Great Schism

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The Great Schism, the estrangement of Eastern and Western Christendom, occurred in 1054. The split resulted in the formation of the Roman Catholic Church under the authority of the Pope (Patriarch of Rome). The other "half" of the split is the pre-denominational Orthodox Church. The Schism was a result of various cultural, theological, and political issues existing between the Latin-speaking West and Greek-speaking East.

During the 5th and 6th Centuries the East and West became isolated from each other due to the invasions of the Balkan peninsula. This and the language differences made communication a challenge. The West came under Frankish influence (as opposed to Byzantine) in the 700s.

What started out as a minor difference, but became a topic of intense debate was the insertion of the "Filioque" into the Creed. The Creed in its original form reads "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 together glorified". In the west, the Creed somehow changed to read "who proceeds from the Father "and from the son"". The filioque became a question of Heresy.

There were many bishops in the church, and in the East the Pope was considered the "first among equals", but Rome acknowledged the Pope as the only Apostolic see. At first the Eastern Orthodox did not mind the Pope's claim for power over the West - as long as his power stayed in the West. But it came to pass that the Pope decided he also had power over Eastern Christendom as well and he tried to enforce his power on the eastern Patriarchates. A letter written in 865 by Pope Nicholas claims the Pope's power extends "over all the earth, that is, over every church". Pope Nicholas also went beyond his powers as stated in Canon 111 of the Council of Sardica (343) when he overturned a verdict and ordered a retrial on a matter concerning Photius and St. Ignatius, two Patriarchs of Constantinople. However, it should be noted that not all the Popes after Nicholas were as extreme - that is, until Pope Leo IX. When, in 1053 Cerularius attempted friendly relations with Pope Leo IX after a disagreement, a bull of excommunication was brought to Constantinople (1954).

These were just some of the issues plaguing the Eastern and Western Christians that led to the Great Schism. It seems that even after 1054 relations between the east and west were not completely unfriendly, and the common peasant was probably not immediately affected by the schism.