The Great SchismCauses 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.