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Isidore of Kiev

Byzantine Greek prelate (1385–1463)

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Through Constantinople, Rome and Basel

As a supporter of the union with Rome, he left Moscow to attend the Council of Ferrara–Florence. On his return in 1441, he was imprisoned but allowed to escape later that year. A council of Russian bishops chose their own metropolitan in 1448, which amounted to a declaration of autocephaly by the Russian Orthodox Church. However, Isidore continued to be recognized by Constantinople as metropolitan until 1458, when Gregory the Bulgarian was made the first metropolitan of the Uniate church.

Isidore was later dispatched to Constantinople and he proclaimed the union of the Greek and Latin churches at the Hagia Sophia on 12 December 1452. Following the fall of Constantinople, he returned to Rome. In the Latin Church, Isidore was the cardinal bishop of Sabina, Archbishop of Cyprus, Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals and the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople.

Early life

Early views on his birthplace suggest that he was born in Constantinople, Thessaloniki, or possibly Dalmatia. According to one version popular with modern scholars who stress his links to Constantinople, Isidore was born c. 1385 or possibly c. 1390 in Monemvasia or somewhere else in the Morea. He may have been a born into a noble family, but it is only known that he was well-connected and had the patronage of the Palaiologos dynasty.

His youth is also poorly documented, but it is likely that most of his education was at Constantinople. Based on his literary interests, Isidore received training in the scriptures, the Church Fathers, and the laws of the different dioceses and ecclesiastical jurisdictions. As a result, he would have had extensive training in ancient Greek, specifically in the Attic dialect. In Constantinople, he studied in the company of Italian humanists, including Guarino da Verona. The earliest work associated with Isidore is the funeral oration composed by Emperor Manuel II for his brother, Theodore I Palaiologos. Isidore later composed a speech commemorating the emperors Manuiel II and John VIII.

From 1420 to 1430, Isidore was in the Morea, during the time an offensive was launched by John VIII and his brothers against local Latin lords, including Carlo I Tocco. A sea engagement between the Byzantines and Tocco is known from Isidore's Panegyric. Some historians have speculated that he was attached to the headquarters of the brothers in some capacity during this time and he returned to Constantinople shortly afterward, or that he returned with John VIII to the Constantinople in 1428. A manuscripts suggests that he did not stay in Constantinople for long and embarked on another journey to the Morea, but his ship was blown off course and reached Sicily instead.

It was the time when the Court of Constantinople, on the eve of its final destruction by the Turks, was considering the chance of rescue from the Western princes as a result of reuniting with Rome. In 1434, Isidore was sent to Basel by John VIII Palaiologos (1425–1448) as part of an embassy to open negotiations with the Council of Basel. Here he made a mellifluous speech about the splendour of the Roman Empire at Constantinople, but his efforts did not result in union of the churches.

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