Senina T. A. George Hemistos Plethon’ views on Islam in the context of the Turkish threat to the existence of Byzantium. RCAH Review. 2024. Vol. 25. No. 1. Pp. 159–171.

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Abstract

The article examines the views of the last major Byzantine philosopher George Gemistos Plethon on Islam, the religion of the Turks, the main adversaries of Byzantium at the end of its history. Unlike most of his contemporary Byzantine intellectuals, Plethon did not look at Islam as an absolute evil and barbarism — on the contrary, he saw the reason for the military successes of the Turks in the advantages of their legislation and state administration, and he called for the earliest reforms in this area that could save the Empire from disasters. Such an assessment brought the philosopher closer to ordinary Byzantines, who also saw more order in the Turkish administration and massively converted to Islam, refusing to resist the conquerors. Apparently, the doctrine of inevitable fate, a predetermined future, and an indestructible chain of causes and effects, important in the philosophical and theological system of Plethon, was influenced not only by Stoic concepts, but also by the Islamic doctrine of predestination, which has many parallels with the views of Gemistos. While other late Byzantine authors saw in the Muslim victories a punishment for the sins of the Byzantines against the Christian religion, Plethon believed that the most serious sin, because of which the Byzantines were defeated in war, was disbelief in divine providence (and, in fact, in an inevitable fate), faith in which they should learn from the Muslims.