| Edition of an autograph letter by the pro-Catholic priest Ioannis Plousiadinos to the Orthodox clergy of Crete, included in codex 2378 of Bologna University Library. The letter was written circa 1467, i.e. a few decades after the Council of Ferrara-Florence. It provides a vivid picture of the resistance to the unification of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, mainly by the lower social classes of the island, who rallied around the Greek Orthodox clergy. The same climate is expressed in letters of Michael Apostolis and Georgios Trapezoundios. The main supporters of the unification of the churches in Crete appear to have been the intellectuals, who shared the Renaissance spirit and interests of Western humanists. |