The Great Schism: The History and Legacy of the Split Between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches in 1054

by Charles River Editors

*Includes pictures *Includes excerpts of contemporary medieval sources *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents For nearly a thousand years following its foundation, there was only one Christian Church. Centered in the city of Rome, the Church expanded and grew until it became the dominant religion in Europe and beyond. The early growth of the Church had been suppressed by the Romans until the Emperor Constantine became the first to convert the empire to Christianity, and from that point forward, the growth of the Church Was inextricably linked with the Roman Empire, the most powerful military, economic, and political force in the ancient world. For almost 600 years, from the defeat of Carthage in the Second Punic War in 201 BCE to around 395 CE, Rome was one of the most important cities in the world, but things were beginning to change around the time Constantine converted the empire. Rome controlled large areas of the world, but by the 4th century the emphasis had shifted from military conquest to the control of lucrative trade routes. The problem was that the city of Rome, isolated in the southern half of the Italian peninsula, was far from these routes, and this compelled Constantine to establish a major Roman city on the site of ancient Byzantium. The new city, Constantinople, was located on a strategic site controlling the narrow straits between the Black Sea and the Aegean, meaning it was firmly astride some of the most important trade routes in the ancient world between Europe and Asia and between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Constantinople became the second most important city of the Roman Empire, thriving in parallel with Rome, but then the empire split into Eastern and Western provinces, with Constantinople the capital of the east and Rome the capital of the west. Control of trade routes made Constantinople increase in power and influence while Rome became less important. However, not all power and influence shifted east, because one important institution remained firmly linked with the city of the Bishops of the Church. Under the rule of previous emperors, Christian Bishops had not only been formally recognized, but had been given power within the Roman state. The most important of all was "I Sommi Pontefici Romani” the supreme pontiff of Rome. The earliest holders of this title were martyrs and saints of the Church, but by the time of the rise of Constantinople, this role was elected by the other Bishops of the Church. This role would later become known as the Pope (from the Greek word “pappas” meaning “father”), but even before that title was adopted, the Supreme Pontiff in Rome was widely recognized as the leader of the Church. In historical terms, these early leaders of the Church are often referred to as “popes” even though that title was not formally adopted until after the division the Church. Rome’s preeminence was not a situation that was welcomed in Constantinople, now the center of the Byzantine Empire and a thriving and wealthy metropolis. After being sacked by outsiders, Rome had become a virtual ghost town, partially ruined and inhabited by a small number of hardy survivors, yet in center of the crumbling city was the Vatican Borgo, the Palace of the Supreme Pontiff and the heart of the Church. In retrospect, it is easy to see that this was a situation that was bound to lead to conflict and disagreement, with the Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople and being governed by Latin-speaking popes in a faraway city. Moreover, there had already been theological disputes as far back as Constantine’s time, which had led to the famous Council of Nicaea in the 4th century CE.

Genres: History, Christian, Religion, Nonfiction, Catholic, Theology, Church History

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 14, 2020

About the author

Charles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties.

Reviews

[Jerry Jares · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes the long way around explaining the Schism; meaning that Charles Rivers explains how the Catholic Church was split along political lines (The Roman Empire with Rome at its head and The Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as the capital).  With so much landmass and so many people in the Roman Empire, it was difficult to keep the operation running smoothly.  Thus, two capitals were initiated.  It worked for a time politically and religiously.  However, it became cumbersome to ask Rome's opinion of all religious questions.

A basic issue was that the western part of the empire used Latin for communication while the eastern empire used Greek.  In the west, the papal authority eventually oversaw the emperors and kings of the areas.  However, in the east, the Church only dealt with religious issues, not politics. 

As Constantinople was a much-richer area, they became less willing to be subordinate to Rome.
But the cracks started to emerge when Pope Nicholas I interfered with the establishment of a Patriarch of Constantinople (leader of the Eastern Church) in the 820s (CE).  It was called the Photian Schism and lasted for about 4 years. In the Nicene Creed, the Roman Church recognized that the Holy Spirit comes from both God, the Father, and Jesus, the Son.  In the Eastern Church, they believed and believe that the Holy Spirit comes from God, the Father. Period.

Interestingly, over the years, the Eastern Church looked to transition back to earlier forms of their religion, while the Western Church looked to reform their practices (adding new ways of doing things).  This made the two churches less able to meet in the middle.  But Humbert's ex-communication of the Eastern Church was the final straw.  This book makes the point that the schism was based on the intolerance of each other's cultural values.  They saw their own cultural values as 'the only true one." (location 828)

Fortunately, this book addressed the issue of the Crusades and their effects on the Schism.  It only made things worse.  The author also introduced the papacy of John the 23rd, as a man trying to reduce the hostilities between the two largest sections of the Christian Church.  I really liked the summary the author wrote about hope for the future.

[Cal Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes its nice to zoom out and get a quick birdseye view of things instead of going back over and over of what the cause of division was in the first place. What originally had its beginning in Constantine splitting the Roman Empire into the West and East and slowly growing apart in the millenia to follow culminated in the Great Schism in 1054. It can be summed up in one word, "Filioque" but it was the language barrier, politics, and one very onery legate that facilitated the break.

It is encouraging that we live in a time shortly after the Pope of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox met for the first time in 500 years and only the second time in 1000 - 1900 years. Which at this meeting they took back the ex-communications the "sister church's" had for one another and the dialogue was opened up for complete unity among Christians. And since then every pope has met with his eastern counterpart.

The Church needs to "breathe with both lungs again" as St. John Paul the Great wrote. In Christs last prayer before his Passion he prayed that future believers would be one as the Father and Him were one. Let this be our prayer as well.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed! Easy Read.

Easy read to get a high level view of what lead up to The Great Schism and the after impacts of it.

I liked it because it provided enough details to learn about the challenges the Church faced from its infancy up to the event to move the reader down a path that had ups and downs along a winding road.

Good for a person who doesn't have a strong grasp of the history of the Catholic Church and differences in the Roman Catholic (Latin) & Catholic Orthodox (Greek) traditions.

If you already have a good understanding of the history of the early Catholic Church up to AD 1100, you might not find the quick read adds much to what you know, but you never KNOW!

[Anil Swarup · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book traces the history and background of the schism between the Catholic, house at Rome and Eastern Orthodox Churches, headquartered at Constantinople. Whereas the Orthodox Church, up until the end of the Byzantine Empire, was mostly confined to religious matter, the Catholic Church got embroiled in temporal matters as well.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good but it was a 30,000 foot overview of about 1700 years of history in 100ish pages. While I understand the great schism better now it lacked the depth I was looking for. This would be a good book if you had no idea what the great schism was. Beyond that I would seek a more detailed account.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must be the one exception to the stereotype that all men constantly think about the Roman Empire, because I actually find ancient Rome to be pretty boring.

Interesting book, covering the first thousand years of Christian history in less than two hours. But, there were a few historical/theological inaccuracies.

[Jose George · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mosiac of Christ

The mosaic of Christ on the first page is not of Christ, but of Cesare Borgia, who was one of Pope Alexander VI sons. Read Revelation 1:14-15 for the description of Christ.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this one on audio in the Libby App from my library.
So intriguing!
This is a great introduction to the separation of Western and Eastern Catholicism, something I was aware of but never fully took the time to understand.

[Ron Maskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a nice short book that gives a great overview for neophytes like me in regards to what happened that led to the great schism.

[Aimee sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick but full of interesting information.