the Byzantine Iconoclasts Vladimir A. BARANOV, Novosibirsk, Russia ABSTRACT Due to the objective lack of sources on the theology of the Byzantine Iconoclasts, any newly discovered source becomes very valuable. This article explores Amphilochia 231 of Patriarch Photius with relation to Iconoclastic Christology. In this treatise, Patriarch Photius presents two ‘wrong’ Christological positions: in the Incarnation Christ assumed a general human being or a particular human being. If the second position can be identified with Nestorianism, the first can be identified with the Chris- tology of the Iconoclasts, expressed in their earlier writings. The corollary of the Iconoclastic Christology is that since Christ assumed general humanity, any portrait of Christ with particular features will be an arbitrary choice of the artist and an ulti- mate epistemological fault. This connection between Christology and epistemology is confirmed by the fragments of Photius’ contemporary, the Iconoclastic Patriarch John the Grammarian, who considers precisely the two positions presented by Photius from an epistemological viewpoint. The Amphilochia by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople (858-867, 877-886), is an unsystematic collection of over three hundred treatises with solutions to various Scriptural and doctrinal difficulties, dedicated to Amphilochius, the Metropolitan of Cyzicus, who gave the name to the whole collection. 1 Treatise no. 231 2 contains two Christological questions presenting a Christological dilemma which the Patri- arch attempts to solve in his answers. In the following we will briefly summarize the contents of the treatise and then will show its importance in the context of the remnants of the Iconoclastic debate after the Restoration of Icons in 843. In the first question the interlocutor asks whether in the Incarnation Christ assumed a general human being or a particular human being. The Patriarch 1 According to the Prologue, the collection was created while Photius was in exile after his deposition in 867; this applies only to the first part (questions 1-75). The rest of the collection must have been assembled from the archives of the Patriarch after his return to the capital, most likely, by his disciples and followers, Dmitry E. Afinogenov, Sv. patriarkh Fotij. Izbrannye trak- taty iz ‘Amfilokhij’ (Saint Patriarch Photius. Selected Treatises from the Amphilochia) (Moscow, 2002), 13, unfortunately without further references. 2 Photii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani Epistulae et Amphilochia, ed. Leendert G. Westerink, vol. 6, fasc. 1 (Leipzig, 1987), 14-5. Studia Patristica LIV, 1-00. © Peeters Publishers, 2012.