Page 274 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
tatives proclaimed union. Emperor Michael VIII’s letter was
read, and in his name Akropolites professed acceptance of the
filioque, purgatory, the seven sacraments, and universal papal
primacy.
The political motive behind this union was transparent. Mi-
chael VIII, having recovered Constantinople from Latin rule,
faced the threat of a new Western crusade inspired by Charles
of Anjou. He judged that only submission to Rome could save
the empire. Yet the patriarch and his synod had insisted that
true union could come only through open theological discus-
sion in council and with ecclesial assent. By bypassing this
path, the emperor created both ecclesiastical and political
deadlock. Opposition within Byzantium was fierce and could
not be broken even by exile, imprisonment, and torture; resis-
tance extended even into the imperial family. Politically, the
union collapsed as well: Pope Martin IV, allied with Charles of
Anjou, excommunicated Michael in 1281 and prepared military
action against Byzantium.
Michael’s attempt to enforce Lyons through theology like-
wise failed. Patriarch John Bekkos defended the union by argu-
ing that when the Greek Fathers spoke of the Spirit proceeding
“through the Son,” they effectively meant “from the Son.”
Against him stood George of Cyprus, later Patriarch Gregory
II, who in 1285 convoked the Synod of Blachernai. There the
Council of Lyons was repudiated, and it was affirmed that
“through the Son” may be accepted only in the sense that the
Spirit is eternally manifested through the Son, not that He de-
rives His hypostasis from Him. Gregory sought reconciliation
in good faith, but anti-Latin feeling had become too strong. Yet
the Tomos of Blachernai endured, passing definitively into Or-
thodox tradition as the Church’s authoritative teaching on the
filioque. In this way, the first great attempt at reunion revealed
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