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==Life==
Photius' parents were wealthy and pious Christians. His father was attached to the imperial court with the office of "Guardian of the Emperor and the Palace." They belonged to the party which venerated [[icon]]s, but the current emperor was an [[iconoclast]] and thus was against the use of icons in the [[Church]]. They were exiled when Photius was seven, their wealth disposed of, and were eventually [[martyr]]ed. Photius referred to [[Patriarch]] [[Tarasius of Constantinople|Tarasius]] as "uncle from his father's side,"{{ref|1}} and he was also related to [[Patriarch John VII Grammaticus of Constantinople|John VII GrammatikosGrammaticus]]. He was known as one who was inclined to the quiet, prayerful, and [[monasticism|monastic]] life. Byzantine writers report that Emperor [[Leo VI]] once angrily called Photius "Khazar-faced," but whether this was a generic insult or a reference to his ethnicity is unclear.
As soon as he had completed his own education, Photius began to teach grammar, rhetoric, [[theology]], and [[philosophy]]. The way to public life was probably opened for him by (according to one account) the marriage of his brother Sergius to Irene, a sister of the Empress [[Theodora (9th century empress)|Theodora]], who upon the death of her husband [[Theophilus the Iconoclast|Theophilos]] in 842, had assumed the regency of the empire. Photius became a captain of the guard and subsequently chief imperial secretary (''prōtasēkrētis''). In 855, at thirty-five years of age, Photius was recognized for his political skills and made the ambassador to the Persian caliph in Baghdad with the charge to negotiate an end to Christian persecution in the Muslim territories.
