Page:The Greek and Eastern churches.djvu/290

264 union of the churches proclaimed. The patriarch Joseph declining to submit, he was promptly deposed, and his orator Veccus, who had gone over to the emperor's side, set in his place. Michael had his reward. The pope refused Charles of Angou permission to attack him. But when Martin was pope he had sources of information or a keenness of perception that had been denied to Gregory. He was not to be hoodwinked by Michael's compliant professions, made with the sole object of securing his throne and empire, but not representing the thought and will of his Church, In the year 1281 Martin put an end to all negotiations for the time being by excommunicating Michael and the Greeks as schismatics. The next year the emperor died, and his son and successor, Andronicus, who reigned for forty-six years ( 1282–1328), returned to the anti-papal policy. Veccus was forced to retire to a monastery and Joseph was restored to the patriarchate. Still being in danger both from the West, no longer restrained by the papacy, and also from the Turks, Andronicus accepted the aid of Spanish mercenaries, the "Catalans," whose advent was the beginning of grievous trouble. Taking an independent course, these Spaniards were the first to introduce the Turks into Europe by inviting them to an alliance against an opposing faction at Constantinople.

The chief ecclesiastical event of this long reign is the curious episode of the patriarch Athanasius and his anathemas. Next to the emperor, the patriarch was the most important personage in Constantinople. It was therefore a serious matter to have Athanasius revealing himself as a stern, implacable ecclesiastic, scattering anathemas right and left. He became so unpopular that he was deposed and sent to a convent. A few years later, some lads, climbing a ladder to the top of a pillar in the dome of St. Sophia in search of a pigeon's nest, found there an earthen pot containing anathemas of Athanasius against the emperor and the rest of his enemies. The sequel of this curious incident sheds some light on the religious ideas of the times. Andronicus was terrified, and he sum-