Editing Phocas (section)

== Legacy ==
Phocas is generally depicted as a villain by Byzantines and modern historians alike, but some of the earliest sources available about Phocas' reign were written during the reign of Heraclius. The writings that survive are not reliably neutral and the writers would have good reason to demonize him in order to strengthen the rule of Heraclius.{{sfn|Crow|2002}}

[[File:41-manasses-chronicle.jpg|thumb|Miniature 41 from the [[Constantine Manasses]] Chronicle, 14th century: Usurper Phocas and the assault against him from the armies of Heraclius]]

The reign of Phocas is marked by the change of imperial fashion set by [[Constantine the Great]] ({{reign|306|337}}). Starting with Constantine, it became common again to show emperors as clean-shaven on [[Byzantine coinage|coinage]] in line with the style of early emperors until the reign of [[Hadrian]] ({{reign|117|138}}). However, Phocas was consistently depicted with a [[beard#Rome|beard]] and this became the convention until the end of the Byzantine Empire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.byzantium.xronikon.com/statfirst.html |title=Byzantine first & last times |publisher=Byzantium.xronikon.com |access-date=7 November 2012}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=February 2025}}

On 19 February 607, Emperor Phocas appointed Boniface III as the new bishop of Rome, then Phocas issued an imperial decree by the Roman government, recognizing Boniface III as the "Head of all Churches" and "Universal Bishop". Phocas transferred the title of "Universal Bishop" from the [[Diocese of Constantinople]] to the [[Diocese of Rome]]. Boniface sought and obtained a decree from Phocas in which he restated that "the See of Blessed Peter the Apostle should be the head of all the Churches" and ensured that the title of "Universal Bishop" belonged exclusively to the Bishop of Rome. This act effectively ended the attempt by [[Patriarch Cyriacus of Constantinople]] to establish himself as "Universal Bishop".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apostate church organization: 588 - 606 AD: The final dog fight for control of the world!|url=https://www.bible.ca/ntx-organization-historical-development-papal-patriarchal-systems-588-606AD.htm|access-date=23 October 2021|website=www.bible.ca}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=October 2021}}

In calling the Pope the "head of all churches", Phocas' decree has been important in discussions about [[papal primacy]] and [[papal supremacy]]. Some Protestant [[Historicism (Christianity)|historicist]] commentators have seen the decree of Phocas (usually taken to be in 606) as having eschatological significance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Newsom |first1=Carol A. |author-link1=Carol A. Newsom |title=Daniel: A Commentary |date=2014 |publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]] |page=317 |isbn=9781611645392 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ha51BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA317 |access-date=8 July 2020}}</ref> For example, in his ''[[Horae Apocalypticae]]'', [[Edward Bishop Elliott]] took the [[1260 days]] of [[Revelation 11]]:3 to be the period between 606 and the [[Italian unification|Unification of Italy]] in 1866.