Home > Isidore the Apostate

In 1437, Isidore was appointed Metroplitan of Kiev and Moscow by John VIII Palaeologus to draw the Russian Orthodox Church into the union with the Roman Catholic Church and secure Constantinople's protection against the Ottoman Turks. Vasili II met the new Metropolitan with hostility. However, Isidore managed to convince the Grand Prince to ally with Catholicism for the sake of saving the Byzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern section of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (modern Istanbul), which remained in existence after the fall of Rome in the 5th century. The Byzantine period is usually consider and the GreekThe word Greek has a number of meanings relating to Greece, including: Architecture of Ancient Greece Art in Ancient Greece Greek alphabet Greek colonies Cuisine of Greece Ethnic Greek Greco-Turkish relations Greece Hellenes History of Greece History of M Church.

After Isidor had received funding from Vasili II, he went to FlorenceFlorence ( Italian, Firenze is a city in the center of Tuscany, in north-west Italy, on the Arno river, with a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000. Florence is the capital of the region of Tuscany and briefly ( 18 to attend an ecumenical councilIn Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, an ecumenical council (Greek (Oikumene), which literally means "inhabited", i. all places that are are being inhabited by live beings, therefore "World-wide" or "General") is a meeting of the bishops of the whole chur in 1439Events Battle of Grotnik, which ended the hussite movement in Poland Eric of Pomerania, King of Sweden, Denmark and Norway is declared deposed in Sweden. Karl Knutsson Bonde continues to serve as Regent of Sweden November 12 In England, Plymouth becomes t. He was made a cardinalA cardinal is an official of the second-highest rank of the Roman Catholic Church, inferior in rank only to the Pope. The cardinals serve a number of functions: they advise the Pope, they run the Vatican administration and the Roman Curia (the government- presbyterA presbyter is, in the Bible, a synonym for bishop, elders or pastor, and is today also called priest in various Christian denominations. In later times there was a differentiation in the usage of the various synonymous names, giving rise to the appearanc and a legateThe word legate comes from the Latin legare to send. The broad meaning is a person sent as a representative of another person. There are several uses for this word: A legate is a member of a diplomatic embassy. In Roman times, a legate was an official ass for the provinces of Lithuania, Livonia, all Russia and Galicia ( Poland). During this holy meeting, Isidore was fervently defending the union between the Churches, but he was opposed by the only secular representative from Russia - ambassador Foma (Thomas) of Tver. Finally, the union agreement was signed and Isidor went to Russia.

The Russian princes denounced the union, but Isidor persisted. On his return from Italy, during his first divine service in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, Isidor was ordered to carry a Catholic cross in front of the ceremony, pray for the Pope during the mass, and read aloud the union agreement. Isidor passed a message to Vasili II from Pope Eugenius IV, containing a request to assist the Metropolitan in spreading Catholicism in Russia. Three days later Isidor was arrested and placed in the Chudov Monastery . He was condemned by the Russian clergy for refusing to repent and renounce the union.

In September of 1441, Isidor fled to Tver, then to Lithuania and Rome. In 1458, he was ordained as a nominal Patriarch of Constantinople.