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The Council of Florence (1438-1439): Successes and failures in setling the issue of East-West union
Abstract
The Council of Florence is considered - from the Catholic point of view - the seventeenth of the twenty-one general (ecumenical) councils. As it was held at a tme when the insttute of papacy was undermined by a crisis both moral and that of its legal system, the main objectve of the council was to eradicate the break between East and West, which was the result of the Great Schism of 1054, for good. The council, at the end of which the Catholic arguments emerged victorious and the role of papacy was strengthened, saw creatng a union between the Orthodox Church structures and the Catholic Church. Expectatons were quite high, yet the days of the union were already numbered since the Orthodox party renounced it shortly after arriving back home. The Council of Florence was influenced by two important factors: by the politcal weakness of the Byzantne Empire caused by the expansion of the Otoman Turks and by the affinity some of the Byzantne intellectual elite had with the Western (mainly) scholastc theology of the tme.
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This important work offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Orthodox Church available, providing a detailed account of its historical development, as well as exploring Orthodox theology and culture Written by one of the leading Orthodox historians and theologians in the English-speaking world Offers an in-depth engagement with the issues surrounding Orthodoxy's relationship to the modern world, including political, cultural and ethical debates Considers the belief tradition, spirituality, liturgical diversity, and Biblical heritage of the Eastern Churches; their endurance of oppressions and totalitarianisms; and their contemporary need to rediscover their voice and confidence in a new world-order Recipient of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2009 award.
The greatest Christian split of all has been that between East and West, between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, a rift that is still apparent today. This book provides a balanced account of the emergence of divisions between Rome and Constantinople. Drawing on an encyclopaedic command of the literature, the book starts with the roots of the divergence in apostolic times and takes the story right up to the Council of Florence in the 15th century. The book is based on much experience as an ecumenist, which informs the discussion of Christians in relation to each other, to Jews, and to non-Christian Gentiles. The book shows a concern for the factors - theological, personal, political, and cultural - that caused division in the church and prevented reconciliation.
One episode presents many of the recurring features of the last phase of Byzantine relations with the west. On 12 December 1452 in the teeth of popular hostility St Sophia witnessed the much-delayed proclamation of the union of Florence. It was the work of the papal legate Isidore of Kiev, whose recent arrival in Constantinople gave new purpose to the unionist cause. He was able to cajole the emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos (1448-53) into staging the proclamation of the union of churches. Isidore understood how little enthusiasm there was among the Greeks of Constantinople for union with Rome. Most preferred to put their trust in their icons rather than in help from the west. Even those who participated in the service of reunion justified their presence in terms of expediency and urged opponents of the union to wait until the present crisis had passed. This incident illustrates the popular opposition to union; the reluctant realism among the ruling elite, which dictated lip service to the union as away of securing western aid; but also the energy and idealism of a Greek convert to Rome, who saw in the union of churches not only a return to the true faith, but also a path to regeneration. It is the final feature that is the most surprising. Why over two centuries should so many of the ablest and most attractive Byzantines have turned to the Latin West, not in a spirit of expediency, but out of idealism? There is no one answer. But it was part of a growing appreciation by influential members of the Byzantine elite of Latin culture.
Among the issues that have divided Eastern and Western Christians throughout the centuries, few have had as long and interesting a history as the question of the filioque-i.e., whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father "and the Son" as the West came to profess, or from the Father alone, as the East has traditionally maintained. For over a millennium Christendom's greatest minds have addressed and debated the question (sometimes in rather polemical terms), all in the belief that the theological issues at stake were central to an orthodox understanding of the trinitarian God. The history of the filioque is also one of the most interesting stories in all of Christendom, filled with characters and events that would make even the best dramatists envious, and thus a story worth telling. The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy is the first complete English language history of the filioque written in over a century. Beginning with the biblical material and ending with recent agreements on the place and meaning of the filioque, this book traces the history of the doctrine and the controversy that has surrounded it. There are chapters on the Greek and Latin fathers, the ninth century debates, the late medieval era, the Councils of Lyons and Ferrara-Florence, and the post Florentine period, with a separate chapter dedicated to the twentieth and twenty-first century theologians and dialogues that have come closer than ever to solving this thorny, and of yet, unresolved, ecumenical problem.