Gregory II of Constantinople
Gregory II of Constantinople was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople between 1283 and 1289.
Life
Gregory was born in Lapithos, Cyprus. His name was originally George. His parents were middle class but of noble origin. He moved to Nicosia as a teenager seeking further education. Not satisfied by the level of education provided by local teachers in Greek, he became a student at a Latin school. He had difficulty learning Latin and thus got only a superficial knowledge of grammar and Aristotle's Logic.Still determined to get a decent education, he got on a ship to Acre, Palestine, where he arrived after three days. From there he travelled to Anaea in Anatolia and finally made it to Mount Galesios near Ephesus. He had heard a lot about the scholar Nikephoros Blemmydes but was disappointed by him and moved to Nicaea where he studied with George Akropolites. With the recapture of Constantinople by Nicaean forces in 1261, he moved there. Later he became a teacher, his students including Nikephoros Choumnos.
He became patriarch in 1283. The Orthodox and the Catholic churches had proclaimed their union in 1274 in the Second Council of Lyon, motivated more by the emperor's politics than by theological arguments. Gregory II, contrary to his predecessor refused to accept the Filioque clause added to the Nicene Creed by the Roman Catholics. Gregory spoke of an eternal manifestation of the Spirit by the Son. Gregory II's formula has been considered an Orthodox "answer" to the Filioque, though it does not have the status of official Orthodox doctrine. Gregory II's perception of Trinity was endorsed by the Council of Constantinople in 1285.
Influence
Gregory II's doctrine of an eternal manifestation of the Spirit is often interpreted by Orthodox theologians as being a significant influence on Gregory Palamas and the formulation of his Essence-Energy doctrine. Particularly Dumitru Stăniloae, John Meyendorff, and Vladimir Lossky, who states:It is interesting to note that the distinction between the hypostatic existence of the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father alone, and his eternal shining forth – εἰς αἷδιον ἔκφανσιν – through the Son, has been formulated during the discussions which took place in Constantinople at the end of the 13th century, after the Council of Lyon. We can grasp here the doctrinal continuity: the defence of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father alone requires clarification on the διὰ υἱοῦ, and that latter opens the way to the distinction between essence and energies. It is not a "dogmatic development" but one and same tradition defended on different points by the Orthodox theologians, from Saint Photius to Gregory II and Saint Gregory Palamas.