User:Gligan/Peter (diplomat)

Peter (Петър) was a relative of knyaz (khan) Boris I who was in charge of diplomatic missions during the Christianization of Bulgaria. His position in the Bulgarian administrative hierarchy is unknown but it has been suggested that he had the title kavhan, i. e. the second person in the state after the ruler.

Missions to Rome
According to the historical sources there were three Bulgarian missions to the Pope with the participation of Peter. The first one was in the summer of 866. The interest of Boris I to the Roman Church was caused by the reluctance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to accept his request to appoint an independent patriarch (or at least archbishop) on the Bulgarian diocese. Boris I was determined to make Bulgaria Christian while keeping the countries religious and political independence. The rivalry between the Roman and Constantinople Churches was favourable and gave him the opportunity to choose. The new orientation of the Bulgarian policy allowed Boris I to calm down the nobility which was cautious and hostile to the increased Byzantine influence in the country after the Christianization.

First mission
The Bulgarian delegation arrived to Pope Nicholas I on 29 August 866. During that year Boris I quelled the rebellion of the boyars against the Christianization. Among the gift presented to the Pope by the delegation was the weapon of Boris I "with which [he] was armed when in the name of Christ he celebrated over his enemies". The Bulgarians also brought a document with questions by their ruler to the Pope. The content of the questions is reproduced on the 106 paragraph of the "Answers of Pope Nicolas to the questions of the Bulgarians". Since the end of the 850s the Churches of Rome and Constantinople were in a period of a heated rivalry for influence over the Slavs and the Ecumenical Church power. The arrival of the Bulgarian envoys in Rome became a very important event. The Pope enthusiastically spread the news in a letter to Hincmar of Reims and the other archbishops of the Frankish Empire. "...When we were embarrassed from everywhere by those troubles and were troubled by great obstacles - there, we were all of a sudden informed that envoys of the already mentioned Bulgarian prince have arrived. Therefore who is the one, who can tell with what joy and what infinite rejoice we were filled, when we understood for their salvaging baptism due to the generosity of the God's goodness and when we understood that they have sought for explanation of the teachings of Christ from the venerable apostle Peter, i. e. from his Holy See: they, even though they were far away, remained close through the faith but also because we saw that an easy land route was revealed through their lands for our envoys to the land of the Greeks."

That Bulgarian mission was mentioned thirteen years later (June 879) in a letter to Boris I, with which Pope John VIII tried to prevent Bulgaria from returning to the Constantinople Patriarchate. That letter proves Peter's participation in the mission of 866: "To our favourite and spiritual son Michael, the glorious Prince of the Bulgarians. ...you sent during the time of our predecessor, the venerable Pope Nicolas, your envoys, namely Peter, your relative, John and Martin, to the Cathedral of the venerable apostle Peter, which is a head and a teacher of all Churches of God... we advise your highness to humbly and voluntarily return to the holy Roman Church, your mother, so that, helped by the prayers of the holy apostles, you can easily conquer both your visible and invisible enemies."

The Bulgarian envoys received the answers of Pope Nicolas I at a ceremony in the Lateran Palace on 13 November 866. Soon after that Peter and the other envoys returned to their country along with the Pope emissaries Formosus of Portus and Paul of Populona. Both bishops exercised educative activities in Bulgaria. Along with Peter departed other envoys of the Pope, the bishop of Ostia Donat, the presbyter Leo and the deacon of the apostolic episcopacy Marinus, who had to continue to Constantinople and clarify the policy of Rome to the Bulgarians.

Second mission
The abilities and the efforts of Formosus of Portus impressed Boris I. No later than a year after his first mission in Rome, Peter was put in charge of a second one in order to arrange the ordination of Formosus for a Bulgarian archbishop. The Bulgarian delegation arrived in Rome in the second half of 867. Nicolas I declined the proposal concerning Formosus and accepted only the other request of Boris I - to send more presbyters to Bulgaria. The curia prepared a group of clerics lead by Dominic of Trivena and Gromuald of Polymartis. The unexpected death of Nicolas I on 13 November 867 postponed the papal response and the departure of the group. Peter and the other Bulgarian diplomats participated in the burial of the deceased Pope and waited in Rome until the election of a new one. The new Pope Hadrian III confirmed the decisions of his predecessor. In the middle of December the delegation headed back for Pliska on land with letters to the Bulgarian prince written down by Nicolas I. En route to Bulgaria the delegation stayed in the monastery of the town Aquileia. That event was noted in the Cividale gospel in which an unknown monk wrote down the names of the Bulgarian envoys and the members of their families: "...From Bulgaria, who came first in that monastery, his name is Sondoka and his wife Anna, and his father John, and his mother Maria, and his son Michael, and his other son Velegnev, and his daughter Bogomila, and the other one Kalya, and the third Marta, and the forth Elena, and the fifth Maria, and his other wife Sobeslava. And the other noble man Peter... and George. Peter and his wife Sofia."

The delegation arrived in the Bulgarian capital in the beginning of 868. Boris I learned that the Pope had offered him to choose the archbishop of the Bulgarian Church among the presbyters he had sent. By order Hadrian II Formosus of Portus and Paul of Populona returned to Rome as early as February in the same year accompanied by Peter. Boris I was disappointed with the Pope's answers and decided to finish the negotiations with Rome.

Third mission
The historical source for the positions of the Bulgarian ruler is the biography of Pope Hadrian II, written by the Vatican librarian Anastasius: "...That envoy [Peter] brought along with the kingly gifts a letter from the Prince, who asked the high primate to send him either the well known Marin, after ordaining him as an archbishop, or send one of the cardinals of his Church - the most worthy man to be chosen by the Bulgarians for an archbishop because of his wisdom, character and life, and after being approved by them and returns to the Pope, to be awarded the title of archbishop."

It is certain that the idea for the application of Marin was suggested to Boris I by Formosus of Portus. Formosus and Marin were friends and close associates. Marin was an influential diplomat who participated in many missions between Rome and Constantinople. However, Hadrian II did not approve him and suggested for the office his trusted man - the ipodeacon Silvester. With his decision the Pope underestimated the ambitions of Boris I for independent church policy which led to the alienation of the Bulgarian ruler from Rome and indirectly helped the Patriarchate of Constantinople in its efforts to influence the events in Bulgaria.

When in the beginning of 868 Peter and Formosus arrived in Rome, the brothers Cyril and Methodius and their disciples were there on invitation by the Pope. Formosus and bishop Gauderig of Veletria ordained many of the brothers' disciples for priests, deacons and ipodeacons. It has been suggested that Peter was among the first high-ranking Bulgarians who was acquainted with the ideas of Cyril and Methodius and brought the news in Bulgaria.

The consecutive refusal of Hadrian II to ordain a candidate approved by Boris I exhausted the patience of the Bulgarian prince. After a three-month stay in Bulgaria Silvester returned to Rome with a letter to the Pope in which for the last time Boris I insisted that either Formosus or Marin must be ordained but the Pope declined the proposal once again. During that time the Bulgarian had already started negotiations with the Patriarch of Constantinople Ignatius who was trying to improve the relations with Rome strained after the mutual anathemas made in 863 by his predecessor Photios I and Pope Nicolas I. Just like Photios, however, Ignatius did not want to allow permanent settlement of the Roman Church in Bulgaria. In order to settle down the differences between the two Churches the Eights Ecumenical Council was planned to be held in Constantinople in 869. After a long stay in Rome (868-869), Peter returned to Bulgaria and was immediately sent to participate in the council.

Mission in Constantinople
The Eight Ecumenical Council was inaugurated on 5 October 869. Besides the representatives of Rome and Constantinople, the event was attended by envoys of the Eastern Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch. The Papal legates were unaware of the secret negotiations between Bulgaria and Byzantium and did not expect to discuss the status of the Bulgarian Church on the council. That is why they were very surprised too see high ranking Bulgarian envoys on the official closure of the Council on 28 February 870: the ichirgu-boil Stazis, khan-bagatur Sondoke, khan-tarkan Iliya, sampsis Persiyan and sampsis Alexius Hunol.

On 4 March 870, three days after the final session Basil I invited the participants in the Council in the Imperial palace: Patriarch Ignatius, the Papal legates Donat of Ostia, Stephen of Nep and deacon Marin, as well as the representatives of the Eastern Patriarchs archdeacon Josef (from Alexandria), bishop Tomas of Tyre (from Antioch) and presbyter Iliya (from Jerusalem), telling them that Peter was bringing gifts from the Bulgarian Prince. After the exchange of greetings Peter, who had been instructed in advance, raised the issue of the jurisdiction over the Bulgarian Church and turned to the assembled men: "Up to now we were pagans and not long ago we entered the blessing of Christianity; that is why, in order not to make mistakes, we want to known from you, who represent supreme Patriarchs, to which Church are we to obey..."

The Roman legates answered: "To the holy Roman Church, to which through you, Peter, your lord came to the venerable Prince of the apostle Peter along with the whole realm of his people..."

In order to take decision the envoys of the Eastern Patriarchs asked the Bulgarian delegated the following question: "When you took [your] Motherland, tell us under which authority it used to be and were there Latin or Greek priests?". The prepared in advance: "We took [our] Motherland with arms from the rule of the Greeks and there we found not Latin but Greek priests." In compliance with the response of the Bulgarian envoys, the Eastern Patriarchates pronounced their decision:  "If you have found Greek priests, it is clear that this land was under the rule of Constantinople... Therefore we adjudge, because the Bulgarian motherland, as we got to know, was previously under Greek ruler and had Greek priests, to be now returned again through Christianity to the holy Church of Constantinople, from which it was separated through paganism." The protests of the Roman legates were futile. They forged a letter in which the Pope allegedly warned the Patriarch of Constantinople not to interfere with the Bulgarian matters but Ignatius ignored it. After the Council (in the very same year) the Latin priests had to leave Bulgaria and were substituted by Byzantine missionaries.

Title
In the historical literature Peter is thought to have been: boyar, great boil , comita , ichirgu-boil and kavhan (conditional or unconditional ). The discussion on the title (or office) of Peter is part of the scientific discussion on the place of the ichirgu-boil and the kavhan in the administration of the First Bulgarian Empire. The starting point of those discussions is that there were one kavhan and one ichirgu-boil at the same time and that the kavhan is the higher office. The different views on the functions of Peter comes from the different interpretation of the historical sources (the letters of Pope John VIII, the notes of the Cividale gospel and the story of Anastasius Bibliothecarius about the Council of Constantinople).

In 879 Pope John VIII appealed not only to Boris I but also to his close associates, including Peter. The letter was addressed to "Petro Cerbule et Sundice ceterisque optimatibus et consiliariis dilecti filii nostri Michaelis regis Vulgarorum" ("To Peter, Tserbula and Sundika, and the other boyars and advisers of our favourite son, the Bulgarian prince Michael"). The idea that Cerbule is the personal name Tserbula (Zergobula) is supported by Zlatarski. Veselin Beshevliev interprets that as a title to the personal name of Peter Petro cerbulae (Peter ichirgu-boil). According to Ivan Venedikov in 879 Peter was ichirgu-boil, having replaced Stazis. The connection of Cerbule to Petro has been rejected by Vasil Gyuzelev. He suggests that Cerbule is related to Stazis. The omission of his personal name is explained with the fact that the Roman administration could not always cope with the Bulgarian anthroponymy and used titles instead of personal names.

The historians are also not unanimous about who led the missions to Rome and Constantinople. According to Yordan Ivanov the second mission was led by Sondoke, while Venedikov suggests it was Stazis. According to Gyuzelev the leading person in the Bulgarian delegation was Peter which was made clear during the Council of Constantinople. He emphasizes that according to the story of Anastasius Bibliothecarius the gifts to the Roman legates were sent through Peter. Peter is the person of the Bulgarian delegation in Constantinople who spoke at the Council. Gyuzelev also pays attention to the letters of Pope John VIII. Letters were sent to Boris I (16 April 878 and May 879 ), to Doks - brother of Boris I (April 878 ), to Peter (16 April 878 ) and to high ranking boils including Peter (in the letter of May 879 ). In the letter of April 878 addressed personally to Peter the Pope called him comita (Petrum comitem). It has been suggested that under comita the Pope did not mean a regional governor but comes palatii, i. e. the first person in the court of the ruler. Gyuzelev concludes that Peter's role in the events between 866 and 879 is more important than that of the ichirgu-boil Stazis and therefore Peter must have been kavhan at least during that period.