Union of Florence 1439 - agreement on the unification of Catholics. and Orthodox churches, adopted at the Basel-Florence Council.
Despite the schism of 1054, the Western and Eastern churches never abandoned the idea of unification. From time to time, emperors, popes, patriarchs and kings tried to take on the honorable mission of conciliators. However, after the Latins destroyed Christian Constantinople, the situation became seriously complicated. This caused a justified outburst of indignation among Orthodox Greeks and their co-religionists. After Michael VIII Palaiologos came to power, negotiations resumed, but various political and diplomatic reasons did not allow the unification to take place.
There was an ideological struggle over the same issue on Russian lands. Here it was closely connected with the division of these lands between the Moscow and Polish-Lithuanian states. The papacy has long tried to baptize the population of Western Russian lands into Catholicism. At one time, it conducted active negotiations with Danila Galitsky, who received the crown from the hands of the pontiff. Catholicism continued its advance to the east. In 1419, the main Russian Orthodox metropolises were again united into one - Kiev, which was under the influence of the Lithuanians, and Moscow.
Ugh. was concluded in a very difficult situation for Byzantium and the papacy.
In 1430, the Turks took Thessalonica, and essentially only Constantinople remained from Byzantium, surrounded on all sides by Turkish possessions. Under these conditions, the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos turned to Pope Eugene IV for help, counting on organizing a crusade against the Turks. At the same time, the emperor proposed to begin negotiations on the unification of the Catholic Church. and Orthodox churches. The Pope willingly accepted the offer - also because centuries-old plans for the subjugation of the East were becoming a reality. churches, and because Eugene IV had a chance to win in the protracted conflict with supporters of the conciliar movement.
In 1438, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, accompanied by almost the entire highest Orthodox clergy of the country, arrived in Italy to participate in the XVII Ecumenical Council.
The council began on January 8, 1438 in Ferrara and then continued in Florence. The act of reunification of churches was signed on July 5, 1439. The Orthodox clergy agreed with communion on unleavened bread, with the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, with the Catholic teaching about purgatory and the primacy of the pope. At the same time, the Eastern Church retained its distinctive rites and customs.
After the restoration of temporary unity with the Eastern Church at the Council of Florence in 1439, church unions followed with other Eastern Christian churches. Thus, in the fall a union was concluded with the Armenian Monophysites, then in 1442 with the Egyptian and Ethiopian Monophysites, and two years later - with representatives of the schismatic churches in Syria and Mesopotamia (Jacobites and Nestorians). True, some of the concluded unions actually remained on paper.
The Union of Florence was a major victory for Catholicism, but the further course of history nullified these achievements. The Byzantines accused John VIII and Constantine IX of treason. The union was read out in Hagia Sophia only in December 1452. And five months later, Constantinople found itself in the hands of Muslims, and with their arrival the union sank into oblivion. In 1443 in Jerusalem, the Eastern patriarchs proclaimed the excommunication of all adherents of the union, and the Uniate patriarch Gregory Mammu was deposed.
Moscow also did not accept the Florence decisions. At the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church convened by Vasily III, the head of the Russian. of the Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Isidore, who signed the union, was convicted. Bishop Jonah of Ryazan, first installed without the consent of Constantinople, was elected Moscow Metropolitan. This became the starting point of Russian church autonomy (autocephaly). At this time, especially after the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453, the idea of the “Third Rome” was finally formed in Moscow. During the reign of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, who was married to the daughter of the Emperor of Constantinople, Sophia Paleologus, this idea was further developed and embodied. From now on there could be no talk of any alliance with the Catholic Church.
In Lithuania, Grand Duke Casimir recognized the decisions of the Florence Council, but, fearing to spoil relations with Moscow, recognized not Isidore, but Jonah, as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Orthodox and Catholics were given equal rights. Pope Pius II sharply opposed this policy of Casimir. He approved the disciple Isidore Gregory, who was ordained by the former Uniate Patriarch Gregory Mamma, to the Kyiv Metropolis. Casimir did not dare to disobey his dad. However, in 1459, when at the Moscow Council the Eastern Russian bishops cursed the Union of Florence and its leader Gregory, all Orthodox princes and most of the clergy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania refused to recognize Gregory as their metropolitan. The Union of Florence completely failed. Gregory himself eventually submitted to the Patriarch of Constantinople and died in 1475, an Orthodox Christian.
The main result of all these events was that the Western Russian Metropolis was finally separated from the Eastern.
Union of Florence - an agreement concluded at the Council in Florence (initially the Council was held in Ferrara) in July 1439 on the unification of the Western and Eastern (Orthodox) Churches on the terms of recognition by the Orthodox Church of Latin dogmatics and the primacy of the Pope while preserving Orthodox rituals.All the Greek bishops present at the council signed the union, except for Mark of Ephesus and Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople, who had died by that time.
It is very important for us all to remember that the majority is not necessarily on the side of the Truth - more often it is the other way around...
The union was also signed by the Russian Metropolitan Greek Isidore (who had long ago agreed to it), for which he was deposed by the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II the Dark (the union never came into force either in Byzantium or in the Russian state).
(Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich II (Dark) rejects the union with the Catholic Church, accepted by Metropolitan Isidore at the Council of Florence. 1440. Engraving by B. A. Chorikov)
Upon returning to Constantinople, many Greek bishops who had agreed to the union in Florence refused it, claiming that they had been forced into an agreement with the Latins. The Greek clergy and people, having learned about the union, became irritated; Uniates were considered heretics. All defenders of Orthodoxy grouped around Mark of Ephesus. The Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem held a council in Jerusalem in 1443 at which they pronounced excommunication on all adherents of the union. The repeated condemnation of the Florentine Union by the Eastern Patriarchs occurred in 1450 at a council in Constantinople, at the same council the Uniate Patriarch of Constantinople Gregory Mamma was deposed and the Orthodox Athanasius was elevated to the patriarchal throne.
When Constantinople was taken by the Turks in 1453, people stopped remembering the Union of Florence.
However, before that, one interesting event happened - it was the day of May 28, 1453 - the last day before the fall of the great city of Constantinople and the last day of the Byzantine Empire... The event was unique in its own way.
This is how historian Stephen Runciman describes the events of that day ( Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Chapter 9. The last days of Byzantium, M.: Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2008; I highly recommend everyone to read this book)
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On Monday, when it became known that the fateful hour was approaching, both soldiers and townspeople forgot their feuds. While work was going on on the walls to repair the damage, a huge procession moved through the city. In contrast to the silence of the Turkish camp, in Constantinople church bells rang, wooden bells sounded, icons and sacred relics were taken from churches and solemnly carried through the streets and along the walls, stopping in front of the most destroyed and vulnerable places to consecrate them. Participants in the procession accompanying the shrines, in which Greeks and Italians, Orthodox and Catholics united, sang hymns and repeated in chorus “ Kyrie Eleison».
The emperor himself left the palace to join the procession, and when it ended, he invited noble people and military leaders - Greeks and Italians - to join him. His speech to them has come down to us in the recordings of two of those present - the secretary of the emperor Frantzis and the archbishop of Mytilene. Each of them recorded the speech in his own way, giving it a rhetorical form that, in all likelihood, it did not possess. However, both recordings coincide enough to convey to us the main essence of this speech. Konstantin told those gathered that the decisive assault should begin in the very near future. He reminded his subjects that everyone must be ready to die for their faith, homeland, family and sovereign; now his people must prepare to die for all this taken together. He spoke of the glorious past and noble traditions of the great city, of the treachery of the wicked Sultan, who provoked this war in order to destroy the true faith and install his false prophet in the place of Christ. He asked them not to forget that they were descendants of the heroes of Ancient Greece and Rome and should be worthy of their ancestors. He himself, the emperor added, was ready to die for his faith, his city and his people. He then addressed the Italians, thanking them for the great services they had rendered to the city, and expressing confidence that they would not fail in the coming battle. He asked everyone - both Greeks and Italians - not to be afraid of the numbers of the enemy and his barbaric tricks, designed to cause panic among the besieged with the help of noise and fire. May their spirit be high, may they be brave and steadfast in battle. With God's help they will win.
All those present rose from their seats and assured the emperor that they were ready to sacrifice their lives and homes for him. The Emperor slowly walked around the entire hall, asking everyone to forgive him if he had ever offended him. Everyone followed his example, hugging each other, as those who are preparing for death do.
The day was drawing to a close. Crowds of people flocked to St. Sophia's Cathedral. Over the past five months, not a single strict zealot of Orthodoxy has crossed its threshold, not wanting to listen to the holy liturgy desecrated by the Latins and apostates. However, that evening all previous grievances disappeared. Almost everyone who was in the city, with the exception of the soldiers who remained on the walls, gathered for this service - a prayer for intercession. The priests, who considered union with Rome a mortal sin, offered prayers at the altar along with their fellow unionists. The cardinal stood next to bishops who had never recognized him before; all the people came here for confession and holy communion, without distinguishing who was serving - an Orthodox or a Catholic priest. Along with the Greeks, there were Italians and Catalans. Mosaics with their gilding, depicting Christ and saints, Byzantine emperors and empresses, flickered in the light of a thousand lamps and candles; under them, for the last time, the figures of priests in festive attire solemnly moved to the majestic chords of the liturgy. This was the moment when the unification of the Eastern and Western Christian Churches truly took place in Constantinople.
The ministers and military leaders, after the conference with the emperor ended, rode through the entire city to join the worshipers in the cathedral. After confession and communion, each returned to his post, determined to win or die. When Giustiniani and his Greek and Italian comrades, having passed through the inner wall, took their places on the outer wall and at the barriers, the order was given to close the gates of the inner wall behind them, thus cutting off all routes of retreat.
Late in the evening, the emperor, on his Arabian horse, also arrived at the great temple to confess to God. Then he returned through the dark streets to his palace in Blachernae, summoned his household and, just as before with the ministers, asked everyone for forgiveness for the grief he had ever caused, and said goodbye to them. It was almost midnight when he again jumped on his horse and, accompanied by his faithful Frandzis, rode along all the land walls to make sure that everything was in order and that all the gates of the inner wall were locked. On the way back to Blachernae, the emperor dismounted at the Caligarian Gate and climbed, together with Frandzis, to the tower, which was located on the most protruding part of the Blachernae wall; from it they could peer into the darkness in both directions: to the left - towards Mesotikhion and to the right - down to the Golden Horn. From below they could hear the noise of the enemy camp dragging their guns across the filled ditch; According to the sentry, the Turks began this immediately after sunset. In the distance they could see the flickering lights of Turkish ships moving through the Golden Horn towards the city. Francis remained there with his master for about an hour. Then Konstantin let him go and they never met again. The hour of battle was approaching.
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Establishment of those who hope in Thee, establish, O Lord, the church which Thou hast acquired with Thy venerable blood.
History report
Student 11 “B” class
Demenkova Ilya.
"Union of Florence"
The Union of Florence is the name given to the agreement concluded in 1439 between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches and formally uniting them (subordinating the Greek Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church). The need for the reunification of the Christian church was discussed long before the church council at which the union was concluded (the Council of Ferrara-Florence); numerous negotiations and congresses were held on this issue, but all of them were fruitless. Only the Florence Cathedral brought results. Why did this happen?
The fact is that at that time the Christian world needed unification more than ever: Catholic Europe was weakened by the Crusades, and Orthodox Europe was under constant danger from its eastern neighbors (Rus - Mongol-Tatars; Byzantium - Turks). In such conditions, the support of “brothers in Christ” would greatly help both. In addition, trade and cultural ties between countries in which different directions of Christianity were adopted were constantly expanding. It is clear that at least a formal reconciliation of the churches would be very useful for these ties. Naturally, the Byzantine and Greek authorities, who no longer had military, economic, or even diplomatic power, were most interested in the revival of united Christianity. But they had strong enemies.
At the end of 1435, the convening of the Ferrara Cathedral, which was so interesting to the Byzantines, was already a foregone conclusion. The Greeks began to prepare for this council and, therefore, could not ignore the Russian metropolitan see, since the Moscow metropolis of the Patriarch of Constantinople was the most extensive, powerful and rich of all foreign ones (such as Bulgaria). A Russian metropolitan in such a position would be completely undesirable for the Greeks: as a narrow nationalist, he could have opposed an alliance with the Catholics and not come to the council at all. Therefore, the Greek Isidore was appointed Moscow Metropolitan, who was considered by his compatriots to be a very highly educated man, a major philosopher, practically a geopolitician... In Russian chronicles he is called “a storyteller of many languages.” In 1433, he already represented Byzantium in negotiations on the unification of churches, which took place at the next church council, where he achieved significant success. By appointing Isidore, the Byzantine ecclesiastical and secular authorities hoped to ensure the participation of Rus' in the matter of unification with the Catholics. But these hopes of the Greeks for Isidore should not be understood in the sense that they saw in him a person ready to betray Orthodoxy. The Greek church authorities imagined the union in a completely different form: they hoped that they themselves would be able to force the Catholics to make concessions. What was valued in Isidore was not his willingness to renounce the faith of his ancestors - on the contrary, this was not expected or wanted from him - but his high education and oratory, which, it was believed, would help the Byzantines convince Catholics that they were right. In addition, the Byzantine treasury was practically empty, and by appointing a compatriot as metropolitan, the Greeks could hope for Russian money, which was so necessary for the future council.
By this time, Moscow’s national-political self-awareness had grown so much that a Greek metropolitan was no longer considered desirable for it. The idea began to circulate among the Russians of not only electing a metropolitan at home, but also doing it independently of Constantinople. That is why the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Vladimirovich, having learned that a Greek had been appointed to his department, at first did not even want to let him into his lands. But then he changed his anger to mercy, having heard about Isidore’s learning and other merits. Having been received by Grand Duke Vasily as the new metropolitan of the Russian land, Isidore immediately began to gather for a church council. And to do this, he first had to involve the prince in his plans. Naturally, the prince was at first surprised by the outlandish plans of the churchmen and zealously dissuaded the metropolitan from making any concessions to the Latin Catholics. However, trusting the learned Greek, the prince allowed him to act at his own discretion. The rumor that the Metropolitan was going to the good cause of converting the Latins to the right faith was so strong that even the stubborn Novgorodians were prompted to give up to Metropolitan Isidore those income items that they had not given to his predecessors for so long and thereby significantly impoverish their city budget. Having left Moscow on September 8, 1437 and passing through Novgorod, Pskov, Riga, Germany and the Alps, Metropolitan Isidore and his retinue arrived on August 18 in the Italian city of Ferrara. The Metropolitan was celebrated especially magnificently in Pskov, where, in addition to a luxurious feast, he was presented with large sums of money, which can be explained, it must be understood, by Pskov’s long-standing trade contacts with representatives of Catholicism and significant sympathy for them. Thus, Pskov residents were interested in the union between Christian churches from a commercial point of view. In Pskov, Isidore created a new source of income for himself, transferring this city under his direct control and taking it away from the Novgorod archbishop (in order to independently collect all church taxes from this land and calmly pocket them)
The presence of many European monarchs was expected at the cathedral, but none of them came. In January 1939, the cathedral was moved to Florence for economic reasons (the food in Ferrara was poor).
For a long time, theological debates took place at the council, supported by economic and military arguments; debates over how to unite and which branch of Christianity would become dominant, but they were all fruitless: each side expected concessions from the other. In the end, seeing no prospects, the Pope offered the Greeks a cool alternative: either they accept Catholicism completely and without exception by Easter, or they leave home without a meal. Gold was also used. The unfortunate Greeks hesitated. Each of them was processed separately, finding arguments in favor of Catholicism that were especially important for him and his mother country. Under the influence of various oppressions and constant pressure, all Orthodox church hierarchs agreed to the proposed union, except for Bishop Mark. On July 5, 1439, they reluctantly signed the act of union, where it was written in black and white that the Orthodox Church was part of the Catholic Church.
Metropolitan Isidore did not play any ordinary role in the organization of the Florence Council; on the contrary, he was actually its initiator. He was the first to agree to the conditions proposed by the pope and the first to put his signature on the document securing the union. It was Isidore who persuaded the Byzantine emperor to submit to Rome, using the emperor’s trust and his enormous authority to do this. And how great he was can be judged by the fact that Isidore was prophesied as the successor to the patriarch who died during the council.
In Rus', the attitude towards union from the very beginning was sharply negative. Thus, the Russian monk who accompanied Isidore to the council calls Catholics “heretics” (as has always been done), and the Greek Orthodox hierarchs as apostates and even accuses them of bribery. And Isidore was able to “convince” the Ryazan bishop Jonah to sign the union only by keeping him in prison for a week. In Rus', the conclusion of the union was known even before Isidore’s return. The people developed a sharply hostile attitude towards her. Returning to Moscow as a Catholic cardinal, Isidore began to rapidly introduce Catholic customs: replacing Orthodox symbols with Catholic ones (the eight-pointed Orthodox cross with a simple four-pointed one), commemorating the Pope in prayers before the Patriarch of Constantinople, holding Orthodox services in churches and participating in their consecration. Prince Vasily and the boyars, who did not expect such a sharp turn, did not take any action for some time. But literally a week later, Isidore was deprived of his position as head of the Russian church and imprisoned in a monastery. They tried to persuade him to renounce the union, threatening him with a terrible execution, but Isidore was incorruptible. Of course, the Moscow prince would not have dared not only to execute, but even to expel the metropolitan - after all, such actions would have been a direct violation of the will of the patriarch and a real heresy. The Moscow state valued its relations with Byzantium, which gave it the right to be called the “Third Rome” and did not want to break them. On the other hand, Moscow sought maximum independence from all the “big brothers”. After the Tatar “king” came the turn of the Byzantine one. Isidore himself helped Prince Vasily by escaping from his prison on the night of September 15. This arrangement suited everyone, so the prince ordered not to pursue the fugitive.
On December 15, 1448, a congress of Russian clergy, expressing nationwide rejection of the union that destroyed Orthodoxy, elected Bishop Jonah of Ryazan as “Metropolitan of All Rus'.” This was done against the will of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who since then has no longer appointed heads of the Russian church. The Moscow authorities expected a violent reaction from Constantinople, up to and including excommunication, but it did not come. Since then, Byzantium’s attitude towards the union changed several times, the rulers wavered between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, but Moscow no longer cared - it already had its own autocephalous church, completely independent of external forces. Thanks to this independence, Moscow Orthodoxy quite calmly survived the imminent capture of Byzantium by the Turks and the destruction of this “cradle of Orthodoxy.” She allowed the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church to soon assign themselves the title of patriarch, and the Moscow princes the title of tsars.
In one place of the Word in plain language - in a rhetorical address to Eugene IV he is called “evil-minded”). Moreover, perhaps, in the earliest text, almost contemporary with the Ferraro-Florence Council, the Walk to Florence, such a neutral naming of the pontiff (essentially the culprit of Greek disgrace) even seems to smack of sympathy for him, because, according to the assurance of the unknown creator of this ...
To this relocation of the Metropolitan. And indeed, even during the life of Maxim (+ 1305), we see traces of rivalry between the south and the north over the metropolis, which over time continues to grow and leads to the division of the Russian Church into two halves. From the paintings of the departments of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and its acts of the 14th century, we see that back in 1303 the Greeks established a special metropolis in Galich; the name is known and...
Abstract on the topic: "The Union of Florence of 1439 and its consequences for the churches and religions of the Slavic peoples"
Rostov-on-Don
Introduction
In the middle of the 11th century. There followed a complete break between the Eastern and Western churches. Instead of the previous peaceful relations, hostile relations were established between them. Despite this, the Greeks and Latins often make attempts to unite churches. There were special reasons that prompted them to seek church union. Even after the division of churches, the popes did not lose hope of subjugating the Greek-Eastern Church to their power. To this end, they strove with all their might to restore communion between the churches, understanding by restoration of communion not a union of churches, but the subordination of the Eastern Church to the Western. The Greeks, for their part, also sometimes thought about uniting churches, according to political calculations. And since the popes could not be won over in any way in their favor except by expressing readiness to unite the churches, with the subordination of the Eastern Church to the Western, the Byzantine government in all negotiations with Rome brought to the fore the issue of uniting the churches. Thus, on both sides, calculation played the main role in mutual attempts, and this alone did not promise them success. The fragility of attempts to unite churches was also due to the fact that they did not have the character of universality, at least in the East. On the part of the Greeks, it was the emperors who were mainly concerned about the union of churches, but the majority of the Greek hierarchy and the people were always against the union, since they saw in it the subordination of the Eastern Church to the pope. Of the many attempts to unite churches, generally unsuccessful, two are especially remarkable, brought to completion by all kinds of tricks and violence and accompanied by sad consequences for the Greek-Eastern Church. This is the so-called Union of Lyon (1274) and Florentine (1439) union.
Union of Florence 1439 split society into two camps, which fought each other with greater bitterness than the Orthodox and Catholics. The union of the Greek-Eastern Church with Rome is underestimated - meanwhile, the liturgy in the Slavic language, which Rome would not have allowed the Slavs, was infinitely valuable for the entire Slavic people; they owe their ancient literature to her. If this union had been introduced consciously and benevolently, then success would have been inevitable. But what the Roman clergy undertook under the spiritual leadership of the Jesuits and under the patronage of the Polish king was almost a mockery of Christian love.
By the beginning of the 15th century. Byzantium was finally constrained by the Ottoman Turks. The Byzantine government sought help in the West and mainly from the popes. John VI Palaiologos (1425-1448) decided to take a last resort to save the empire - under the pretext of uniting churches, to subordinate the Greek-Eastern Church to the pope and for this to receive help from Western sovereigns. To this end, he began negotiations with Pope Eugene IV. The pope agreed to the emperor's proposal. They decided to convene an ecumenical council from representatives of the Greek and Latin churches and decide on the union there. After long negotiations about the location of the cathedral, he was appointed to Ferrara. October 8, 1438 The pope, by agreement with the emperor, opened the cathedral. The main controversial issue was the Latin teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit and from the Son. The disputes took place 15 meetings. The Greek fathers remained unyielding, and the pope began to constrain them with their contents. Meanwhile, plague appeared in Ferrara, and the cathedral was moved to Florence (1439). John Palaiologos began to persuade the Greek fathers to come to an agreement with the Latins. Under the influence of persuasion and threats, they agreed to the Latin reading of the symbol, as well as to the recognition of the primacy of the pope. There were no major disputes regarding ritual differences: the Latins agreed to equally accept the rites of both the Latin and Greek churches. An act of union of churches was drawn up. It was solemnly read in the cathedral church in Latin and Greek. As a sign of communication and unity, the Greeks and Latins hugged and kissed. The Greeks went home. Upon his return, Paleologus saw how fragile the union of the churches was, achieved through various intrigues and violence. The same Greek bishops who agreed to the union in Florence, upon arrival in Constantinople, refused it, explaining that they were forced there to agree to a union with the Latins. The Greek clergy and people, having learned about the union, became irritated; the Uniates were considered heretics. In 1443 A council was held in Jerusalem, at which all adherents of the union were excommunicated from the church. The emperor himself, having not received the expected help from the West, lost interest in the cause of union. Under his successor, shortly before the fall of Constantinople, the Eastern patriarchs once again condemned the union at the Council of Constantinople (1450). When in 1453 Constantinople was taken by the Turks; there was no time to think about the Union of Florence. And at first it seems that this union did not have any significant consequences, but this is not entirely true. There were consequences, and they were quite significant, but they did not appear immediately. The union had especially severe consequences in those territories where Catholic and Orthodox populations lived nearby. For example, in Poland the struggle between Uniates and Orthodox Christians dragged on for 4 centuries, and it was more fierce than the struggle between Catholics and Orthodox Christians. The authorities were on the side of the Catholics, which further aggravated the situation of the Orthodox; they were constantly oppressed: they were prevented from performing their services, their priests were openly mocked and insulted, their churches were rented by the lords to the Jews, who then demanded payment of money for their opening. Many cities expelled Orthodox Christians from their self-governments and even excluded them from the burgher class; churches and church property were taken away from them - in short, the oppression became unbearable. Hatred of Poland grew throughout the East. Now in Poland there was no longer room for people of other faiths. The Orthodox tried to organize themselves, tried to do something, but the gap between the two camps grew ever deeper.
Since the Lithuanian prince Jagiello married the Polish queen Jadwiga and ascended the Polish throne, Catholicism began to be introduced in Lithuania. The pagans were directly converted. As for the Orthodox, they were only required to recognize the authority of the pope, without defining what their submission to the papal throne would consist of. When in 1439 The Union of Florence was concluded, the Lithuanian government recognized it, and the rights of the Catholic clergy were equalized with the rights of the Orthodox. At the end of the 15th century. the number of adherents of the union was probably very small. In a letter to the pope, Casimir admitted in 1468 that there were many “schismatics” in Lithuania and their number was growing. To maintain Catholicism, he summoned the Bernardines from Krakow and founded a monastery for them in Vilna. Around 1480 he banned the construction of new Orthodox churches in Vilna and Vitebsk. As the oppression of the Orthodox intensified, the Severn princes fell away from Lithuania and united with Moscow. The persecution of Orthodox Christians in Lithuania continued under Casimir's successor, Alexander, although he constantly assured that Orthodoxy in Lithuania enjoyed complete freedom. Under Alexander, a new attempt was made to introduce a union in Lithuania. After Misail's successors, who remained Orthodox, Smolensk Bishop Joseph Bolgarinovich was appointed to the Kyiv metropolis, who immediately began to act in favor of union with Rome. In 1501 Joseph died. After him, there were no attempts to introduce a union in Lithuania for a long time. The metropolitans who followed each other remained strict zealots of Orthodoxy. After the war with Moscow (1500-1503), one of the reasons for which was the oppression of the Orthodox in Lithuania and the defection of the Seversky princes to the side of Moscow, the Polish-Lithuanian king Alexander became more lenient towards the Orthodox. His successor, Sigismund I, treated non-believers: Protestants and Orthodox Christians quite peacefully. Sigismund II Augustus at the end of his reign began to fall under the influence of Catholics. In 1564 Bishop-Cardinal Stanislav Gozius called the Jesuits to Poland, which further aggravated the situation of the Orthodox. After the conclusion of the Lublin political union, which finally subordinated Lithuania to the influence of Poland, in the same 1569. Jesuits were called to Vilna. Although their goal was to fight Protestantism, they soon put an end to it and turned their attention to the Orthodox. Favorable conditions for the activities of the Jesuits lay in the then state of the Orthodox Church. Among the bishops and high society they began to think about accepting the union. In 1595 Gideon convened a council in his diocese, at which this issue was discussed. All that was needed was the consent of Metropolitan Mikhail Rogoza. Terletsky and Potsey convinced him to sign the terms of the union. In the autumn of 1595 Terletsky and Potsey went to Rome and expressed their submission to the pope, accepting all Catholic dogmas and leaving only the rituals of the Orthodox Church. Pope Clement VIII gladly accepted this. The news of this caused an explosion of indignation. At the end of 1596 A council was convened in Brest to finalize the issue of union. Representatives of Orthodoxy and Uniatism took part in it. The cathedral was immediately divided into two halves - Uniate and Orthodox. The Uniate met in the city cathedral, but for the Orthodox, Potsey ordered all churches to be closed, so they were forced to open meetings in a private house. The exarch invited the metropolitan and four bishops to the Orthodox council three times, but they did not appear. The Council defrocked them, rejected the union and cursed it. The Uniate Council responded in kind to the Orthodox. After this, the struggle began between the Orthodox and the Uniates. The union spread through preaching and through violence, constantly intertwined with each other. At the same time, religious controversy began. The controversy was very lively, but could not keep the Uniates from committing violence. In 1599 Potsey became the second Uniate metropolitan. He energetically pursued the cause of spreading the union, especially since secular power was entirely on his side. In 1607 At the congress near Sandomierz, the nobility decided to ask the king to abolish the union, deprive the Uniates of episcopal positions and replace them with Orthodox ones. The king promised, but did not fulfill his promise. In the constitution of the Warsaw Sejm of 1607. a special article was introduced “on the Greek religion”, in which a promise was made not to violate the rights of the people in relation to faith and not to prohibit them from the free exercise of church rites. However, these concessions did not stop the zeal of the Uniates. Potsey fought against Orthodox bishops and monasteries, took away their estates, deprived clergy of their places and replaced them with Uniates. In 1609 all churches in Vilna, with the exception of the Church of the Holy Spirit, were taken away from the Orthodox. After the attempt on his life, Potsey's energy weakens significantly. The administration of the diocese gradually passed into the hands of Joseph of Rutsky (1613-1637), who after the death of Potsey became metropolitan. Abuses on the part of the Uniates were encountered at every turn, and there was nowhere to complain, because the courts usually took the side of the Uniates. The Orthodox clergy thinned out, there were no Orthodox bishops, and one had to turn to the Lvov bishop to ordain priests. Little by little, the Cossacks take over the protection of Orthodoxy. When in 1623 In response to the actions of the Jesuits and the government, who did not want to recognize the metropolitan and bishops appointed by Theophan, the Cossacks refused to fight against the Turks, the Sejm showed a peaceful mood, expressing its readiness to affirm the rights of the Orthodox and find measures to reconcile them with the Uniates. At the same time in the fall of 1623. In Vitebsk, the murder of Polotsk Bishop Josaphat Kuntsevich, who brutally persecuted the Orthodox, took place. Persecution against them began everywhere. Their situation became so unbearable that in 1625. Metropolitan Job turned to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich with a request to accept Ukraine into Russian citizenship. The king rejected this proposal. In 1632 Sigismund III died. In view of the upcoming elections, adherents of Orthodoxy decided to achieve rights for the Orthodox Church. And they received the right to elect a metropolitan and four bishops, they were given complete freedom of faith, the rights of brotherhoods, schools and printing houses were affirmed, and some churches and monasteries were returned. These decrees were adopted on the condition that the rights of the Orthodox Church were given if the rights of the Catholic Church were preserved. The resolutions of the Sejm aroused strong opposition, and it was extremely difficult to implement them. The Uniates did not want to return the best churches and monasteries; the Uniate bishops did not give up their places to the Orthodox. The government could not restrain with its force either attacks by Catholics and Uniates on Orthodox monasteries, or the riot of Jesuit scholars and mobs against the Orthodox. Abuses of the right of patronage became especially frequent at this time, reaching the point that churches were rented out to Jews, and the latter demanded payment for each service. At this time, the center of the struggle for Orthodoxy is Ukraine. In 1633 Peter Mohyla was sent to the Sejm to defend the rights of the Orthodox. He achieved his appointment as metropolitan, after which he launched energetic activities in favor of Orthodoxy. When the Ukrainian people joined Russia (1654), the Catholic party in Poland became quiet. But under John III Sobieski, almost all dioceses passed into the hands of the Uniates. In 1720 Uniate Metropolitan Lev Kishka convened a council in Zamosc, at which the Uniate Church was proclaimed the only legitimate one, other than the Catholic one, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After this, the most active persecution of Orthodoxy began. From 1732-1743 128 Orthodox monasteries were converted into a union, with the help of raids, torture, torment, etc. Regarding schismatics, as the Orthodox were called, everything was permitted. For eternal peace with Poland 1686 Russia received the right to intercede for the Orthodox. The latter asked her intercession more than once, and she helped more than once, but it did not matter much. When elected to the throne in 1764. Stanislav Poniatowski, the question of the Orthodox was introduced to the Sejm. Active agitation began among the Orthodox Christians of Polish Ukraine. Churches began to be restored and rebuilt in the villages, and parishes were returned to the Orthodox. In 1765 the king granted the Orthodox a charter confirming the religious rights of the Ukrainian people, as well as letters from the king to the Uniate authorities with an order to stop violence against the Orthodox. The persecution only intensified. At the Warsaw Sejm in 1766. Bishop Soltyk of Krakow proposed establishing a constitution that declared an enemy anyone who dared to raise a voice in favor of the Gentiles at the Sejm. Soltyk's proposal was accepted with enthusiasm and received the force of law. All demands of the powers regarding dissidents were rejected by the Sejm. After this, Russia sent its troops into Ukraine, and the Sejm made concessions. Dissidents were given freedom of faith, the right to sue in a mixed commission, and not before Catholics, in cases of clashes with the latter, the right to build churches and schools, collect fees, and sit in the Senate and Seimas. These concessions were valid until then. While Russian troops were in Poland. As soon as they left, fanaticism appeared again. The Orthodox clergy were persecuted, and Uniates reappeared in Ukraine, displacing Orthodox priests. The situation in Ukraine became even sadder when the only Orthodox diocese in Poland, the Belarusian one, was destroyed by the first partition of Poland in 1722. was annexed to Russia. Now there was no one to supply priests. This continued until 1785, when Catherine, at the insistence of G. Konissky and several Polish gentlemen, appointed Sadkovsky as bishop in Poland. This was followed by the second and third partitions of Poland, according to which all Orthodox regions, except Galicia, went to Russia. After the second and third partitions of Poland, the free transition of Uniates to Orthodoxy was allowed. After this, all Uniate dioceses, except the Belarusian one, were destroyed. February 12, 1839 In Polotsk, a “conciliar act” was signed on the union of the Uniate Church with the Orthodox.
Conclusion
Union in Poland was never looked at as anything other than a transitional step to Catholicism. The desire to convert to Orthodoxy was strongly developed among the Uniates. Individual cases of Uniates joining Orthodoxy have occurred since the introduction of the union, but they could not be numerous, since the law punished the transition to Orthodoxy. In my opinion, not a single phenomenon can be assessed as completely negative. The conclusion of the Union of Florence also had positive consequences, in particular, the fight against Catholicism and Uniatism stimulated the development of culture and mainly literature, a huge number of polemical works were written, and the union made it possible to conduct the liturgy in the Slavic language, which was of no small importance. But the atrocities and oppression that were committed against the Orthodox largely negated the positive consequences.
Bibliography
· History of humanity. World History. - St. Petersburg, 1959 - T 5
· Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary.-M., 1995-T 3
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With the events of the feudal wars of the 2nd third of the 15th century. On Russian lands, the question of the formation of a metropolitanate (i.e., a church organization) separate from the Byzantine Orthodox Church on the lands of the Moscow Principality, which laid the foundation for the church structure of the Moscow state and determined the relationship between this structure and the grand-ducal power, is closely related. In addition, it was precisely the events that followed in the church life of Rus' after the signing of the union on July 5, 1439 in Florence (Italy), i.e. Union, between the highest hierarchs of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, determined the religious and cultural autonomy of the Russian state in relation to other European states for many centuries to come. Therefore, consideration of the history of the attitude in Rus' to the Union of Florence seems very important for understanding Russian history of the 15th-19th centuries. Moreover, this historical plot, as one of the key ones for understanding the genesis of the Moscow state, did not remain free from mythologization. The traditional scheme, which developed “retroactively” in the 16th century. and enshrined in Russian historiography in the 19th century. - in the era of the dominance of the theory of “autocracy, Orthodoxy, nationality”, - speaks of the initial rejection by all Russian hierarchs of the church and the people in general of the idea of a union with the Catholic Church, in the signing of which the foreigner Greek Isidore participated, appointed, against the wishes of the Russian people, to the position of Russian metropolitan (head of the church organization on Russian lands) by the Patriarch of Constantinople. However, an analysis of surviving sources shows that the attitude in Rus' to the union and directly to the position of Metropolitan Isidore was far from unambiguous even in the 40s of the 15th century. has undergone certain changes (Khoroshev A.S. 1980. – P. 90; Zimin A.A. 1991. – P. 79-97; Lurie Y.S. 1994. – P. 93-108; Bobrov A.G. 2001 . – pp. 194-215).
As is known, from the beginning of the Christianization of the Russian state in the end. X century the head of the church organization in the Russian lands - initially the archbishop, and from 1037 - the metropolitan - was approved for this position by the head of the Christian Church of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) - the Patriarch of Constantinople - and was organizationally subordinate to him. In addition, the collapse of the Old Russian state in the 2nd half. XIII century on a number of individual state entities did not entail the destruction of the all-Russian metropolitanate. In the XIV - 1st third of the XV century. Almost all the lands of the former Old Russian state, including those that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, were subject to the church structure and authority of a single all-Russian metropolitan. * Attempts led. book Lithuanian Olgerd and Vytautas to obtain from the Patriarchate of Constantinople a separate metropolitan for the Orthodox lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania either was not successful, or had short-term success (Grekov I.B. 1975. - P. 43, 56, 57).
Isidore's predecessor, Metropolitan Gerasim, was appointed to this position in the fall of 1433. Metropolitan Gerasim made the city of Smolensk his headquarters. As described above, during the events of the feudal war in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Gerasim was burned after four months of imprisonment by order of the leader. book Svidrigailo in 1435. Back in 1434, Gerasim supported the idea of a union of Christian churches.
The idea of reuniting two church structures, Catholic and Orthodox, into a single church was initiated by the Byzantine emperors in order to attract the military forces of European states to protect Byzantium from the aggression of the Ottoman Turks. Among the representatives of the Orthodox Church of Byzantium there were both supporters and opponents of the union. In particular, the monks of the Athonite monasteries, located in one of the most revered places of worship in the Orthodox world - on Mount Athos (Holy Mountain) in Greece, were ardent opponents of the alliance with the “Latins”. The position of the Athonite monks was also reflected in the attitude towards the union among Russian representatives of the church. Thus, the connections of Athonite monks with the monasteries of the Novgorod land, first of all, with Lisitsky (on Fox Mountain) of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary were quite traditional and strong (Bobrov A.G. 2001. - P. 197).
Appointed in mid-1436 to the post of Russian metropolitan, Isidore was previously the abbot of the Constantinople monastery of St. Dmitry. This man was close in his worldview to the Italian humanists, and was seriously involved in astronomy and geography. The idea of uniting churches was close to him. In the spring of 1437, Isidore arrived in Moscow, bringing with him letters from the Byzantine emperor and from the patriarch with a request to send the metropolitan to the proposed council for the unification of churches.
In the fall of 1437, a large delegation headed by the Metropolitan, which also included the Suzdal Bishop Abraham and a representative of the Great, went to the Council in Italy from North-Eastern Rus'. book Tver Boris Alexandrovich boyar Foma. In the summer of 1438, the Russian delegation reached the Italian city of Ferrara, where meetings of the council began. From February 1439, meetings took place in Florence. After lengthy dogmatic disputes (about the procession of the Holy Spirit, about communion, about purgatory, about the superiority of the Pope over the Patriarch of Constantinople), on July 5, 1439, the union was signed. At the same time, the Orthodox priests yielded to the Catholic ones on all points of dispute. Both Metropolitan Isidore and Bishop Abraham of Suzdal put their signatures under the text of the charter of the Florence Council. It is obvious from the sources that all the main participants in the Russian delegation voluntarily agreed to the provisions of the union. Thus, the earliest Russian monument about events related to the union, “The Walk to Florence,” does not condemn the union of churches at all, but on the contrary, as in the order of things, reports the signing of the documents of the council by the Russian hierarchs and the receipt of blessings by Isidore and the Suzdal bishop from Pope before returning to Rus'. From another, Greek, source it is known that the Tver ambassador, boyar Thomas, took part in the mass, which was celebrated by the Pope with the participation of the Russian Metropolitan (Lurie Y.S., 1994. - P. 106). Ya.S. Lurie, A.G. Bobrov noted that in the Grand Duchy of Tver there was no condemnation of the union, even when Isidore was forced to flee to Tver from Moscow in the fall of 1441. Around 1453, the “Word of Praise” was written in Tver . book Boris Aleksandrovich Tverskoy, according to which the Greek hierarchs who signed the union praised the Tver leader. prince Thus, even after the expulsion of Isidore from Moscow and the installation of his own metropolitan there in 1448, one of the largest principalities of North-Eastern Rus' was at least neutral towards the union.
In the autumn of 1440, Isidore returned to Rus' and stopped in Smolensk, the location of his predecessor Gerasim. Prince reigned in Smolensk at that time. Yuri Semenovich (Lugvenievich), one of the active participants in the feudal war in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the leader of the opposition led. book Lithuanian Casimir at the time in question. It is known that Yuri Semenovich assisted the Metropolitan in his fight against opponents of the union.
In addition to Tver and Smolensk, the union was also recognized in Kyiv: the grandson of Olgerd, who reigned there, Prince. Alexander Vladimirovich issued the metropolitan a letter confirming all his rights. Pskov was also under the ecclesiastical subordination of Isidore at this time, where the returning hierarch replaced the archimandrite.
After arriving from the cathedral, Isidore stayed in the Russian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for about 11 months. According to the Novgorod chronicler, the Metropolitan ordered Orthodox priests to conduct services in Catholic churches and, vice versa, Catholic priests in Orthodox churches.
On March 19, 1441, Isidore arrived in Moscow. What was the attitude towards the union and the metropolitan there? Upon arrival in the capital of the Moscow Principality, the Metropolitan read out in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin a bull (message) of Pope Eugene IV addressed to Vel. book Vasily Vasilyevich about the unification of churches. And on the fourth day after arriving in Moscow, Isidore was arrested by order of the leader. book Vasily Vasilyevich and placed in the Chudov Monastery. The reason for the arrest was the metropolitan's positive attitude towards the union. However, Ya.S. Lurie and then A.G. Bobrov noted that, most likely, the idea of union was initially recognized in Moscow. At the very least, it can be considered precisely established that the center of opposition to the union on Russian lands was not in Moscow, but in Novgorod.
A.G. Bobrov showed quite convincingly that a negative attitude towards the union was formed among the monastic communities of the Novgorod land even before its signing under the influence of the position of the Greek Athonite monks. Already in Italy in December 1439, the Russian delegation was abandoned by the Suzdal hieromonk Simeon, who did not recognize the union and hurried to the camp of its opponents - to the Novgorod Archbishop Euthymius II. Simeon arrived in Novgorod in the spring of 1440. Later, in the 50s of the 15th century. under the pen of Simeon, the “Tale of the Eighth Council” appeared, sharply condemning the union. It is characteristic that the Suzdal hieromonk in this work tried to whitewash his bishop Abraham. According to Simeon, Abraham signed the union only after he spent a week in prison on the orders of Isidore.
After receiving news of the signing of the union, in the autumn of 1439, Novgorod Archbishop Euthymius II actively began to create a cult of Novgorod “antiquity”, which was expressed in the establishment of church veneration of all former Novgorod princes and church hierarchs, in appealing to local cultural traditions in the construction of churches and iconography. Such Novgorod traditionalism was caused by rejection of the idea of unification with the Catholic Church and demonstrated the opposition of the Novgorod land in relation to other Russian lands where the union was recognized. At the end of 1439, sources also recorded a conflict between the Novgorodians and the German merchants of the Hanseatic League, which led to a breakdown in relations between the Novgorod Republic and the Hanseatic League, and the departure of all Western European merchants from the city. At the same time, Euthymius II refused to accept the keys to the German temple for safekeeping, contrary to tradition (Bobrov A.G. 2001. – pp. 198-200, 206-212).
Why did Novgorod become the center of Russian opposition to the union? Probably, the connections between the Novgorod monasteries and the Athonite monasteries were only one of the reasons for this phenomenon. Ya. S. Lurie believed that the “Latin” danger was felt in Novgorod and Pskov much stronger than in Moscow - three years after the arrival of Isidore, in 1445, both republics had to experience another invasion of the Livonian “Germans” (Lurie I .S. 1994. – P. 107). However, in Pskov, the union was recognized. Therefore, the full range of reasons for the opposition attitude towards the union in the city on Volkhov is not yet known.
Very interesting conclusions were made recently by A.G. Bobrov about the course of events in Rus' around the issue of attitude towards union. In the winter of 1440/1441. Troops from the Moscow principality, the Tver and Pskov republics began military operations against the Novgorod Republic. A number of Novgorod volosts were devastated. At the end of winter, near the Novgorod city of Demon, peace was concluded between representatives of the Novgorod Republic - Archbishop Euthymius II, the mayors - and led. book Vasily Vasilievich Moskovsky. Vasily II made peace “both for himself and for Pskov,” and the Novgorodians “bash a lot to the great prince” and paid him 8 thousand rubles “for their guilt” (quoted from: Bobrov A.G. 2001. - P. 212). The sources do not indicate how the Novgorodians “offended” before the leader. book Vasily II, especially since the amount of the “repayment” paid was very, very significant. According to A.G. Bobrov, the cause of the war was the rejection of the union in Novgorod, and the money paid from the treasury of the Novgorod Republic to the Moscow prince changed the attitude towards the union of the churches and Vasily II. Thus, with the help of money, Euthymius II defeated Isidore (Bobrov A.G. 2001. - P. 212-214). As a result, when the metropolitan arrived in Moscow in the spring of 1441, on the fourth day of his stay in the city he was arrested and until mid-September 1441 he was kept in the Chudov Monastery, where he was persuaded to renounce the union. In September, Isidore was allowed to flee to Tver, where, obviously, the union of churches was still not condemned, then the Metropolitan left for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and from there to Rome. In general, the cause of union was lost on Russian lands.
Isidore took part in the last defense of the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, from the Ottoman Turks in 1453; in 1458, already living in Italy, he was awarded the rank of Patriarch of Constantinople. True, after the fall of Constantinople, this rank became, in fact, nominal. After the arrest and flight of Metropolitan Isidore, his place as head of the all-Russian church organization was vacant.
The grand-ducal chronicle reported that in December 1448, the Ryazan bishop Jonah was elected Russian metropolitan by the “Russian Bishops”. Before this, the bishops elected only a candidate for the metropolitanate, and the metropolitan was appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople. In 1448, for the first time, a Russian metropolitan took his position without the sanction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
In the domestic historical literature, there is an opinion that Jonah was nominated to metropolitan twice in the 30s of the 15th century, after the death of Photius and then Gerasim, but twice he was not confirmed by the patriarch (Zimin A.A. 1991. - P. 84, 85). Y. S. Lurie drew attention to the strange fact that in the chronicles Jonah was first mentioned as a candidate for the metropolis only in 1448. While the chronicles traditionally reported on the candidates’ trips to Constantinople. And for the first time Jonah was reliably mentioned in the chronicle in 1446, when Dmitry Shemyaka, who was the Grand Duke at that time, “summoned the Bishop of Ryazan Jonah to Moscow, and came to him, promising him the metropolis,” in exchange for help in arresting the children already led the blinded book Vasily II. The children of Vasily Dmitrievich were sent to their father “to Uglech in captivity,” and led. book Dmitry Yuryevich ordered Jonah to “go to Moscow and sit in the Metropolitan’s courtyard.” In addition, Jonah came from a family of Galich landowners (Lurie Y.S. 1994. - P. 97). But it is unlikely that Jonah served as metropolitan until 1448. In the charter of 1447 he was named Bishop of Ryazan, and his signature was in third place. And the election of Jonah as metropolitan in 1448 was semi-official. The rulers of the Novgorod land and the Tver principality did not participate in his election. Some abbots of large monasteries did not recognize Jonah as a metropolitan. In fact, Jonah was initially the head of the church organization of the Moscow principality and the lands dependent on it. It is very important that he was a protege of the leader. book Vasily II. Considering the role of Jonah in the events of 1446, A.A. Zimin noted: “The powers that be love supporters with a dubious reputation: they always try to be loyal” (Zimin A.A. 1991. – P. 207; Lurie Y.S. 1994. – P. 107, 108).
The emergence in the Moscow Grand Duchy of a separate structure of church power (autocephalous church) and its dependence on the Moscow Grand Duke were important elements of the emerging Russian unified state.
In connection with the stabilization of the political situation in Eastern Europe (victories of Vasily II and Casimir IV over their internal opponents, the conclusion of the Moscow-Lithuanian Treaty of 1449), Jonah was recognized in 1451 as the head of the Orthodox Church and in the Russian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - the Metropolitan of Kyiv. However, this situation did not last long. At the end of the 50s of the 15th century. Casimir IV denied Jonah the rights to the Kyiv metropolitanate and Gregory, who supported the church union of 1439, was proclaimed metropolitan of “Kyiv and All Rus'” in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Casimir IV tried to achieve recognition of Gregory as an all-Russian metropolitan from Vasily II. But unsuccessfully.