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Ecclesiastical policy
ichael VIII was succeeded on the imperial throne by his son
Andronikos II,
who had already been crowned joint emperor by Patriarch
Joseph I
in November 1272. The new emperor's first action was to repudiate the union of the Byzantine and Roman Churches that his father,
Michael VIII,
had realised in 1274, and that had caused such a huge division in the Empire. Besides, the union, which had already been repudiated by Pope Martin IV, no longer carried any significance for the Byzantine people, after the Sicilian Vespers in 1282 had relieved them of the Latin danger.
The rejection of the union reflected Andronikos' personal religious beliefs as well as his will to follow a strictly Eastern Orthodox policy. It is no coincidence that, during the years of his reign, the Church and the monasteries prospered greatly. Shortly before Christmas, in 1282, the Emperor asked the pro-unionist Patriarch,
John XI Bekkos,
to resign. The Patriarch obeyed and, on 26 December 1282, withdrew to the monastery of the Panachrantos.
 The anti-unionist Patriarch, Joseph I, who had been deposed by Michael VIII at the time of the signing of the union at Lyons (1274), was reinstated. The imprisoned or exiled opponents of union began to stream back into Constantinople. A purification ceremony was held in the church of Hagia Sophia, which was blessed with holy water and reconsecrated. A patriarchal decree forbade pro-unionist bishops from participate in the Holy Sacraments for three months. Finally, at a council in January 1283, it was decided that the former Patriarch,
John Bekkos,
be sentenced and exiled to Prousa.
In this way the unrest within the Church and society in general was reduced but not completely subdued. The
Arsenites
continued their struggle against the violation of Church rules and continued to harass Andronikos II until 1310, when they were finally reconciled with the official Church. As far as the Church administration was concerned, Andronikos II promoted the reorganisation of the bishoprics, while by a chrysobull, in 1312, the monasteries of Mount Athos were placed under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
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