The
Beginning of the East-West Schism
(Not Really)
Today is the anniversary of the 1054 laying of a bull of
excommunication upon the altar in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, oft cited
as the event precipitating the schism between the Eastern and Western branches
of the Catholic Church. What is clear is that the presentation of the bull led
to a counter-excommunication of the papal legates to Constantinople. It is also
clear that this is not the event that led to the East-West Schism.
The Eastern and Western branches of the Church had been
growing apart for centuries. Hyper-technical debates as to complex theological
topics, many of them Christological in nature, served as fault lines even as
the ability to discuss those topics became more and more difficult as knowledge
of Greek declined in the West. In addition to these theological disputes,
disputes as to practice continued to arise. As early as the Quinisext Council
in the late seventh century there were sharp divides between practices in
Eastern and Western churches as to matters of liturgy and clergy discipline. On
the political front, as Rome and the Papacy were based in the crumbling remains
of the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire based in Constantinople
was still thriving even as it was facing significant challenges from Muslim
invaders. Constantinople, from a political perspective, was not willing to play
second fiddle to Rome, and required, in their mind, recognition of the importance of
Constantinople as an Ecumenical Patriarch of at least near equivalency with the
Bishop of Rome.
While today and may not be the anniversary of the schism,
that it existed, and that it had long-term effects, is without doubt. It would
taint efforts and cooperation in connection with the Crusades and have a significant
role in the Fourth Crusade and its conquest of Constantinople itself, thereby
forever weakening the Eastern Roman Empire and making them more susceptible to
conquest in turn by Muslim forces.
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