Not satisfied by the level of education provided by local teachers in Greek, he became a student at a Latin school (available then as Cyprus was a Crusader states Kingdom).
The Orthodox and the Catholic churches had proclaimed their union in 1274 in the Second Council of Lyon, motivated more by the emperor's politics than by theological arguments.
Gregory II, contrary to his predecessor refused to accept the Filioque clause added to the Nicene Creed by the Roman Catholics.
Particularly Dumitru Stăniloae,[1] John Meyendorff,[2] and Vladimir Lossky, who states: It is interesting to note that the distinction between the hypostatic existence of the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father alone, and his eternal shining forth – εἰς αἷδιον ἔκφανσιν – through the Son, has been formulated during the discussions which took place in Constantinople at the end of the 13th century, after the Council of Lyon.
We can grasp here the doctrinal continuity: the defence of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father alone requires clarification on the διὰ υἱοῦ, and that latter opens the way to the distinction between essence and energies.