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Rh that no time was so favourable as the present for putting an end to the Greek schism. Pachymer, the historian, our chief authority for this period, had joined the Latin Church. No doubt courtiers were ready to follow.

The popes appear to have been entirely ignorant of the real condition of the Greek Church. Throughout these negotiations and all that followed there was not the slightest disposition on the part of that body to make any concession or to take any steps towards union. The Greeks had suffered too much from the cruel invasion and tyrannical domination of the Latins to have the least desire for ecclesiastical union with these people. The efforts towards union on the Byzantine side came wholly from the government, not at all from the people, the Church, or the clergy. Michael tried his utmost to persuade the patriarch and the bishops to join in his negotiations. But he failed completely. Is that surprising? At this very time the Greeks heard that the Western powers were fitting out an expedition to restore the Latin Empire. To them reunion with the Western Church seemed to imply the restoration of an odious foreign tyranny. Therefore, when delegates from the pope visited Constantinople and tried to reason with the Greek bishops and persuade them to accept the obnoxious Filioque clause, they met with nothing but stubborn resistance. The bishops replied that whatever the emperor's threats might be, they would not consent to any alteration in the ancient formula. The patriarch put forward Veccus, a learned, eloquent man, to represent the Greek cause. After describing various kinds of people who might be regarded as heretics, Veccus came to the conclusion that the Latins were among those "who are not called, but who are heretics."

Still Michael laboured for union. In the year 1274 he induced some of the bishops to join him in sending delegates to Lyons with this end in view. Gregory accepted their visit as a sign that they admitted the Roman form of the creed and submitted to his supremacy. After the professions of the emperor and the bishops had been read by their envoys, a Te Deum was sung, and the