Oration of St Mark Eugenikos, Metropolitan of Ephesos, to Pope Eugene IV
- Tikhon Pino
- 6 hours ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 20 minutes ago
Mark Eugenikos (c. 1392-1444) was a monk and theologian in the waning days of the Byzantine Empire, best known for his role as the chief spokesman of the Greek delegation at the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1439) and, afterwards, the chief opponent to the union of Greeks and Latins proclaimed by the council. Due to his legacy as an adamant anti-unionist, St Mark’s sincere commitment to dialogue with the Latin side is often overlooked. The text translated below, Oration to Pope Eugene IV, delivered in the early stages of the council at Ferrara, is a key witness to St Mark’s appeal for unity, highlighting the addition of the Filioque to the Creed as the chief reason for division. Brimming with scriptural allusions that urge unity and charity among Christians, it is also an important theological reflection on the reality of schism.
The Pappas Patristic Institute is grateful to Jackson Shepard, a doctoral student at Duke University, for making this translation available.
Oration to Pope Eugene IV
St Mark of Ephesos
From the Acts of the Council of Florence[1]
Translated by Jackson Shepard
Today is the beginning of universal joy. Today the noetic sunrays of peace rise over the whole world. Today the members of the Lord’s Body, for so long torn and broken apart, are eager for union with one another. For Christ God, the Head, does not suffer his body to be divided, nor does charity desire that the bond of charity (cf. Col 3:14) be altogether removed from us.
For this reason, he raised you up, who are the first of his priests, to summon us, and he incited our most pious Emperor to obey you, and he prepared our most holy shepherd and Patriarch to forget his old age and long-standing weakness, and he gathered us who are shepherds under him from all places, and caused us to face a long journey, seas, and other dangers. Have not these things clearly come about by the power and decision of God? And is it not already foreshadowed by this what sort of good and divinely pleasing ending there will be?
Come then, most holy father, receive your children who have come a long way from the East. Embrace those that have been divided for a long time who are fleeing into your arms. Heal those who have been scandalized. Order that every obstruction and obstacle to peace between us be forbidden. Say to your angels, as an imitator of God, Prepare a way for my people, and cast down the stones from the way (Isa 62:10).
How long will we, who are of the same Christ and the same faith, strike and lacerate one another? How long will we, worshipers of the same Trinity, bite and consume until we are destroyed by one another (Gal 5:15) and are brought to nothing by foreign enemies? May it not be, Christ King, nor may the multitude of our sins conquer your goodness. But just as, in former times, when you saw wickedness abounding and advancing greatly, you restrained it from going any further through yourself and your apostles, and turned all to knowledge of you, so also now, through all these servants of yours, who have made nothing more important than your love, unite us to one another and to yourself, and accomplish that prayer which you prayed when you were departing to your passion: Grant that they may be one as we are one (John 17:11).
Do you see, Lord, that our scattering is pitiable, and that we who are accustomed to independence and self-will make use of our freedom as a pretext for the flesh (Gal 5:13), that we who are entirely flesh have become slaves of sin, and that we have been delivered to plundering and enslavement by enemies of your cross, and that we are considered as sheep for the slaughter (Ps 43:22)?
Be merciful, Lord. Take heed, Lord. Come to our aid, Lord. That which was repeatedly said in the past, that these matters require an ecumenical council, today we have fulfilled, and we have contributed everything of ours. So, grant now something of yours for the completion of that which we have started. For you are able, if only you will it, and your wish is itself the completion of the work. Say also to us, as formerly you said through your prophet, Behold, I am with you, and my Spirit stands in your midst (Haggai 2:5-6). For with your presence, all things henceforth will be favorable and smooth.
Indeed, let these things be a prayer for me for the present. But henceforth to you, most holy father, will I offer the oration. What is this great contentiousness concerning this novel addition[2] which separated and tore apart the body of Christ and so greatly divided in their opinions those called by his name? What is this hostility, so long and drawn out, and the loveless contempt among brothers and the alienation of those scandalized? Why do we condemn the Fathers, since we think and say things other than their common traditions? Why do we neglect their faith and introduce our own as more perfect? Why do we preach a Gospel other than the one which we received (cf. Gal 1:9)? What wicked demon begrudged our concord and unity? Who removed brotherly love from among us, introducing a different sacrifice, which is not offered rightly since it is not divided rightly (cf. Gen 4:7)?
Do these things belong to an apostolic soul and patristic mind and brotherly disposition? Or do they rather befit a wicked, perverse, and self-willed man, who considers it nothing fearful if everyone should be lost? As for me, I consider that the one who introduced this division, the one who tore the cloak of the Lord woven from above, will undergo a greater punishment than the crucifiers and all the impious and heretics from every age. But it is possible for you, most blessed father, only if you desire it, to join together those who are divided, to tear down the wall of division (Eph 2:14), and to perform the work of the divine economy. You yourself have laid down the beginning of this, and you have increased it by your splendid munificence and generosity. So, may it be pleasing to you to set down its end. For you will find no other time more fitting than the one with which God has furnished you today.
Lift up your eyes all around and behold (Isa 60:4) the venerable and sacred grey hairs, for the most part in need of a bed and rest already, departing from their own regions and coming to your dignity, compelled only by hope in God and love for you. Behold the crown woven from glory; do not delay putting it on! It was someone else who divided. You yourself, cause the wound to heal over. Another tore apart. It is up to you to unite. Someone else was eager to bring about this uncorrected evil. Be eager to amend what came about, as if it never happened at all.
I heard from one of your philosophers that this addition was devised for the sake of economy and correction of certain men who did not think about the faith in the right way. So then, let it then be taken away again for the sake of economy, so that you might receive brothers, whose separation ought to cause agitation for you, unless you are unfeeling.
Call to mind with me the blood of Christians poured out each day, the bitter slavery under barbarians, the reproach of the cross of Christ, as well as the overturning of altars, the destruction of houses of prayer, the suspension of divine hymns, the seizing of holy places, the dispersion of priestly vessels and utensils. All of these things are likely to be resolved through our peace and concord, with God as our helper, if only you wish to put away this harsh and unyielding attitude, condescend to us who are weak, and remove from our midst the things which scandalize us.
If food, it says, scandalizes your brother, do not ever eat meat (1 Cor 8:13). And it was not forbidden to eat meat. So also now, most holy father, leavened bread is good and unleavened bread is good.[3] But if unleavened bread scandalizes and is considered worse for the sacrifice, and if it is called imperfect and dead and bread of affliction (Deut 16:3) by the Scripture, why is the leavened bread not chosen and the unleavened bread taken away? For there is one bread, and we who are many are one body, says the divine Apostle, For we all partake of the one bread (1 Cor 10:17).
Insofar as we do not partake of one bread, naturally we are not one body, nor do we breathe with the same spirit and carry out the same motion [as a body does]. I exhort you, the same Apostle says, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing and that there be no schisms among you (1 Cor 1:10). Insofar as we do not say the same thing, naturally this great and unhealed schism among us exists even to this day.
But where do we not say the same thing? Not in private nor in a certain corner nor when coming together among ourselves, where it is possible to escape the notice of most people, but in the common symbol of faith, in the confession of baptism, in the Christian seal. And if someone who makes a counterfeit of the royal coin is worthy of great punishment, the one who changes the common seal of the confession of Christians—what penalty would he suffer and not think that he paid less than his transgression?
Look at it this way. At one time, we clearly said the same thing, and there was not a schism among us. At that point both of us were surely in harmony with the Fathers. But now, when we do not say the same thing, how do we both stand? We, on the one hand, since we say the same things which we said then, agree both with ourselves, with our Fathers, and with you, if you want to tell the truth. You, on the other hand, since you introduced newer things, are compelled to be at discord first with yourselves, then with the common Fathers, and thereupon with us. Indeed, why do we not return to that beautiful agreement, which will show us to be in agreement with ourselves, one another, and the Fathers, and which will remove the schism, join those who are divided, and bring about every good?
Yes, by the very Trinity! Yes, by the common hope, in which we and you believe, lest you watch us depart empty and without success! We serve as ambassadors for Christ, as though God was pleading through us (1 Cor 5:20). Do not dishonor the embassy. Do not despise the toils. Do not prove the prayers to be fruitless. Do not accomplish the will of the enemies. Do not permit the common enemy and adversary to laugh at us as before. Do not cause God and his Holy Spirit to be grieved (cf. Eph 4:30).
Every soul and every ear are in suspense, awaiting your decision. If you are willing to incline towards peace and remove the scandals from our midst, then the affairs of Christians have improved, the affairs of the impious have fallen, and those who hate us have cowered in fear, recognizing in advance their own destruction.
But, on the other hand, if it does not come about (may it not be!), and the wicked habit of separation prevails over the common good, I myself am no longer to speak any further and am confounded by suffering. May God, who alone is able to do all things, amend his Church, which he purchased with his own blood (cf. Acts 20:28), and may his will cause this to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10). For to him belong glory, honor, and worship unto the ages of ages. Amen.
[1] The Greek text with a Latin translation can be found in Quae supersunt actorum Graecorum Concilii Florentini: Pars I, ed. and trans. Joseph Gill (Rome: Pontifical Oriental Institute, 1953), 28-34.
[2] That is, the addition of “Filioque” to the Latin version of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381.
[3] Mark notes that unleavened bread is not evil in itself, but he rejects it as unsuitable for the Eucharist.
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