We will narrow our examination at this point in order to properly focus and benefit from those theological and historical signposts which are more relevant and beneficial for us in our time.

To this end we have chosen to focus on the other two great “pillars of Orthodoxy,” besides St. Photios the Great (see Lesson 5), namely, St. Gregory Palamas and St. Mark of Ephesus, before we move on, next week, to the Kollyvades Fathers in the 18th and 19th centuries.

But we begin where we left off, at the Great Schism, and stop shortly at the false council of Lyons before arriving at the theology and ecclesiastical stance of St. Gregory Palamas, which is of the utmost importance today, and the witness and stance of St. Mark or Ephesus.