Friday, January 2, 2025

It is the 2nd of January 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It’s the end of the week, and have I got a character for you- I think it’s fair to say that this, somewhat mysterious Greek philosopher and theologian, has been sorely overlooked in church history. And perhaps the ones who haven’t overlooked him have dug so deep into his philosophy as to obscure his role in the church. Well… that’s what we’re here for… let’s straighten out this fascinating and ignored figure.

He was born between 1399 and 1408 on the 2nd of January in Trebizond, that is, modern Eastern Turkey, on the Black Sea. He was baptized into the Greek church as Basil and went to Byzantium to study. So- here he is- in the Eastern Church and in the Eastern part of the Empire- but it will famously fall to the Turks in 1453. And this tension is part of what makes the life of this man, baptized as Basil, so interesting.  

He becomes “Bessarion” in 1423 when he becomes a monk. He goes into the service of the Emperor, and this affords him the ability to travel and study. In 1437, he was named the metropolitan (similar to a Cardinal) of Nicaea. He would go on to attend what we call the Council of Florence- a series of councils in a few different places- but one of the major purposes was to solidify the relationship between the Eastern and Western churches in the face of aggression from the Muslims moving westward.

Bessarion came to the council as a convinced devotee of the Eastern Christian tradition and was not interested in compromise. Until he was. Sometime in 1439, he changed his mind on the topic of the Nicene Creed, which had divided the churches. Rome and the West added that the Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son- the East had rejected that innovation on historical, if not theological grounds. Bessarion’s “Dogmatic Oration on Unity” made him a pariah amongst some in the East, but he was welcomed by the Western church.

He would even be named the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. The problem is that it was a made-up position, and by the time he was named this, in 1463 Constantinople was Istanbul… something something, nobody’s business but the Turks.

Bessarion can best be remembered as a character attempting to bridge the gap between the Eastern and Western churches in that tumultuous 15th century. But he is also a very important figure in the coming Renaissance- the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy credits our man as the man responsible for the “return of Plato in the Western World”. Bessarion helped to harmonize the thought of Aristotle and Plato- this was crucial, as since the time of Aquinas in the 1200s Aristotle was king and Plato was relegated behind his pupil.

Bessarion was interested in popularizing the works of the Greek philosophers for Christians- he would argue, as many in the Renaissance to come, that these ancients could point to Christ, despite not knowing of him, in the same way that ancient sages and even the prophets pointed ahead to something they couldn’t quite yet see or understand.

In the aftermath of the fall of Constantinople, Bessarion preserved works in his own library that would become the basis for the world-famous Library of St. Mark in Venice, one of the most important libraries for ancient manuscripts. He was a man interested in uniting the past and present as well as the East and the West. His abandoning the Eastern church made him a villain to some, but he wouldn’t abandon his culture- stories are told that he was to become pope- perhaps even twice, but refused to cut his beard- so, no Pope for him. But today we remember Bessarion, baptized Basil, the man between East and West who lived in the 1400s- a churchman and a forerunner to the Renaissance, was born on the 2nd of January between 1399 and 1408.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- a good first of the year reading- setting out with Abraham from Genesis 12:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;


I will make your name great,

    and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

    and whoever curses you I will curse;


and all peoples on earth

    will be blessed through you.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 2nd of January 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose beard is also the only thing keeping him from becoming a pope- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man whose favorite Popes? Smoking. The ’90s Chicago area post-punk band…  I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.