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408 leader of the movement, assembled a council at Brest Litovsky, which he opened with a speech in favour of union. Many discussions followed. In the end the metropolitan Michael was gained over, and then he and four bishops signed a synodical letter consenting to union on the terms of the council of Florence, but with the proviso that the discipline and ceremonies of the Eastern Church were to be preserved. Meanwhile the two bishops whose signatures to the earlier document had been obtained by false pretences discovered and exposed the fraud. At the same time a great outcry was raised against the five apostates at Brest. Accordingly a second synod was assembled at this border town. It consisted entirely of the orthodox party. The churches were all in the hands of the party of the union, and the synod had to meet in a private house. The metropolitan refused to answer two summonses to attend. Then the synod pronounced an anathema on him, and also on all the apostate bishops. On the other hand, the Uniats held their synod in a church, where they pronounced their anathema on the orthodox. The result was a schism.

Rome admitted the Uniates on remarkably liberal terms. They were to retain their own ceremonies and even their own form of the creed. All that was required of them was submission to the pope. The Uniats had the upper hand both in Poland and in Lithuania, and they used their power to persecute both the orthodox party and also the protestants who were found in these parts.

The ancient cathedral of St. Sophia of Kiev was taken from the orthodox and held for a time by the Uniats. But the apostate metropolitan did not dare to make it his centre, and he resided in safer quarters at Novgorod. An effort was made to seize the famous Pechersky Monastery; but this failed. Subsequently much of the property of the orthodox monasteries was sequestrated, and Dominican convents were established in various parts of the country. This extraordinary condition of affairs, in which no orthodox bishops were appointed for Little Russia, went on for over twenty years.