(Mis)trusting unification : examples of East Slavic perception of the Council of Florence

Malmenvall, Simon (author)

This article discusses the religious and cultural background of the ambivalent reception of the Council of Florence (1437–1439) among the East Slavic (Rus’) ecclesiastical and political elite of the time, which was characterized by (mis)trust towards the late Byzantine pro-Western stance and unified Christianity under the authority of the pope. The author of this article accentuates the establishment of two separate (Orthodox) ecclesiastical and cultural centers, Kyiv and Moscow, as the main long-term consequence of the council in Eastern Europe. Here, special attention is given to the role of Isidore, the metropolitan of Kyiv, and two narrative texts from the mid-fifteenth century concerning the events during and after the council. The first is the polemical treatise Isidore’s Council written by the presbyter Simeon of Suzdal, while the second is the anonymous travel diary Journey to Florence. The former is defined by its ,anti-Latin‘ polemical tone, which decisively influenced the later East Slavic, particularly Muscovite, perception of unionism. On the other hand, the Journey, with its lack of any theological problematization of the council decrees, represents the first East Slavic travel diary describing social and cultural features of Central and Southern Europe.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Council of Florence, medieval ecclesiastical history, literature of Rus’, Orthodoxy, unionism
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: TEOF - Theological Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2021
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. 947-961
• Numbering: Letn. 81, [št.] 4
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-164051
• UDC: 27-732.3''1438/1439'':271.2
• ISSN on article: 0006-5722
• DOI: 10.34291/BV2021/04/Malmenvall
• COBISS.SI-ID: 91442691
• Publication date in RUL: 16.10.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Bogoslovni vestnik : glasilo Teološke fakultete v Ljubljani
• Shortened title: Bogosl. vestn.
• Publisher: Teološka fakulteta
• ISSN: 0006-5722
• COBISS.SI-ID: 8745472

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: (Ne)zaupljivo zedinjenje : primeri vzhodnoslovanskega sprejemanja florentinskega koncila

Abstract

Članek se posveča verskemu in kulturnemu ozadju dvoumnega sprejemanja florentinskega koncila (1437–1439) med takratno vzhodnoslovansko (starorusko) cerkveno in politično elito, ki je bilo obarvano z (ne)zaupanjem do Zahodu naklonjenega stališča poznega Bizanca in do zedinjenja krščanskega sveta pod papeževim vodstvom. Avtor članka poudarja vzpostavitev dveh ločenih (pravoslavnih) cerkvenih in kulturnih središč, to je Kijeva in Moskve, kot glavno dolgoročno posledico koncila na ozemlju vzhodne Evrope. Tu so posebej pozorno obravnavani kijevski metropolit Izidor in dve pripovedni besedili iz sredine 15. stoletja, ki zadevajo dogodke med in po koncilu. Prvo besedilo je polemični spis Izidorjev zbor, katerega avtor je duhovnik Simeon iz Suzdalja, drugo pa je anonimni potopis Potovanje v Firence. Prvo opredeljuje ,protilatinska‘ polemična ost, ki je odločilno vplivala na kasnejše vzhodnoslovansko, zlasti moskovsko, (ne)sprejemanje uniatskega pojava. Po drugi strani Potovanje z odsotnostjo teološkega problematiziranja koncilskih odlokov predstavlja prvi vzhodnoslovanski potopis, ki prinaša oris družbenih in kulturnih značilnosti srednje in južne Evrope.

• Keywords: florentinski koncil, srednjeveška cerkvena zgodovina, staroruska književnost, pravoslavje, uniatsko vprašanje