ABSTRACT
The first union of the Church of the East with Rome was concluded at the Council of Florence. The Mediterranean island Cyprus was home to a group of East Syriac Christians who had since the thirteenth century repeatedly been the object of papal missionary endeavors. On August 7, 1445, following the acceptance of the creed before Archbishop Andreas Chrysoberges of Rhodes by Archbishop Timotheos of Tarsus (Archiepiscopus Chaldaeorum, qui in Cypro sunt), union was established between the Apostolic Church of the East and Rome. Timotheos petitioned the Lateran to allow him to take part in the Council of Florence, and his request was granted by a bull. As early as 1450 some of the converted left the Church of Rome. Since then the term “Chaldean,” used by the pope, has referred to those East Syrians in union with Rome, though the efforts at Latinization and the problem of two hierarchies finally led to a collapse of this union in Cyprus.
