This Week in Christian History: Southern Baptist Convention Formed, US-Vatican Relations Upheld

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, May 06, 2018

Second Council of Lyons Begins on May 7, 1274

Pope Gregory X, (1210-1276). | (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

This week marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Second Council of Lyons, one of the largest church councils in the history of the Church.

Presided over by Pope Gregory X, about 1,500 bishops and other church leaders attended the council, which had as part of its agenda an effort to reconcile the schism between Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

An agreement, known as the Union of Lyons, stipulated that Greek churches could retain their liturgical rites in return for accepting papal authority and certain Roman teachings.

However, the Union was rejected vehemently by Greek churches to the point that the Byzantine Emperor who attempted to implement the compromise was denied a church burial.