In the summer of 1054 visitors from Rome came to the
Sunday service in Constantinople at the Church of the Holy Wisdom;[1] but
this was no regular visitor. His name was Cardinal Humbert, and was sent on
behalf of the Bishop of Rome. The Cardinal walked right up to the Alter at the
beginning of service and slapped upon it a Papal Bull[2] of
Excommunication upon the East and her Bishops. The Cardinal and his two legates
with him then walked out of the church. A deacon ran after them with the bull
asking them to take it back. The Cardinal famously shook the dust from his feet
and exclaimed “Let God look and judge.” The bull was dropped in the street and
lost.[3] In
turn, the Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius excommunicated the Bishop of Rome; these
excommunications would not be “officially” lifted until 1965.
What
was it that brought the Unified church to this point of division? There are a
few factors that we will briefly discuss that were, both indirect and direct, causes
of what has been deemed throughout history as The Great Schism; great because
the church had been officially unified for over 1,000 years at this point – an amazing
feat. Before we look at these factors though, I would like to point out that
the effects of these excommunications were not immediate. The two churches
continued to work together, though reluctantly at times, for quite some time.
It was in fact the Eastern Church that requested the Western Church to send
some noble knights to help defend the Byzantine Empire against the Turks in
1095. The opposite is also true. East and West were not always in close
speaking terms with each other as early as the 6th century moving
forward – though this never quite manifested itself like it did in 1054, which
is why this is the common date pointed to for the Schism.
Language: The first important factor in
the schism between East and West is language. the East used Greek while the
West employed Latin as the official language; There were few exceptions. The West
continued the tradition of Latin as the language of the region primarity for
administrative purposes. This was the Language of Rome and the Western Empire.
The East had used Greek for language while under the united Empire but the
region’s administrative infrastructure was Latin. When the Empire was split
into two and the eastern capitol set as Constantinople, this changed. The east
viewed Greek as a superior language and was the language used by the Christians
in the west when Constantine became the first Christian Roman Emperor. Latin in
the West and Greek in the East made communication difficult and trading of
goods and ideas nearly impossible.
Culture:
It
is because of this that from the 4th century forward there began to
develop very different cultures in East and West. The East – influenced by
Levantine and Greek philosophical thought – became more mysterious and thought
heavily upon metaphysical themes, always trying to explain and experience the
supernatural acts of God. The West was more influenced by Rome’s legacy of
legality and sophisticated structure of government, society, and judicial life;
this extended into the life of the church as well. This influence would only be
expanded upon when scholasticism enters the scene.
Secular
Government: During the 3rd and 4th
centuries the Roman Empire suffered much internal strife and civil wars. The
government was carved up multiple times amongst its leaders; first as a Tetrarchy,
then as two separate Empires, the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine
Empire. The western Empire fell to many invasions from different groups leaving
the Western Empire leaderless. Over a short span of time, the Bishop of Rome
began to take on both Civil and Religious leadership roles, and the line
between the two roles quickly became skewed. Over the preceding centuries the
Bishop of Rome, the Pope (or Papa), became the central figurehead of Government
in the region. The Byzantine Empire on the other hand dealt with a different
set of issues. While the West was bring brought low by outsiders, the civil
leadership in the west remained relatively strong. Because of this, the civil
and the religious sectors were allowed to grow independently from each other,
unlike the West. Though they played very different roles, the civil and religious
realms became very tightly knit. The Bishops were very proud of their Christian
Emperor, and the Emperors were eager for Christian council from the Bishops in
times of need.
The
Rise of Islam: The rise of Islam came as an utter
surprise to North Africa, the Levant, and Europe. Within 100 years of the
founding of Islam, their armies had swept the earth and taken control of 3 very
important Christian centers: Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch. While the Islamic
Law allowed Christians to practice their faith, it permitted no conversion from
any faith to Christianity; this limited these three cities global impact in the
region. This left the two major centers of Christianity – Rome and
Constantinople, also the respective Capitals – to vie for the Prime Leadership
role within Christendom. Neither would win.
Primacy
of Rome: Though early councils do indeed recognize Rome as
the first and most respected of the Bishops and Christian centers, it was in no
way an admonition that the Bishop of Rome was the universal head of all
Christendom. The Patriarchs were given a status of ‘first among Equals,’ while
the Bishop of Rome was given that same status as First Among Equals’ among the
patriarchs. The Christian world often looked to Rome as a spiritual father for
advice. This began to change when it was clear that the Bishop of Rome began to
see himself as supreme head of the Church. The Church has always places Christ
himself as the head of the church, in a very real sense, while ALL bishops were
subject to Him and each other. The Pope began to place himself above the
reprove of his fellow bishops. This is one of the most important and painful
aspects of the Schism.
The
Filioque Clause: No. This has nothing to do with St.
Nick. Ok, well, maybe a little. St. Nicolas did in-fact attend the First
Council in Nicaea. At this council the Creed of the church was finalized and
gave the Christian the language of the faith. This was not the beginning or the
creation of the faith, but rather a formalization of the language of what the
Church had always professed. The most important part, for our purposes, is the
churches teaching on the Holy Spirit. The Nicean Creed reads thus:
“And [I believe] in the Holy
Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the
Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the
prophets.”
According to the Gospels, we are told by Christ that
holy Spirit comes from the father, sent by the sun. The church agreed on this
point in 325. But later on, on the council from the Spanish, the Western church
began to change the language – without the council of the whole church together
in agreement. The wording ‘and from the Son’ (Filioque in Latin) was inserted
after ‘who proceeds from the Father,’ so that it would read that the Spirit
proceeds from the Father and the Son. This caused an uproar for the eastern
church. This may not seem like a big deal, but it actually effects the pace of
the Holy Spirit within the Trinity. Anything that changes how we think about
God is very important. We will discuss the Filioque controversy and its
importance in more detail when discussing the Creed in future posts.
There
are many reasons why the church split in two: some legitimist, most not so
much. But after the Bishop of Rome left the communion of the rest of the
bishops (there were not that many bishops in the west at the time other than in
Rome), the western church began to make additions to the faith, including
Purgatory, Immaculate Conception of Mary, Papal Supremacy, and indulgences,
etc. These were the issues that many of the Reformers had with Rome. They are
the same issues that the East take up with Rome as well, since Orthodoxy kept
the same faith and the West added to it. In our next discussion, we will begin
to go through the Creed. I believe this is the best way to discover Christian
Doctrine and the Orthodox teaching on those doctrines.
[1] Also
known as Hagia Sophia, and now stands
as a mosque/museum in the modern city of Istanbul.
[2] A Papal
Bull is a statement given by the Pope that is set as an official decree; named after
the wax seal attached to the bottom called a Bulla.
[3]
Ware, Timothy, The Orthodox Church.
Penguin, 1997 ed. pp. 43.
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