- The crusades and other issues widened the divide between East and West.
-The first attempt at reuniting the Eastern and Western churches was the Council of Lyons in 1274, convened by Pope Gregory X, after Michael Palaeologus, the Byzantine emperor, was open to reuniting with the Latin church.
-At the Lyons council, there was a formula signed by Michael which expressed agreement with the filioque, purgatory, and papal supremacy. It was called the "Union of Lyons".
-Many Easterns were outraged at what happened at Lyons. Emperor Michael began to try to stomp them out. The patriarch Joseph resigned in order to protest what Michael had done.
-Michael further began to attempt the extinguishing of the Eastern dissenters. A famous victim of this would be Meletius the Confessor.
-Meletius went to Constantinople protesting against Emperor Michael. The Byzantine emperor Michael responded by having his tongue cut out.
-Due to the widespread outrage and chaos in the East, Rome blamed Michael for this. Pope Martin IV then excommunicated him.
-The next Byzantine emperor, Andronicus II, detested Michael so much that was not even given an official/public funeral. Rather, he was buried in a tomb secretly at night.
-John XI, the successor of the patriarch Joseph was deposed, and Joseph was reinstated as the patriarch of Constantinople.
-This attempt at East-West reunion was a complete failure.
-150 years later, the church decided to try again in terms of reuniting East and West by convening a council at Florence.
-The council was first at Basel, but then it was transferred by Pope Eugenius IV to Ferrera, and then to Florence.
-The most important Byzantine/Eastern figures at Florence were the Byzantine Emperor John VIII, Joseph II, the patriarch of Constantinople, and Mark of Ephesus, an Eastern metropolitan.
-However, John VIII had political motives for reunion, namely defending the Byzantine empire against the Ottoman Turks.
-At Florence, nine months of debate took place, especially over the issue of the filioque.
-On the Eastern side, the biggest spokesmen against the filioque were John Bessarion and Mark of Ephesus.
-Mark of Ephesus was the one who stood most strongly against the Western theology on the procession of the Holy Spirit. He viewed truth as more important than politics in this regard.
-A document known as the Union of Florence was signed in 1439 on July 6. The Eastern representatives, with the exception of Mark of Ephesus, signed this document.
-When Pope Eugenius IV learned that Mark of Ephesus refused to sign the Union of Florence, he said "Then we have achieved nothing!"
-Mark of Ephesus wrote a circular letter to Eastern Christians, urging them to reject the Union of Florence.
-Emperor John VIII was not happy about what Mark of Ephesus was doing. He had him arrested and imprisoned.
-From his prison cell, Mark of Ephesus still opposed the Union of Florence by personal correspondence and letter.
-Other Eastern patriarchs (Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria) publicly rejected the Union of Florence in a letter sent out from Jerusalem.
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