(Mis)Trusting Unification: Examples of East Slavic Perception of the Council of Florence

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 centres, 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.