concerning the liberation of that man from Trebizond of whom we spoke above: but because he did not judge that he could honorably do so unless requested, he caused the man’s wife, as it was said, to entreat for her husband. Thus the death and martyrdom of Andrew brought liberation from danger not only to him, but also to many others, and confirmed many in the orthodox faith, and put to shame, filled with sorrow, and vexed with vain repentance those who, before his martyrdom, had for any reason clung to Muhammad. Deeply moved by all these things, I was burning with the desire to see his body, but kept back by snow, cold, and ice, and by the storms of winter and the sea, I was there barely in the month of February; through the intercession of the martyr, God granted me that grace: and I saw him lying in a tomb that was excessively deep and grim in its location, yet with such integrity of all his limbs, with such color of the whole body, and dignity of form, and with such splendor of countenance and appearance, that it seemed to me he had not breathed out his soul, but was sleeping lightly under the shade, and he was lying in a place so damp that, all the garments in which the body had been wrapped having rotted, it could be seen entirely naked, except that a piece of linen covered his genital parts: I burned with a desire to descend, to touch, and to kiss the feet, hands, and face of the eminent martyr, and were it not for the dampness of the place, the difficulty of descent, the words of the priest who was the guardian, and the hope of being able to do it more conveniently at another time, I would have been held back. I then entered into a plan with the priest N. to steal those holy relics and carry them to Rome, and the matter was already being arranged, but, I know not how, he was terrified and changed his mind and faith. B XII. As I had set out from there on the eighteenth day of March, on that very first day—or rather, at the very hour of setting out—I fell into no small danger from storms blowing against us and driving the ship onto the rocks. I immediately implored the help of the martyr, and promised that if I arrived in Rome safe and sound, I would write up his martyrdom in summary in the Latin tongue. I escaped the dangers of the sea and of brigands, and—what is a miracle—I, who had departed an old man and sick, returned younger, healthy, and much more robust; nor did the fluctuating sea nor the excessively rough overland journeys, which lead from Brindisi to Rome in the summertime, harm me. But having arrived here, I was never forgetful of the martyr, but was with him night and day, enjoying his memory and thinking that I saw him with my eyes not only while sleeping, but even while awake, lying in his tomb. However, the thought of my promise never occurred to me until two years later, when the memory of the martyr George was being celebrated. For when on that day I was reflecting on the sufferings C that George endured for Christ our Lord, at once the memory of my promise stung my mind. Nor did Andrew endure less—should I say even much greater things?—due to the condition of the times, in which those who love Christ are much helped by example: so much does charity grow dim when suppressed in darkness. Therefore, immediately on that very day, I took up my pen and have now paid the debt of my promise. You, however, most excellent martyr of Christ, I pray, intercede with our Lord Jesus Christ for the universal Church and for its expansion, and for the supreme pontiff Paul the Second, whose times you have decorated and made perpetual by your martyrdom: and just as you cast down treachery in Greece, so may you repress by your intercession the Platonists rising up in Italy.
LETTER OF GEORGE OF TREBIZOND TO THE SUPREME PONTIFF EUGENE IV CONCERNING THE UNION OF THE CHURCHES
(From the manuscripts of the library of the Monastery of St. Michael of Venice near Murano, ed. Joan. Bened. Mittarelli, Venice 1779, fol., p. 1143.) D Although, most blessed Father, you so burn of your own accord to unite your catholic Church with the Greeks, that you seem to have been born of God for this purpose, nevertheless it did not seem foreign to me to write something of my own on this matter to your Holiness, whom I see predestined for it and to whom I am most devoted. For since I was born of Greek parents, I have not only followed their errors, but have also for a while defended them; yet once I discerned the catholic truth through divine mercy these past ten years, it would have seemed to me that I was committing a most shameful crime if, while I hope for that which I desire—the early return of my entire nation—I wrote nothing on this matter to your Beatitude, to whose merits I do not doubt that the knowledge of the truth will be granted to the whole race of the Greeks. Nor is this without reason; for now that almost five hundred years have passed since the most pernicious schism of the Greeks was incited by Photius, I dare to say,A that never in any age of men has a greater, more divine, and more useful task been accomplished or, if one pleases to prophesy, can be accomplished in the future by any sovereign pontiff. For the issue at hand is not merely the restoration of Greece—because this is called the schism of the Greeks—but rather, under the name of the Greeks, who conceived and perpetrated the foulest crime of the schism, not a small part of Europe and the entirety of Asia (which many who have written on the division of the world assert is equal to Africa and Europe combined) have embraced the errors of the Greeks. And so, when this thought has often occurred to me, as to whether there are more nations and men in the Roman Church, or more who are driven by the errors of the Greeks, it has always seemed the same to me: namely, that the former seem fewer in number but are much superior in doctrine and morals, while the latter, though more numerous, have now lost all doctrine and have become either subject to the infidels or neighbors to them in their morals; and that the former, though fewer, are both more learned and more refined in their way of life, while the latter—I do not say only the Greeks, but all the nations that have followed the errors of the Greeks—have been caught by divine judgment, and many have submitted to the yoke of servitude. Thus, almost all the authors of the schism, many such as the Serbs, the Vlachs, the Iberians, and countless others, barely resist and will succumb unless they are joined to that head from which they were severed. For just as I believe the schism is the cause of their labors and their servitude, so I do not at all doubt that if they return fully and sincerely to the truth, they will obtain their freedom. But just as God permitted so many and such great nations, insofar as they severed themselves from the universal body of the Church, to be tormented with the utmost pains so that, being finally warned, they might resolve to return to His fold, so I would believe that the world is more often shaken for the sake of the Roman Church because they have not sought after their erring brothers with the ardor they ought to have, nor have they imitated the Lord, who descended even to the assuming of our human nature so that He might restore the lost sheep to heaven. For which reasons the union of the Greeks is the union of the whole world, the stabilization of Europe, the salvation of Asia, the glory of the Western Church, the freedom of the Eastern, and, in short, the restoration of the entire Christian race. To this, if no one who is not out of their mind could deny that nothing worse than the aversion of the Greeks and the impiety of the infidels can be found, no one will surely doubt that nothing has been or will be more praiseworthy or more glorious for any supreme pontiff ever than for Your Beatitude, if you reduce the Greeks and crush the infidels; of which the first task is so much the greater and more divine, inasmuch as the infidelity of the infidels has been increased by the schism of the Greeks, and will likewise more easily collapse with their return. Nor, truly, because a great difficulty always attends great things, is one joined to this—nay, for the magnitude of the matter, it is either none at all or small, which, however, the adversary of the human race has found here—alas!—more from the remoteness of the places and the delay of time than from the part of the Greeks. But it is to be believed that by the merits of Your Holiness, it can be quickly removed. For thus does Divine Providence.
which has committed so great a matter to Your Holiness, rest with you as the originator of this affair. A For if it has been brought to pass that, although for many centuries now the Greeks have wandered, cast out from the bosom of the Church, they nevertheless very much desire to return to where they had departed from, just as the pontiffs of the West are prepared to receive them; then surely, with your intercessions to the Lord, the way will not be long, and whatever shall seem to stand in the way will vanish like smoke; especially if any piety is left to us, and we are not all so completely carried off by that wickedness that the Greeks, returning to the Church, are not zealously met halfway. Thus, all the difficulty in this matter is that they should come together; the rest will come to pass of itself, especially if suitable remedies are applied to their affections and passions. Some of these I might suggest, as I know their passions and how much they help in this way, yet I have decided to keep them in silence, B especially since they are still quite far off, and especially since it is most expedient that they be kept hidden. But you, most Blessed Father, who have always applied your mind to the greatest matters, apply yourself to this work—which is about to bring liberty and salvation not to one city and people, nor to one nation or region, but to the whole world at once—as you have begun, and undertake whatever seems likely to contribute to this goal, as you are doing. Let it not weary you to oppose all things that stand against it, until you triumph as victor over the adversary of the Christian race. For if there is joy in heaven over the conversion of one man, you surely understand how great the glory with which the heavens will exult, and at your prompting declare the glory of the Lord, when so many peoples, so many nations, kingdoms, and tongues are converted to the truth. I do not say these things to exhort you, for you willingly do what you have most willingly undertaken; but I do not unwillingly show my own yearning, with which I burn, that I may receive all those united to me by lineage, kinship, and affinity. For it does not escape Your Holiness what praise, what glory, and what crown, eternal before our Creator, and also from His Church and the entire Christian people, C is reserved for you as the originator of this matter. For if Athanasius, if Gregory of Nazianzus, if both Cyrils, holy men and pontiffs, and others who endured enormous labors and harsh dangers for the unity of the Church, are praised highly not only on earth but also in heaven, what greatness do you suppose is prepared for Your Holiness? It is all the more illustrious and greater, in that the matter which you intend is greater and more admirable in the multitude of nations and the length of time. They suppressed a heresy that was beginning in their own times; you will eradicate one established now for five hundred years. They did not allow the wicked proposition of a few men to be disseminated; you will remove from the midst the various opinions of the Greeks, which have long since been handed down to the greater part of the world. They hardly ever brought back one city; you will join a great part of Europe, all of Asia, all the Churches of the East—that is to say, those four sees after the first—to Christ Jesus our Lord and to you, His true vicar; and you will make one fold and one body of the Church, of which, since Your Holiness is the head after Christ, you necessarily must suffer at the abscission of its members. Would that I, too, could contribute something to this matter; for how much I am moved by the errors of my own people, or even by this fact—that I have left those parts along with the opinion of my own people, and shall not return there unless either compelled or the Church is united—is most clearly evident from those things which I have written to my accusing parents and kinsmen. Wherefore, if I, a Greek, can contribute anything to the cause of the Greeks, I devote and humbly offer it all to Your Holiness. But that I may not be too long: may God grant to the Christian race, through Your Holiness, the peace of the universal Church, which I desire and hope for. Amen.
Georgius Trapezuntius, most devoted and most humble servant of Your Holiness, commits and delivers himself entirely to you.