countries. Palaeologus sent a large embassy, but only three were saved from shipwreck, Germanus,
ex-patriarch of Constantinople, Theophanes, metropolitan of Nicaea, and the chancellor of the
empire. The pope opened the Synod (May 7, 1274) by the celebration of high mass, and declared
the threefold object of the Synod to be: help for Jerusalem, union with the Greeks, and reform of
the church. Bonaventura preached the sermon. Thomas Aquinas, the prince of schoolmen, who had
defended the Latin doctrine of the double procession^321 was to attend, but had died on the journey
to Lyons (March 7, 1274), in his 49th year. The imperial delegates were treated with marked courtesy
abjured the schism, submitted to the pope and accepted the distinctive tenets of the Roman church.
But the Eastern patriarchs were not represented, the people of Constantinople abhorred the
union with Rome, and the death of the despotic Michael Palaeologus (1282) was also the death of
the Latin party, and the formal revocation of the act of submission to the pope.
The Council at Ferrara—Florence. a.d. 1438–1439.^322
Another attempt at reunion was made by John VII. Palaeologus in the Council of Ferrara,
which was convened by Pope Eugenius IV. in opposition to the reformatory Council of Basle. It
was afterwards transferred to Florence on account of the plague. It was attended by the emperor,
the patriarch of Constantinople, and twenty-one Eastern prelates, among them the learned Bessarion
of Nicaea, Mark of Ephesus, Dionysius of Sardis, Isidor of Kieff. The chief points of controversy
were discussed: the procession of the Spirit, purgatory, the use of unleavened bread, and the
supremacy of the pope.^323 Bessarion became a convert to the Western doctrine, and was rewarded
by a cardinal’s hat. He was twice near being elected pope (d. 1472). The decree of the council,
published July 6, 1439, embodies his views, and was a complete surrender to the pope with scarcely
a saving clause for the canonical rights and privileges of the Eastern patriarchs. The Greek formula
on the procession, ex Patre per Filium, was declared to be identical with the Latin Filioque; the
pope was acknowledged not only as the successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ, but also as "the
head of the whole church and father and teacher of all Christians," but with variations in the Greek
texts.^324 The document of reunion was signed by the pope, the emperor, many archbishops and
bishops, the representatives of all the Eastern patriarchs except that of Constantinople, who had
previously died at Florence, but had left as his last sentence a disputed submission to the catholic
and apostolic church of old Rome. For the triumph of his cause the pope could easily promise
material aid to his Eastern ally, to pay the expenses of the deputation, to support three hundred
soldiers for the protection of Constantinople, and to send, if necessary, an army and navy for the
defense of the emperor against his enemies.
But when the humiliating terms of the reunion were divulged, the East and Russia rose in
rebellion against the Latinizers as traitors to the orthodox faith; the compliant patriarchs openly
recanted, and the new patriarch of Constantinople, Metrophanes, now called in derision Metrophonus
or Matricide, was forced to resign.
(^321) In his book Contra errores Graecorum.
(^322) See Cecconi (R.C.), Studi storici sul Concilio di Firenze (Florence 1869); Hefele (R.C.),Conciliengesch. vol. VII.
Pt. II. (1874), p. 659-761; B. Popoff (Gr.), History of the Council of Florence, translated from the Russian, ed. by J. M. Neale
(Lond. 1861); Frommann (Prot.),Krit. Beiträge zur Gesch. florentin. Kirchenvereinigung(Halle, 1872).
(^323) On the subject of purgatory the Greeks disagreed among themselves. The doctrine of transubstantiation was conceded,
and therefore not brought under discussion.
(^324) Hefele (l.c. p. 741-761) gives the Latin and Greek texts with a critical discussion. Frommann and Döllinger charge
the decree with falsification.