Page:Uniate Eastern Churches.pdf/222

192 the union was rejected by the Emperor (Andronikos II, 1282-1328), Theodosius was consistent to his principles, and resigned his see rather than go into schism. Dorotheos I (1464) accepted the union of Florence (1439). This union was broken at Constantinople when the Turks took the city in 1453. It was their machinations that broke it. They did not want the Christians under them to be friendly with the West, so they set up Gennadios II (of Constantinople, 1454-1456), a fanatical hater of the Latins, just because he would undo the work of Florence. He did so, as far as his own city is concerned. It is often said that the Florentine union was abandoned by the whole East as soon as the delegates got home. This is not true. It is true that in 1443 the Patriarchs retracted their adherence to Florence, yet later they came back on several occasions. The successor of Dorotheos, Michael III of Antioch, as soon as he succeeded, summoned a synod and formally renewed his profession of union with Rome. He sent an archdeacon, Moses, to Rome to tell the Pope of this. The Pope (Pius II, 1458-1464) received Moses in full audience in 1460 and sent him back with letters, confirming Michael's union with himself.

Michael's successor, Theodore V († 1465), was also a Catholic. He maintained union with the Pope and died in his communion. It seems that the union of the Patriarchate of Antioch lasted at least a century. Joachim V (living in 1560) was also a Uniate. "He kept the definitions of Florence, published an encyclical in which he forbade any injurious language about the Pope, and proved his primacy over the whole Church, appealing to the Holy Canons of Councils." From the time of Athanasius III († 1619) there is a very strong movement for union in the Antiochene Patriarchate. Athanasius himself was a Catholic. He held a synod at Damascus, in which he accepted the definition of Florence. Euthymios II (1643) received the Council of