The Great Schism, 1378-1417

Great Schism refers to two major events in the history of Christianity: The separation between a Western Roman Church and the Eastern Ortodox church, and the period between 1378 and 1417 during which the Western church had first two, and then three, lines of popes. In the third century A.D. the Roman Empire was divided in two, a Western and an Eastern part that were administered separately. They continued different economic and cultural ways, and when the Western empire disintegrated in the fifth century, the Eastern empire continued to thrive. The sustaining institution during the next centuries was the Christian church. Christian theology dominated the thought of both empires. Every issue was translated into theological terms. During the Middle Ages different Christian traditions developed in each empire. The Petrine doctrine was absolute in the West. It maintained that the authority Christ had given to Saint Peter was passed since to each Pope. The Orthodox church did not share this belief. They thought the Pope was first among equals, an Archbishop as any other, and did not have the authority to command over the whole church. Another source of conflict was the so called filioloque controversy, an addition by Spanish churchmen of the words and from the son (ex Patre Fililoque) in the liturgy, stating that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Son as well from the Father. The Eastern Church argued that those words were not included Nicene Creed, that dated back to Emperor Constantine and gave the canon to Christian liturgy, whereupon it had been agreed that no changes in the words of the liturgy where to take place, unless by conciliar consent. Other disputes arose over issues as the celibacy or the clergy, the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist, episcopal control over the rite of confirmation, and even beards and tonsure.

1st ecumenical council of Constantinople (381). Grgory de Nazianzus, Homilies

Of all the institutions that the medieval Christian empire shared, the political was the first to collapse. In the West Imperial authority had fallen before the invading barbarians. The Pope increasingly filled that vacuum, and henceforth the boundary between ecclesiastical and political power was slowly blurred. In contrast, in Constantinople imperial power stood strong. As heirs of Constantine, Christian emperors continued to rule over an integrated Christian society, as administrators of the church and society. Every important theological decision in the East was submitted to a conciliar system with all the patriarchs, the bishops of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome. The bishop of Rome had certain rights of review over the other three. But, since the pontificate of Leo I (440- 461), Roman patriarchs starting to demand more power. During the seventh and eighth centuries, the rise of

Islam and new barbarian invasions widened the separation between the eastern and western churches. The filioloque controversy together with the rise of papal power ignited a crisis in 1054. The papacy of the eleventh century introduced a reform that gave the pope absolute power over all Christian people and institutions. Such claims had been rejected by the early church councils. In the vies of eastern Patriarchs, the power Christ had given Peter was shared by all bishops. In 1054 Pope Leo IX (1048- 1054) sent a delegation headed by Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida to discuss the problems between Constantinople and the papacy. The Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, rejected the papal claims and the filioloque. In the end, Cardinal Humbert deposited a Bull of Excommunication against Michael Cerularius on the altar of Hagia Sophia.

Patriarch Cerularius sitting on a throne with clergymen. From the Chronicle of John Skylitzes.

By this act, the Great Schism was official. Later efforts were made to reunite both churches. With the advance of the Muslim Turks on the Byzantine Empire, Eastern clergymen sought relief in their western brothers. But hopes came to an end as a Crusader army sacked Constantinople in 1204. As far as today, reconciliation has not been possible. In 1965, Pope Paul VI lifted the Excommunication Bull against Cerularius, but the schism has widened with the claims of papal ineffability in the nineteenth century.