Download The Great Schism

The Great Schism
Causes of the 1054 split of the Christian (Western and Eastern Church)
Early Christianity
• Possibly as for the 1st century CE
Christians were a sect of Judaism
• Church centres on the concept that
Jesus was God’s son and was sent to
earth, was crucified and then ascended
into heaven
Today
• Three Main
branches of
Christianity
• Roman
Catholic
• Eastern
Orthodox
• Protestants
Byzantine Empire
Tension Rises
• Diocletian divides the
empire into two Eastern
(Constantinople) and
Western (Rome)
• 730 CE Byzantine
Emperor Leo III banned
the use of icons, Why?
• What is an icon?
Norman
Invasion
• Around 1020, the Normans
(or Vikings) invaded the
Southern half of Italy.
• Pope Leo IX of Rome tried
to defeat the Normans but
lost.
• The Normans captured the
Pope and began closing
down churches in the
Southern half of Italy,
which was controlled by
the Byzantine Empire.
Tension Rises
• The Byzantine churches spoke
Greek and had different
customs than the Roman
church.
• The Normans made the
churches they conquered use
Latin rituals.
• Emperor in the east made the
Latin churches over there use
Eastern customs.
The Division
• Eastern churches did not like how
the Pope of Rome claimed himself to
be the head of the Christian church.
• The Eastern church believed the
patriarch (bishop) of Constantinople
should be the head.
• In 1054, the Western Church added
the filioque to their creed which
included the “Holy Spirit” in the
Christian Trinity.
Divisive Solution
• In 1054, Pope Leo IX of
Rome and the
Patriarch/Bishop of
Constantinople decided to
excommunicate each
other.
• Excommunication a
person is not allowed to
receive sacraments and
have no hope of entering
heaven, according to
Christian beliefs.
Creation of Orthodox Christianity
• The result of the 1054 Schism -division between the Roman and
Eastern Orthodox Church.
• Orthodox means dedication to
the traditional faith.
• The Eastern church believed they
followed traditional Christian
beliefs unlike the Roman church
they viewed Roman Church as
greedy and too close to Judaism.
Michael Cerularius
Eastern Orthodox Beliefs
• Eastern Orthodox Christians are not considered
Apostolic (key word “apostle) because they don’t
follow the divinity of St. Peter.
• They do not recognize the supremacy of the Pope.
• The two churches have never gotten back together
but did reconcile their differences in the 1900s.