from the reign of Basil II. Early Church policy As Andronikos broke the church union of his father he also removed many of his church appointments, including the pro-unionist Patriarch John XI, replacing him with the now very elderly anti-unionist Patriarch Joseph I. When Joseph resigned his office and died the following year he was then replaced by a cypriot who took the name Gregory II. Aside from the church union Andronikos also faced the Arsenite schism, caused when Patriarch Arsenios protested the blinding and imprisonment of John IV undertaken by Michael VIII, consequently excommunicating Michael VIII for which Arsenios was soon removed. The Arsenites were an anti-unionist group which therefore held that the still imprisoned John was the rightful Byzantine Emperor and that the Patriarchs John XI, Joseph I, and now Gregory II were illegitimate. To try and mend this schism Gregory called for a church synod to which he invited both the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch asking them to rescind their previous pro-unionist declaration, which The Patriarch of Antioch refused, who then subsequently abdicated from his office and fled to Syria. Gregory also asked Michael VIIIs widow the Empress Theodora for a public avowal that she would never ask that Michael receive a Christian burial, which she ended up agreeing to. Though this Synod did much to satisfy the Orthodox Clergy it failed to do the same with the Arsenites. A few years later, the Patriarch Gregory II was forced to resign as some of his writings were deemed to be heretical. Andronikos, in order to distract from an ever worsening political situation, succeeded in having a hermit from Mt. Athos, who took the name Athanasius, pronounced as Patriarch. Athanasius became known for his simplistic dress and near fanatical Asceticism spending much of his time repudiating clergymen for their earthly possessions. He would eventually go as far as to attempt and take riches away from some wealthier churches and monasteries. Many clergymen as a result became overtly hostile to him going as far as pelting him with stones as he walked the streets of Constantinople, so that Athanasius would soon no longer be seen in public without a personal bodyguard. When in the summer of 1293 Andronikos returned from a visit to his swiftly dwindling Anatolian holdings he was already awaited by a delegation of leading clergyman who demanded the deposition of Athanasius, Andronikos attempted to resist