The East–West Schism

The story

One Church, two worlds

For the first thousand years the Christians of Europe and the Near East formed a single Church, although with differences. In the west, in the old Western Roman Empire, people spoke Latin and the bishop of Rome, the pope, had a special authority. In the east, in the Byzantine Empire, people spoke Greek and the most important city was Constantinople, whose bishop, called the patriarch, had great prestige. There were other ancient patriarchates, such as Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.

Over time the two halves had drifted apart. The different languages made it hard to understand each other, journeys were long, and invasions had divided the empire. Councils, that is, assemblies, were held in Rome and in Constantinople, and each side said its decisions applied to everyone. Who really ruled the Church? The pope, or the bishops together? People had been arguing about this for a long time.

The reasons for the quarrel

There were several reasons for disagreement. The most important was the pope's authority: in Rome it was said that the bishop of Rome, heir of Saint Peter, held primacy over the whole Church; in Constantinople Rome was given first place of honour, but not the right to give orders to the others.

Then there was a difference in the Creed, the prayer in which Christians declare their faith. In the West a Latin word had been added, “filioque”, which means “and from the Son”: the Holy Spirit, it was said, proceeds from the Father “and from the Son”. The Easterners disagreed both about the meaning and about whether the text could be changed without a council of everyone.

Other differences concerned rites. In the west, unleavened bread, that is, bread without yeast, was used for Mass; in the east, leavened bread. In the west priests could not marry; in the east married priests were allowed, but not bishops. These seemed like details, but for many believers they were very important questions, because they touched the way people prayed.

16 July 1054

In 1053 the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, had the Latin-rite churches of the city closed. Pope Leo IX replied by sending a group of legates, that is, representatives, to Constantinople, led by Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, a man of rigid character. The pope, meanwhile, had died in April 1054, and so strictly speaking the legates no longer had the authority to decide.

The talks with Cerularius were bitter. On 16 July 1054, a Saturday, during the liturgy, the legates entered the basilica of Hagia Sophia and laid on the altar a bull, that is, a solemn document, excommunicating the patriarch and his supporters. Then they went out, shaking the dust from their sandals, as if to say they wanted nothing more to do with that place. A few days later Cerularius called a synod and in turn excommunicated the legates.

A slow break

At the time, in fact, many people did not think that the Church had been broken. It was a quarrel between individuals, involving only a few leaders, and relations between believers went on for years. Over time, however, other events widened the rift. The Crusades brought Latins and Greeks into contact and into conflict. In 1204 the Western crusaders took and sacked Constantinople, something the Greeks never forgot. Attempts at reunion, such as at the Council of Lyon (1274) and the Council of Florence (1439), had no lasting success.

Only on 7 December 1965, after the Second Vatican Council, did Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras cancel the excommunications of 1054 together: an important gesture, even though the two Churches remain separate.