(said this simple mediator) so be it in theological, negotiations. When princes differ respecting a city or a province, each party relaxes somewhat of his pretensions for the attainment of peace. Our differences in this matter are two*, and if you sincerely wish for concord, concede one of them. We will approve and revere your holy sacrament; abandon to us your creed; say the creed as we say it, effacing the offensive addition. They replied-Let us tell you that the Pope and the Roman Church will not abandon one iota of its faith, or of any thing contained in its creed. But the following proposal we may consent to make to you. You must firmly believe and teach others, that the body of our Lord may be consecrated with unleavened as well as leavened bread; and you must burn all the books which your churchmen have written to the contrary. And in respect to the Holy Spirit, you must believe that it proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father, and teach the people so; but the Pope will not oblige you to insert the article in your creed-only all books which have been written against it shall be burnt... On hearing this final declaration, the emperor resigned himself to despair †; but in his prelates it excited only feelings of indignation and revenge. One other violent conference followed, to which large multitudes of the people were admitted; and it was broken off by mutual charges of heresy, and confirmations of the ancient anathema. The legates then withdrew; having increased the evils which they had proposed to remove, and added fresh fuel and fierceness to the controversy.

The failure of this enterprise did not prevent a similar attempt on the part of Innocent IV., which was conducted with more moderation, but with no better success, than the former. The agent, selected for the conduct of this mission, was of great dignity and reputation in the Church. John of Parma, general of the Franciscan order, and alike eminent for his theological erudition, and the austerity of his life, was a character well calculated to influence the prelates of the East. It is something to be enabled to assert that his sojourn at Nice (in 1249) produced no mischief; but the negotiations, which seemed likely to result from it, were prevented by the death of the Pope and the Emperor. In 1261, the sceptre of the Latins was broken; and, upon the whole, we are unable to observe that their conquest had any spiritual fruits, or any other consequences than bitterness and aggravated rancourt. And we may here remark, that as the Latins on their expulsion from the East did not resign their claims to ecclesiastical ascendency, or abolish the titles of the dignities there con

*We should observe, that throughout this dispute, it was always assumed by the Latins, that the result, or rather that the meaning, of the reconciliation would be the obedience of the Greek to the Roman Church; a return to that (supposed) submission which the former had shaken off. Now this assumption was not (as far as we can see) contested by the Greeks, certainly it was not made matter of argument. And yet that establishment of supremacy was, in fact, the point at which the Roman was ultimately aiming as it was also that to which his pretensions were most slightly founded.

De corpore Christi ita dicimus-quod oportebit vos firmiter credere et aliis prædicare quod Corpus Christi confici potest ita in Azymis sicut in fermentato; et omnes libri, quos vestri scripserunt contra Fidem, condemnentur et comburantur. De S. Sancto ita dicimus; quod oportebit vos credere S.S. procedere a Filio sicut a Patre, et istud necesse, ut prædicetur in populo; quod autem cantetis istud in Symbolo, nisi velitis, non compellet vos Dominus Papa; condemnatis et combustis omnibus libris, qui huic capitulo sunt contrarii. Quod audiens imperator graviter tulit, &c.' The envoys wrote an account of their own embassy, addressed to the Pope, and contained in Libro Censuum; whence Raynaldus (ann. 1232) has made extracts.

Fleury goes so far as to consider the schism, properly speaking, to have commenced only at this period. Such, however, was not the opinion of people in those days; in the account of the previous negotiations at Nice, we observe, that the emperor, on some

ferred upon their own clergy, so there continued long to exist about the Roman court titular patriarchs, and titular bishops, of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and other oriental sees, who, by the assumption of those empty names, offended the sensitive vanity of the Greeks, and kept alive the mutual irritation.

Subsequent attempts
at re-union.

I speak

SITY

Howbeit, for a short period after the restoration, the reunion was negotiated with much more ardour than at any former time, and even with a momentary show of success. The reason of this eagerness on the part of Palæologus was the consciousness of his weakness, and the terror of another crusade against his still unsettled government. not now,' he said, about dogmas or ceremonies of religion. If there is any difference on that subject, we can arrange it more easily, after peace shall have been concluded between us.' The union desired by the emperor was external and political: a perfect theological concord he might think hopeless, or he might not comprehend its importance. Some Franciscans were once more sent to the East by Urban IV.; and some articles were hastily drawn up. But Clement IV. refused them his ratification, and composed a more accurate formulary of faith, which he proposed for the acceptance of the Greeks. This confession contained not only the disputed tenet of the Holy Procession, but also expressed, with great precision, the doctrine of purgatory, and specified the condition of souls after death, according to the degrees of their impurity. Also, the doctrine and name of transubstantiation were marked in it very particularly. Moreover, the plenitude of pontifical power, and the duty of universal appeal to that tribunal were carefully inculcated. Clement could scarcely have expected so much acquiescence from the clergy of the East; but in a subsequent letter to the emperor he failed not to remind him, that the crown possessed power sufficient, and even more than sufficient, to control the inclinatious both of the clergy and the people.

In the earlier part of these negotiations, the clergy had preserved the appearance of neutrality; because they were unwilling, without great necessity, to oppose any project of the emperor, and because they considered his present project as wholly impracticable. Probably they did not suppose that he was himself sincere in so desperate a scheme. Nevertheless, as his political difficulties increased, he became more earnest in his design; and when some of his prelates were at length alarmed into resistance, he employed the secular authority to repress them.

In the mean time, the second council of Lyons had been called together, and one of its professed objects was the

reconciliation of the churches. It was still assembled, Council of Lyons. when (on June 24, 1274) the ambassadors from

the East arrived. Several difficulties were still apprehended; and there were many who reasonably trembled, lest that solemn meeting of the universal church should be distracted by the passionate broils of an endless controversy. But the emperor had arranged it otherwise; and at the session which immediately followed, the Western fathers were edified and astonished by the voice of the prelates of the East, chaunting the Double Procession, in unison with the worship of the orthodox. The policy, which had dictated the humiliating concession, did not hesitate.

occasion, remarked, that the schism had then lasted three hundred years. On the other hand, the emperor did not date with accuracy-from the breach between Photius and Nicholas, the space was above 360 years; from the dispute between Cerularius and Leo IX., not more than 180.

there; probably there was no depth of spiritual submission to which the emperor was not then prepared to descend: for it seemed to depend on the decision of that council, whether the armament, to which all Europe was contributing, should be directed against Syria or against himself. Accordingly, the Pope's supremacy was acknowledged without any scruple; and a communication from Palæologus was publicly recited, in which he professed, without any equivocation or cavil, every tenet laid down in the confession of Clement IV. The reunion of the churches was then officially announced; and the Pope pronounced the Te Deum, with his head uncovered, and his eyes suffused with unsuspicious joy.

As long as the fears and necessities of the eastern empire continued, as long as the fragile vessel of state lay at the mercy of any tempest from the west, so long did this hollow truce subsist. But not quite ten years after its conclusion, Andronicus, having succeeded to the sceptre of his father, proceeded, without delay, to dissolve the union. A council was assembled at Constantinople; the hateful act of humiliation was repealed; and the revival of the schism was proclained amidst the acclamations of the clergy of Greece. One circumstance, indeed, is here particularly forced upon our attention. The motive which chiefly persuaded Andronicus to re-open that ancient wound was, that he might heal a still more dangerous disorder, which the reconciliation with Rome had inflicted upon his own Church. The power of Palæologus had secured the outward submission, but it had not changed the opinions, or the principles, or the passions, of his prelates; the great majority remained adverse to the re-union; and in their importunate and pressing clamours, the fears of an ancient and distant rival were forgotten. Howbeit the domestic dissensions of the Greeks were not even thus allayed; there were some too strongly impressed with the policy of their late connexion to applaud its hasty dissolution; and there remained ever afterwards a party in the East which professed its adhesion to the Roman communion. We shall not pursue the insincere and fruitless overtures which were so often defeated and renewed during the fourteenth century, and especially under the Popes of Avignon. The pontificates of John XXII., of Clement VI., of Innocent VI., and Benedict XII., were particularly marked by those vain negotiations *; and during this period we may remark that the motives of both parties were equally removed from any spiritual consideration. If political exigencies invariably actuated the one, the other was now chiefly moved by pecuniary necessities. The military succours, which the Pope might be the means of raising, would be recompensed by obedient contributions to the apostolical treasury. According to the approach or suspension of immediate danger, the zeal for reconciliation burnt fiercely, or subsided; but the characters were still sustained under all circumstances. That old song respecting the Greeks (said the fathers of Basle) has already lasted for three hundred years, and every year it is chanted afresh.' At length the progress of the Turks excited a permanent alarm, and a proportionate sincerity; and we shall now shortly trace the chief events to which it led.

* It was on the last occasion that the emperor sent that Barlaam, whom we have already mentioned, (the same who instructed Petrarch in the rudiments of Greek,) to the court of Avignon. Sufficient accounts of these various negotiations are given by Bzovius, ad ann. 1331, s. i. 1339, s. 22, 1345-6-9, and particularly 1356, s. 22. On one occasion (in 1339) great efforts were made to show that the Greek opinions had always been the same with the Latin (after so many mutual excommunications!) and this, as we all know, furnished Leo Allatius in a later age with a fruitful field for sophistry. The detestation, which the Greeks still entertained for the Pope, is strongly expressed by the Patriarch Gennadius in a document which is cited by Bzovius, ann. 1349, s. 14.

After separate negotiations with Pope Eugenius and the Council of Basle, the Emperor of the East at length decided to

rara.

accept the proposals of the former. An oriental despot Council of Fermight well be perplexed by the claims of two rival authorities, both professing to be legitimate and supreme, and both acknowledged by many adherents in their own communion. But whether his imperial prejudices inclined him towards the Monarch of the church, or from whatsoever other motive, he embarked (in November, 1427) with his patriarch, and numerous ecclesiastics, on the galleys of Eugenius, and arrived in due season at the appointed city, Ferrara. A trifling difference first arose respecting the seats to be respectively occupied during the conference by its spiritual and temporal presidents. But this was arranged by a compromise, by which the Pope conceded a part of his claim, but retained his pre-eminence. They were placed on different sides of the Church, but the Pope was on the right, and his throne was one step higher than that of the Emperor. The next proceeding, and it might occasion some surprise, if not distrust, among strangers, unused to the discords of the west, was the promulgation of a solemn anathema against the Council of Basle. All public deliberations were then adjourned for some months; but it was arranged that, during this interval, a select number of doctors of the two churches should frequently meet, and prepare the way by amicable discussions for a more speedy reconciliation.

Accordingly these deputies, who were, indeed, the leading members of both parties, did meet. On the one side was the celebrated Julian Cesarini, Cardinal of St. Angelo, and so lately the President of the rival Council; and with him were Andreas, Bishop of Colossus (or Rhodes), John a Doctor of Spain, and some others. Marc of Ephesus, and Bessarion, Archbishop of Nice, conducted the disputations, on the other. It was here agreed, seemingly without difference, that the articles by which the schism was entirely occasioned were four. (1) The Procession of the Holy Spirit. (2) The use of leavened or unleavened bread in the Eucharist. (3) Purgatory. (4) The Primacy of the Pope. It was further settled, that the subject of the first discussion should be Purgatory.

Accordingly, Cardinal Julian laid down the doctrine of his Church on that matter as follows:-that the souls of the just, which are pure and without stain, and have been exempt from mortal sin, proceed directly to heaven, to the enjoyment of eternal happiness; but that the souls of men who have fallen into sin after their baptism, unless they have fully accomplished the penance necessary to expiate that sin, (even though they may have performed some penance,) and also manifested fruits worthy of their penitence, so as to receive entire remission, pass into the fire of purgatory; that some remain there for a longer, others for a shorter period, according to the nature of their offences; and that, being at length purified, they are admitted to beatitude. But that the souls of those who die in mortal sin are consigned to immediate punishment..... To this, Marc of Ephesus replied, that the doctrine, in the main, was that of the Greek Church; only that the latter did not admit the purification by fire, but held that sinful souls were sent into a place of darkness and mourning, where they remained for a season in affliction, deprived of the light of God. admitted that they were purified, and delivered from this desolate abode by sacrifice and alms; but he held that the condemned would not be wholly miserable; and that the saints would not be admitted to perfect beatitude until after the resurrection of their bodies.... On this last point an unexpected difference arose between Marc of Ephesus and his col

He

league, Bessarion, as to what really was the doctrine of their Church; and this was pressed to dispute and altercation. In the mean time, the season advanced, and these preliminary conferences were discontinued before the disputants had touched on any other subject, or arrived at any specific conclusion even upon that.

At length the formal deliberations of the Council commenced, and the first public session was held on the Sth of October; but there were some among the Greeks who, observing that the Fathers of Basle had shown, in the mean time, no indications of submission, began already to despair of any durable effect from their mission. However, the Prelates assembled in considerable numbers; the same were recognised by both parties, as the important subjects of difference, and it was agreed that the first of them was that, in which the whole difficulty of reunion was, in fact, involved. They prepared, in consequence, to argue the mystery of the Procession with becoming solemnity; and it was vainly hoped, that a question which had employed the learning and wearied the ingenuity of the Christian world for about eight hundred years, would finally be set at rest by the eloquence of the Doctors of Ferrara.

It must be admitted that the advocates of both opinions displayed on this occasion abundant talents, unwearied zeal, and resources almost inexhaustible, especially the Cardinal of St. Angelo*; who here exhibited, in defence of the doctrine of his Church, the same commanding faculties and energy with which he had urged, at Basle, the reformation of its discipline. Through fifteen tedious sessions the controversy was maintained with unabated ardour; and though the point principally argued was only, whether the words Filioque were, properly speaking, an addition or an explanation, it might have been supposed, from the warmth and prolixity of the orators, that the very existence of the Christian faith was at stake. At length, as no immediate result seemed at all probable, and as Ferrara was found, on many accounts, inconvenient for so large † an assemblage, the Pope, with the consent of the Emperor, adjourned the Council to Florence. The Council of Florence held its first session on Feb. 26, 1439; and it opened with some proposals on the part of the Removed to Florence. Emperor and Cardinal Julian, for arriving more directly at the practical object of these conferences -a public reconciliation. But no expedient was discovered for attaining that end, and the disputations were accordingly renewed. The results of the conferences at Ferrara had not been such, as either to bring the Latins to retrench the contested expression from the creed, or the Greeks to insert it: thus the Procession became once more the subject of debate. For the seven succeeding sessions the same assertions were advanced and denied, the same arguments reiterated and confuted. At length, however, the Latins found a new and powerful champion in John, provincial of the Dominicans. This learned mendicant, by reference to ancient manuscripts of St. Basil, and other Greek Fathers, professed to demonstrate, that those venerable Patriarchs had asserted the double Procession. This was an assault upon that point, on which alone the Greeks were very sensible.

* Tiraboschi (vol. vi. p. I, 1. ii.) cites the testimony of Sguropulos, who was present at all these discussions, and expressed his astonishment at the eloquence of Julian.

+ About one hundred and fifty Bishops, besides numerous Abbots, are said to have been present. We should here mention that the Greeks lived at the expense of the Pope, receiving a regular stipulated allowance from the Apostolical Treasury. Notwithstanding, so great was their despondency as to the result of the embassy, that they betrayed from time to time a strong desire to return to Greece,