| In 1439, at the ecclesiastical Council of Ferrara-Florence, representatives of the Byzantine empire and the Eastern Orthodox churches signed a reunion agreement with the Roman Catholic church. At the time, both parties accorded this council ecumenical status, meaning that its decisions were considered binding on the entire Christian church. The Eastern and Western churches had been in schism since the eleventh century. This council, therefore, was the successful culmination of a long process of negotiations to repair the division of the churches. Why then, did the Florentine union fail to take hold among the Byzantines, who were desperate to obtain western military assistance against the threat posed by the Ottoman Turks?;This dissertation attempts to answer this question by examining sources that illuminate the experience of the Byzantine delegation at the Council: the Greek Acts, the Description of Dorotheos of Mitylene, and the Memoirs of Sylvester Syropoulos. I begin with the historical background of the schism and subsequent attempts at reconciliation, as well as the political and ecclesiastical circumstances which made holding such a reunion council possible. Next, I analyze the Greek sources themselves, treating first the events in Ferrara and then the Council's transference to Florence. I conclude with a critique of the final negotiations and the union decree.;I contend that the reason why Mark of Ephesus and other Byzantines rejected the union was that the Council defined the faith entirely in accordance with Latin theology while failing to remain true to the Greek tradition. Therefore, when they criticized the unionists as followers of "Latinism," they were not, as has often been asserted, expressing an intractably chauvinistic ethnic prejudice. The anti-unionists asserted that given the methods and conclusions of the Council of Florence, it was they, rather than those who accepted this so-called ecumenical council, who were faithful to the seven true councils of the undivided Christian church. Thus, the failure of the Florentine union among the Byzantines was not motivated primarily by anti-Latin prejudice, but by a legitimate concern for preserving the integrity of the Orthodox faith. |
