The Union of Florence.

        The most celebrated church union was the Union of Florence in 1439. At this time the political atmosphere in the Christian East was much more critical than at the time of John’s conversion. The sack of Serbia and Bulgaria by the Turks, the defeat of the crusaders at Nicopolis, the fruitless journey of Manuel II through western Europe, and finally the conquest of Thessalonica by the Turks in 1430, had put the Eastern Empire in a situation too critical to be saved by the Mongol defeat of the Turks at Angora. The Turkish successes were already a serious menace to Europe also; this was the reason why at the Council of Florence the necessity of a common Latin-Greek struggle against the Turks was so strongly felt. But in spite of the desperate situation, the Orthodox nationalistic party in Byzantium opposed the idea of union, not only from the fear of losing the purity of Greek Orthodoxy, but also from the feeling that western aid bought by the price of union would result in the political supremacy of the West over the East: in other words, the impending domination of the Turks might be replaced by that of the Latins. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, a Byzantine polemist, Joseph Bryennius, wrote; “Let no one be deceived by delusive hopes that the Italian allied troops will sooner or later come to us. But if they do pretend to rise to defend us, they will take arms in order to destroy our city, race, and name.”[283] In the fifteenth century, this apprehension was justified by the political plans of Alfonso the Magnanimous against the East.

        About the same time in the West, after the Councils of Pisa and Constance, there was convoked the third great council of the fifteenth century, the Council of Basel, which announced as its program the reform of the Church in its head and members, and the settlement of the Hussite movement which, after the death of John Huss, had spread very widely. Pope Eugenius IV was not in sympathy with the council. The Council of Basel and the pope, at the same time and independently of each other, opened negotiations with Emperor John VIII. The Council of Basel and Constantinople exchanged embassies, and among the Greek envoys was the igumen (abbot) of a Constantinopohtan monastery, Isidore, the future metropolitan of Moscow. He delivered a speech in favor of church union which, he said, “would create a great monument vying with the Colossus of Rhodes, whose top would reach the sky and whose brilliancy would be seen in East and West.”[284] After fruitless disputes concerning the place of a future council, the Fathers of the Council of Basel decided they would settle the Hussite quarrel, and then consider the Greek problem. The Byzantine Greeks, representatives of true Orthodoxy, were deeply offended at being put on the same footing with the “heretic” Hussites. “A real storm burst out” at Constantinople.[285] Meanwhile, the Emperor was nearing agreement with the pope, who was taking over the leadership in the union negotiations. Fearing the reformatory tendencies of the Council of Basel, Eugenius IV transferred the council to the north-Italian city of Ferrara, and when the plague broke out there, to Florence. Some of the members of the council, however, in disobedience to the papal orders, remained at Basel and even elected another pope.

        The meetings of the Council of Ferrara-Florence were held with unusual solemnity. Emperor John VIII with his brother; Joseph, the patriarch of Constantinople; Mark (Marcus), the metropolitan of Ephesus, a convinced opponent of the union; Bessarion, the gifted and highly educated supporter of the union; and a great number of other representatives of the clergy and laity arrived at Ferrara by way of Venice. The Grand Prince of Moscow, Vasili II the Dark (or Blind), sent to the council Isidore, metropolitan of Moscow, who was favorably inclined to the union; a numerous retinue of the Russian clergy and laity accompanied him. This was the time of the very flower of the Italian Renaissance. Ferrara under the House of Este and Florence under the House of Medici were brilliant centers of artistic and intellectual activity.

        The quarrels and debates at the Council, which were reduced to the two chief problems, the filioque and the primacy of the pope, dragged on for a long time. Not all the Greeks were willing to recognize these dogmas, and the weary Emperor was on the point of leaving Florence. Patriarch Joseph, who was opposed to the union, died at Florence before its official promulgation. But Isidore, the metropolitan of Moscow, worked very actively in favor of the union. Finally, the decree of union drawn up in two languages was solemnly promulgated in the presence of the Emperor on July 6, 1439, in the cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore. Several Greeks, however, with Mark of Ephesus at their head, refused to sign the decree.

        In Italy there exist today a number of marks of the union of Florence. A very interesting contemporary copy of the decree of union, written in three languages, Latin, Greek, and Slavonic, is preserved and exhibited in one of the libraries of Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana; besides the Greek and Latin signatures to this document, there is the Russian signature “of the humble bishop Abramius of Suzdal,” who was present at the council. The cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, where the union was promulgated, still exists. In another church of Florence, Santa Maria Novella, one may see today the funeral monument of Patriarch Joseph, who died during the council, with his life-size picture in fresco. Finally, in the Palazzo Riccardi, also at Florence, there has been preserved a fresco by the fifteenth century Italian painter, Benozzo Gozzoli, representing the procession of the Magi, who go to Bethlehem to adore the newborn Christ; in the persons of the Magi the painter portrayed, though rather fantastically, John Palaeologus and Patriarch Joseph, whose entrance into Florence he might have personally observed. Rome also has some relics of the Union of Florence. Between the big bas-reliefs, fifteenth century work with the pictures of the Savior, the Holy Virgin, and St. Peter and St. Paul on the well-known entrance gates into the temple of St. Peter, are some small bas-reliefs relating to the Council of Florence; the Emperor’s sailing from Constantinople, his arrival in Ferrara, a meeting of the Council of Florence, the Emperor’s departure with his retinue from Venice. Finally, in one of the museums of Rome there is preserved a beautiful bronze life-size bust of John Palaeologus wearing a pointed hat. This bust, which is often reproduced, was perhaps made from life during the Emperor’s stay at Florence.[286]

        Like the Union of Lyon, the Union of Florence was not accepted in the East, and on his return to Constantinople John very soon realized that his enterprise had miscarried. A numerous Orthodox party gathered around Mark of Ephesus, who had refused to sign the decree of union; many of those who had signed withdrew their signatures. At Moscow, Isidore ordered the decree of union to be solemnly read in the Cathedral of the Assumption (Uspenski Cathedral), but he found no support. The Grand Prince called him no longer the shepherd and teacher of his flock but a ravening wolf, and he was placed under arrest in a monastery, from which he escaped to Rome. The eastern patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem also declared against the union, and at the Council of Jerusalem, in 1443, the Council of Florence was called “impure” (μιαρα).[287]

        The Catholic church, however, still recognizes the validity of the decree of the Council of Florence, and as late as the nineteenth century Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical concerning the union of the churches appealed to the Orthodox to return to the decree of union.

        The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, like his brother John VIII, believed that the salvation of the perishing Empire lay in union with the western church.