The Great East-West Schism (1054 AD): The Big Split in Christianity (1)

The Great East-West Schism (1054 AD): The Big Split in Christianity

Overview

• The Great Schism of 1054 AD is one of the most important events in Christian history.
• It marked the official break between the Eastern Church (Orthodox, meaning "right belief") and the Western Church (Catholic, meaning "universal").
• The split was between the Greek-speaking churches in the East and the Latin-speaking churches in the West.
• Although often remembered for the mutual excommunications of 1054, the schism was the culmination of centuries of growing cultural, political, and theological differences.
• These differences began to deepen after the division of the Roman Empire.

330 AD: Emperor Constantine Moves the Capital

• In 330 AD, Emperor Constantine moved the imperial capital from Rome to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople. [1]
• This created a powerful new centre in the East that rivalled old Rome.
• Over time, the Eastern and Western Christian worlds developed distinct languages and approaches.
• The West used Latin and developed a more legal, rule-based approach to theology and church organisation.
• The East used Greek and favoured a more philosophical and mystical approach to faith.

381 AD: First Council of Constantinople

• The Second Ecumenical Council granted the bishop of Constantinople "primacy of honour after Rome" because it was the "New Rome". [2]
• This began a long dispute: the East saw Constantinople as equal in honour to Rome; the West insisted Rome's primacy was unique because of St Peter.

400s AD: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

• The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century ended political unity across the Mediterranean. [3]
• The Eastern (Byzantine) Empire survived, while the West fragmented into Germanic kingdoms.
• This political separation deepened cultural and ecclesiastical divergence.

451 AD: Council of Chalcedon

Christology (Nature of Christ)

• The council defined Christ as one person with two natures (fully divine and fully human). [4]
• Some Eastern churches (later called Oriental Orthodox) rejected this definition, leading to a separate schism.

Canon 28 (The Political Dispute)

• Canon 28 granted Constantinople equal privileges to Rome and jurisdiction over certain regions, justifying this on the grounds that it was the "New Rome".
• Pope Leo I rejected the canon, insisting that Rome's authority derived from St Peter (Matthew 16:18), not political status. [5]
• This marked the first major clash over ecclesiastical primacy and built long-term tension over authority.

589 AD: Third Council of Toledo

Context

• A local council in Visigothic Spain, convened after King Reccared's conversion from Arianism to Catholic Christianity. [6]

The Filioque Addition

• To emphasise the full divinity of the Son against lingering Arian ideas, the council added the word "filioque" ("and the Son") to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, changing "who proceeds from the Father" to "who proceeds from the Father and the Son". [7]
• Originally a local Spanish usage, the addition later spread to the Frankish church under Charlemagne and was accepted in Rome around 1014.

Impact

• The East regarded the unilateral alteration of an ecumenical creed as illegal and theologically problematic.
• The filioque became one of the primary theological issues cited in the East–West schism.

692 AD: Quinisext Council (Trullan Council)

Context

• Convened by Emperor Justinian II to complete the disciplinary canons of the Fifth and Sixth Ecumenical Councils.
• Intended by the East to be ecumenical in force. [8]

Codification of Eastern Practice

• Issued 102 canons that codified Eastern customs and implicitly or explicitly criticised Western ones.
• Accepted all 85 Apostolic Canons (the West recognised only the first 50).

Specific Points of Conflict

• Clerical marriage: Allowed married men to be ordained priests and deacons and condemned attempts to separate priests from their wives (contra growing Western celibacy rules).
• Fasting: Forbade fasting on Saturdays in Lent (contra Roman practice).
• Iconography (Canon 82): Prohibited depicting Christ as a lamb, insisting on human form to affirm the Incarnation.
• Primacy: Reaffirmed Canon 28 of Chalcedon, declaring Constantinople equal in privileges to Rome.

Outcome

• Pope Sergius I refused to sign the canons because they contradicted Roman customs. [9]
• The episode highlighted already deep differences in liturgy, discipline, and authority.

Endnotes

[1] John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries (Penguin, 1990), 68–75; George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State (Rutgers University Press, 1969), 27–30.

[2] Norman P. Tanner (ed.), Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. 1 (Georgetown University Press, 1990), 31–32; Francis Dvornik, Byzantium and the Roman Primacy (Fordham University Press, 1966), 74–80.

[3] Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity (Thames & Hudson, 1971), 118–140; Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire (Oxford University Press, 2005).

[4] Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. 1, 77–100.

[5] John Meyendorff, Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1989), 167–185; Leo I's letters in Patrologia Latina 54, cols. 1055–1076.

[6] Acts of the Third Council of Toledo in José Vives (ed.), Concilios Visigóticos e Hispano-Romanos (1963), 107–146.

[7] A. Edward Siecienski, The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy (Oxford University Press, 2010), 87–96; Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church, new ed. (Penguin, 1997), 52–57.

[8] Canons in Tanner, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. 1, 124–166 (noted as not accepted in the West); George Nedungatt (ed.), The Council in Trullo Revisited (Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 1995).

[9] John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology (Fordham University Press, 1979), 115–118.

Further Reading

• Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church (Penguin, 1997).
• Henry Chadwick, East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church (Oxford University Press, 2003).
• A. Edward Siecienski, The Papacy and the Orthodox (Oxford University Press, 2017).
• Steven Runciman, The Eastern Schism (Oxford University Press, 1955).