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1453 Fall of Constantinople: Muhammad II imposes the Orthodox Schism
1453 Fall of Constantinople Muhammad II imposes the Orthodox Schism Author:Lina Murr Nehmé "The disagreement between the Orthodox and the Catholics is not dogmatic... We are capable of uniting with Rome because we are stubbornly faithful to our roots." Thus spoke, in June 1983, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatios IV Hazim, in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. Thus also spoke the Orthodox who, in 1439, had put an en... more »d to the Schism after interminable discussions with the Catholics at the Council of Florence. At this Council, the scholarly George Scholarios had called upon them to embrace the Union of the Churches. A short time after his return to Constantinople, however, he retracted. After the fall of Constantinople, Scholarios revealed his true motives by accepting the position of Patriarch offered him by the Turkish Sultan, his expensive gifts and a full exemption from the taxes he levied on the Christians. And he helped the Ottomans to impose on the Orthodox the myth of a legal Schism. From the Orthodox point of view, a Sultan cannot convoke a synod to elect a Patriarch, nor choose that Patriarch, especially if there is a legitimate one. And the decree of such an "Antipatriarch" certainly cannot prevail against that of a Council which included the heads of the two Churches. The Council of Florence is therefore still valid from the Orthodox point of view. People say that history repeats itself. It is all the more true, when it comes to the tragic story of the fall of Constantinople...« less