Bessarion
Greek metropolitan of Nicaea, named by the historian Doukas as one of the two most learned bishops of the Greek delegation at the Council of Florence, where he stood with those who accepted the union.
Doukas lists Bessarion of Nicaea and Isidore of Russia as the most learned of the Greek bishops who argued their church’s case at Florence, and says that all the Greeks except Mark of Ephesus subscribed to the definition of union (Doukas, History 31.3–4 (Bekker pp. 213–214)). This wiki has not yet cited a primary source for his later life in Italy. See the Council of Florence Proclaims Reunion.
In the timeline
- 6 July 1439, firm dateThe Council of Florence Proclaims Reunion
Pope Eugene IV and the Byzantine emperor John VIII proclaim the reunion of the Latin and Greek churches at Florence on 6 July 1439, in a decree affirming the Filioque and papal primacy. Mark of Ephesus refuses to sign, and the union finds little acceptance in Constantinople.