12.

 Certain Orthodox hierarchs attempted to bridge the gulf of understanding between Rome and the Holy Church. Can you explain the meaning of these attempts?

            In the matter of the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit, the position that St. Photius maintained against the West was an eternal procession from the Father alone, and a temporal mission from the Son. Thirteenth and fourteenth-century writers, however, most notably St. Gregory of Cyprus, Patriarch of Constantinople, and St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, went somewhat further in an attempt to bridge the gulf between East and West. While Photius spoke only of a temporal mission, these writers allowed an eternal manifestation of the Holy Spirit by the Son. They also admitted an eternal relation between the Son and the Spirit where Photius had spoken only of a temporal mission.