Editing Council of Florence (section)

==Meeting in Florence==
The Council had meanwhile successfully negotiated [[Church union|reunification with several Eastern Churches]], reaching agreements on such matters as the Western insertion of the phrase "[[Filioque]]" to the [[Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed]], the definition and number of the sacraments, and the doctrine of [[Purgatory]]. Another key issue was [[papal supremacy]], which involved the universal and supreme jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome over the whole Church, including the national [[Eastern Christianity|Churches of the East]] ([[Serbian Orthodox Church|Serbian]], [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople|Byzantine]], [[Romanian Orthodox Church|Moldo-Wallachian]], [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church|Bulgarian]], [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian]], [[Georgian Orthodox Church|Georgian]], [[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenian]], [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic]], [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac]] etc.), and nonreligious matters such as the promise of military assistance against the [[Ottoman Empire]].

On 6 July 1439 the union was proclaimed (in both Latin and Greek) in the document ''[[Bull of Union with the Greeks|Laetentur Caeli]]'' ("Let the Heavens Rejoice") which was signed by Pope Eugene and by the [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[John VIII Palaiologos]]. All but one of the bishops were present. Some Greek bishops, perhaps feeling political pressure from the Byzantine Emperor, reluctantly accepted the decrees of the Council. Other Eastern bishops did so by sincere conviction, such as [[Isidore of Kiev]], who subsequently suffered greatly for it. Only one Eastern Bishop refused to accept the union, [[Mark of Ephesus]], who became the leader of opposition back in Byzantium; the [[Serbian Patriarch]] [[Teofan I]] did not even attend the council. The [[Russian Orthodox Church]], upon learning of the union, angrily rejected it and ousted any prelate who was even remotely sympathetic to it, declaring itself [[autocephalous]] (i.e., autonomous), with subsequent Russian sources portraying the actions of [[Grand Prince of Moscow|Grand Prince]] [[Vasily II of Moscow]] as protecting the purity of the faith.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Casiday |first1=Augustine |title=The Orthodox Christian World |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-45516-9 |pages=18–19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bkZITAQ4XbgC |language=en |quote=The years 1448–1589 mark the establishment of autocephaly of the Russian Church... According to Russian sources, in attempts to protect the purity of the faith, Grand Prince Vasily II, along with a council of bishops, condemned the Union}}</ref>

Despite the religious union, Western military assistance to Byzantium was ultimately insufficient, and the [[fall of Constantinople]] occurred in May 1453. The Council declared the Basel group heretics and excommunicated them, and affirmed the superiority of the Pope over the Councils in the bull ''Etsi non dubitemus'' of 20 April 1441.<ref name = "Oxford 2005" />

The council also decided to terminate the [[Christian dietary laws|dietary prohibition]] on [[Gentile]] converts to Christianity from [[Blood as food|consuming blood]] issued by the [[James, brother of Jesus|apostle James]] at the [[Council of Jerusalem|apostolic council of Jerusalem]]. This law although observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church, had been practically obsolete in the West since the popes' rejection of the [[Quinisext Council]].<ref>[[Karl Josef von Hefele]]'s [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.viii.v.iv.ii.html commentary on canon II of Gangra] notes: "We further see that, at the time of the Synod of [[Gangra]], the rule of the Apostolic Synod with regard to blood and things strangled was still in force. With the Greeks, indeed, it continued always in force as their Euchologies still show. [[Balsamon]] also, the well-known commentator on the canons of the Middle Ages, in his commentary on the sixty-third [[Canons of the Apostles|Apostolic Canon]], expressly blames the Latins because they had ceased to observe this command. What the Latin Church, however, thought on this subject about the year 400, is shown by [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] in his work [[Contra Faustum]], where he states that the Apostles had given this command in order to unite the heathens and Jews in the one ark of Noah; but that then, when the barrier between Jewish and heathen converts had fallen, this command concerning things strangled and blood had lost its meaning, and was only observed by few. But still, as late as the eighth century, [[Pope Gregory III|Pope Gregory the Third]] (731) forbade the eating of blood or things strangled under threat of a penance of forty days. No one will pretend that the disciplinary enactments of any council, even though it be one of the undisputed [[Ecumenical council|Ecumenical Synods]], can be of greater and more unchanging force than the decree of that first council, held by the Holy Apostles at Jerusalem, and the fact that its decree has been obsolete for centuries in the West is proof that even Ecumenical canons may be of only temporary utility and may be repealed by disuse, like other laws."</ref> 
 
{{blockquote|[The council] also declares that the apostolic prohibition, to abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled, was suited to that time when a single church was rising from Jews and gentiles, who previously lived with different ceremonies and customs. This was so that the gentiles should have some observances in common with Jews, and occasion would be offered of coming together in one worship and faith of God and a cause of dissension might be removed, since by ancient custom blood and strangled things seemed abominable to Jews, and gentiles could be thought to be returning to idolatry if they ate sacrificial food. In places, however, where the Christian religion has been promulgated to such an extent that no Jew is to be met with and all have joined the church, uniformly practicing the same rites and ceremonies of the gospel and believing that to the clean all things are clean, since the cause of that apostolic prohibition has ceased, so its effect has ceased.|''Bull of Union with the Copts, 1442''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.papalencyclicals.net//councils/ecum17.htm|title=Council of Florence, Bull of Union with the Copts|date=14 December 1431 }}</ref>}}