Leading Events to the Great East-West Schism (800–867 AD)

Leading Events to the Great East-West Schism (800–867 AD)

800 AD: Charlemagne Crowned in the West

• The rise of the Frankish Empire (in modern France and Germany) created a new political rival to the Byzantine Empire.[1]
• On Christmas Day 800 AD, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as "Emperor of the Romans" in St Peter's Basilica, Rome.
• This act symbolised the Pope's independence from Constantinople and his willingness to create a Western imperial alliance.
• The Byzantine court regarded the coronation as an insult and usurpation, since they considered their emperor the sole legitimate Roman emperor.
• The event deepened the political and ecclesiastical rift between East and West.

Developing Theological and Authority Differences

Ecclesiological Divergence (Church Authority)

• The East adhered to the "Pentarchy" model: the Church was governed collegially by the five ancient patriarchates (Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem) with equal authority in essence.[2]
• The West increasingly emphasised the absolute supremacy of the Pope in Rome, claiming universal jurisdiction over the entire Church.
• The East granted Rome "primacy of honour" as the first among equals but firmly rejected any claim to unilateral control.

Theological Flashpoints (The Filioque)

• The West inserted the filioque clause ("and the Son") into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, teaching that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.[3]
• The East condemned this addition as heretical, arguing it introduced a second principle in the Godhead and disrupted the monarchy of the Father in Trinitarian theology.

Liturgical and Disciplinary Disputes

• Eucharistic bread: The West used unleavened bread (azymes); the East used leavened bread and accused the West of "Judaizing".
• Clerical celibacy: The West progressively enforced mandatory celibacy for priests; the East permitted married priests (though bishops were chosen from monastics).
• Fasting rules: Disagreements over fasting on Saturdays during Lent and other minor observances.
• Other customs: Differences over the singing of Alleluia in Lent, tonsure styles, and clerical beards.

858 AD: The Ignatius-Photius Conflict Begins

• Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople was deposed by Emperor Michael III and his uncle Bardas after refusing to countenance Bardas's immoral remarriage.[4]
• Ignatius was exiled; the emperor rapidly appointed the brilliant lay scholar Photius as patriarch.
• Photius, previously head of the imperial chancery, was ordained through all ecclesiastical grades in six days and enthroned on Christmas Day 858.
• The deposition split the Byzantine Church: moderate clergy accepted Photius, while the rigorist "Zealot" party (especially Studite monks) remained loyal to Ignatius and denounced Photius as a usurper.

861–863 AD: Papal Intervention and Escalation

• In 861, papal legates sent by Pope Nicholas I attended a council in Constantinople that confirmed Photius as legitimate patriarch.[5]
• Supporters of Ignatius appealed to Rome; Nicholas saw an opportunity to assert Roman primacy, especially over recently converted Bulgaria.
• In 863, at a Roman synod, Nicholas overturned his legates' decision (claiming they had been coerced), deposed and excommunicated Photius, and reinstated Ignatius.
• Nicholas explicitly claimed the Roman See's right to judge and depose any bishop, including the patriarch of Constantinople.

867 AD: The Photian Schism (The "Dress Rehearsal")

• The conflict of 863–867 is often described as a "dress rehearsal" for the Great Schism of 1054.[6]
• Tensions escalated when Bulgar Khan Boris accepted Latin missionaries, who introduced the filioque and expelled Greek clergy.
• Photius responded forcefully:
  • He issued an encyclical to the Eastern patriarchs condemning Western missionary practices.
  • In 867 he convened a council in Constantinople that deposed and excommunicated Pope Nicholas I.
  • The council formally condemned the filioque as heresy and criticised Western customs (clerical celibacy, fasting on Saturdays, use of unleavened bread).

Endnotes

[1] Einhard, Vita Karoli Magni, ch. 28; Roger Collins, Charlemagne (University of Toronto Press, 1998), 141–148; Rosamond McKitterick, Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity (Cambridge University Press, 2008), 103–115.

[2] Francis Dvornik, Byzantium and the Roman Primacy (Fordham University Press, 1966), 108–128; John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology (Fordham University Press, 1979), 205–211.

[3] A. Edward Siecienski, The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy (Oxford University Press, 2010), 97–112.

[4] Francis Dvornik, The Photian Schism: History and Legend (Cambridge University Press, 1948, repr. 1970), 11–42; Warren Treadgold, The Byzantine Revival, 780–842 (Stanford University Press, 1988), 350–360.

[5] Dvornik, The Photian Schism, 43–90; Letters of Nicholas I in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epistolae VII.

[6] Dvornik, The Photian Schism, 91–158; Henry Chadwick, East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church (Oxford University Press, 2003), 131–150.

Further Reading

• Francis Dvornik, The Photian Schism: History and Legend (Cambridge University Press, 1948).
• A. Edward Siecienski, The Papacy and the Orthodox (Oxford University Press, 2017).
• Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church, new ed. (Penguin, 1997).
• Steven Runciman, The Eastern Schism (Oxford University Press, 1955).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_East%E2%80%93West_Schism 

http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/greatschism.aspx