naturally ask why Ignatius did not deny that he had abdicated, or assert that it had been extorted from him by violence, since this was the gist of the whole question. We may therefore conclude that he really resigned his see, freely and conscientiously; but that Nicholas being unwilling, as he himself said, to accept that resignation, some ambitious men, personal enemies of Photius, prevailed upon Ignatius to reconsider his determination, suggesting to him as a legitimate motive the protest of the Patriarch of Rome against it.
But while he followed the impulsion of Rome in what concerned his reïnstalment in his see, Ignatius did not show himself disposed to submit to all its requirements, as in the matter of signing the Roman formula, and in the conference, which took place after the council, concerning the Church of Bulgaria.
Several members of the council, from hatred to Photius rather than from conviction, had already signed the formula which enslaved the whole Church to the Roman see. They had submitted to this demand in order that the council, from which they expected results satisfactory to their own secret desires, should not remain an impossibility. After it was over, they sent complaints to the Emperor and to Ignatius regarding their signatures, and asked that they should not be sent to Rome. They protested, moreover, against the qualified form in which the legates had signed, reserving the approbation of the Pope, for thereby the Bishop of Rome reserved the right to approve or to cancel, at his will, what had been done.
It was too late to remedy this; but the Emperor, to
acts were taken from the legates by the Sclavonians, who robbed them on their return from Constantinople. Anastasius pretended that he had an exact copy of the acts, which he translated into Latin at Rome. It is therefore to the evidence of this man that we have to refer for all that relates to this council. If the acts, such as he has given them, are so favourable to Photius, is it not reasonable to think that they would be much more so if they were trustworthy?
