International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Meredith Riedel
Duke University, Durham NC, United States; 
[e-mail]
Photios’ Hermeneutic for Wisdom Literature in 
Amphilochia 9
The Amphilochia of Photios (d. ca.895) is a collection of letters that explain difficulties in 
the scriptures and related doctrines of the church. In Amphilochia 9, Photios applies himself to 
harmonising what appears to be a conundrum in Orthodox theological anthropology: 
How does one reconcile the saying of David ‘human life is like grass’ (Psalm 102.15) with the 
proverb of Solomon ‘man is great and precious’ (Prov 20.6)? [Πως του θεοπατορος Δαυιδ ειποντος 
‘ανθροπος ωσει χορτος αι ημεραι αυτου’ και εξης, ο τουτου παις Σολομων αποφαινεται ‘μεγα 
ανθρωπος και τιμιον ανηρ’;]
This is more philosophical than exegetical, in terms of the content of these particular biblical 
sayings from the wisdom literature of the LXX. Photios approaches the problem with several concerns 
in mind. First, he must deal with the immediate question of the significance of humanity in the 
divine oikonomia. The Orthodox view of humanity is very high, and its theological anthropology 
has had far-reaching influence on later church denominations in England the US, predominantly 
Methodist and Pentecostal.

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Second, the sayings of two of the Byzantines’ favourite biblical models of kingship, David and 
Solomon, must be reconciled or harmonised without impugning either David (a model claimed by 
Basil I) or Solomon (the model later applied to Basil’s son, Leo VI). As biblical prototypes, the wisdom 
of these two Israelite kings, particularly for Byzantine emperors, cannot be overstated. After the 
period of exile in which Photios wrote the first 75 treatises of the Amphilochia, he rather famously 
authored two mirrors-of-princes, directed to the newly-baptized Boris-Michael of Bulgaria and to 
his former pupil Leo VI, so his analysis of these conflicting sayings is also useful to understanding 
how he theorized kingship and authority. 
Third, this short exposition demonstrates the use of wisdom literature in the early medieval 
Byzantine context, and the appropriation of Jewish scriptures and history into an explicitly Christian 
view of faith and identity.