known as Gennadius, the first patriarch of Constantinople after the
Turkish conquest. On account of his learning and legal attainments he
accompanied the Emperor John VII. Palaeologus and the Patriarch Joseph
to the Council of Ferrara and Florence in 1438, to take part in the
negotiations for the union of Christendom. As submission to the Papal
demands was the only hope of obtaining the aid of the West for the
Roman Empire in the East, the emperor, with most of the Greek clergy in
attendance at the council, subscribed the decrees of that assembly, and
on the 8th July 1438 the two Churches were officially reconciled and
bound to common action. But it was a union without sufficient religious
motive on the one side and without strong political interest on the
other. Instead of improving the situation it made matters worse. But
drowning men clutch even unsubstantial objects, and accordingly the
Emperor Constantine Dragases, a few years later, implored again the
assistance of the Pope, begging him to send a commission of Roman
ecclesiastics to Constantinople to confer once more with Greek
theologians with the hope of making the union more effective. In
response to that request a Commission was appointed, having at its head
Cardinal Isidore, a Greek ecclesiastic, who at the Council of Florence
had cast in his lot with the Latins and been created cardinal and
titular archbishop of Kiev. Isidore and his colleagues were welcomed
with great demonstrations of joy, and after several meetings with
representatives of the Eastern Church terms of union were once more
devised. The event was celebrated by a religious service in S. Sophia,
according to Roman rite, in the presence of the emperor, the senate, and
a large body of ecclesiastics. In the order of the prayers offered that
day in the cathedral of the East the name of the Pope was mentioned
first. But these proceedings only exasperated the opponents of the
union, who had the advantage in numbers and in passionate convictions.
Seeking for a leader they flocked to the monastery of the Pantokrator to
consult Gennadius. It was a critical moment. Gennadius retired to his
cell. Then opening the door he affixed his answer in writing upon it,
and again shut himself in. The oracle had spoken: 'Wretched Romans,
whither have ye strayed, and gone far from hope in God to put your trust
in the Franks? Your city and your religion will perish together. You
abandon the faith of your fathers and emb