2777

July 21. Lyons. Pope Innocent IV writes to the [cardinal-]bishop of Tusculum (Frascati) and papal legate [Eudes de Châteauroux], relating that it is right to support those Greeks breaking away from the blind darkness of the schism of the old Orient and returning to catholic integrity and the true dawn of the new Orient. Archbishop [Neophytos] of the Greeks of Cyprus wrote to the pope explaining that the papal legate Lawrence had recalled him from exile and that he and his suffragans had submitted to [Eudes] in the name of the Roman Church, asking that the pope and cardinals hear their requests, which were brought by envoys. They requested: (1) to ordain and replace fourteen bishops again as in ancient times; (2) to be subject to the pope directly, as the Latins are; (3) to exercise ordinary jurisdiction over their subjects as before the schism; (4) to have the obedience of the Greek clergy and people, as the Latins do theirs; (5) to be free to become priests and monks, as before Latin control of the island; (6) to receive the tithes from Greek monasteries and from free Greeks and Syrians; (7) to receive a portion of the tithes the Latins receive from the labour and feed of the animals of the Greeks; (8) to hear the spiritual court cases of the Greeks; (9) to appeal only to the pope or his legate and not the local Latin hierarchy; (10) to offer their obedience via the Greek archbishop to the legate and to receive his protection; (11) to have revoked what P[elagius, cardinal]-bishop of Albano, and others had arranged for them. The pope has been unable to obtain sufficient information about the circumstances and causes, however. Wanting to act for the petitioners but not to err, having full confidence in his legate, he orders [Eudes], with the advice of prelates and other prudent men, to investigate the Greeks’ demands and to arrange as he sees fit.