Essay On American Schism

The Great Schism, a period in which two rival popes claimed the papacy, occurred from 1378-1417. The Great Schism traces back to 1309, when the French king moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon. This caused a large upheaval, as it is believed in the Christian faith that every pope was a success to the apostle Peter, and as such, was supposed to be based in Rome. In Avignon, the men of the papacy lived luxurious lifestyles, and in order to maintain their lives of opulence, the pope raised taxes. The people began to notice their lavish lifestyles, and came to see the papacy as

(Document C) The religious dissagreements of the Roman and Christian church lead to the determining of the leader of the Orthodox

When Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople the Christian churches of Rome and Constantinople found themselves at odds. They ended up differing on many subjects. Over the years they gradually grew apart until the final split happened in 1054. This continues to today. The differences are slight but significant. The Roman church continued with using Latin as the official language, giving the Pope the ultimate authority, but not allowing priests to get married (Doc C). Whilst the Eastern Orthodox church decided to have Greek as the official language, instead of a Pope they had a ceremonial leader, also known as the Patriarch (who could marry); this is because Constantinople failed to see the Pope as the supreme authority. Their interpretation of the bible was also a bit different (Doc C). In the world there are about 120,845,374 people who worship Orthodox Christianity. Though there are many branches of it. Most of the religion stays in the Eastern side of the world, except the 5,000,000 or so Americans (Doc C). If it hadn’t been for the Byzantines stepping out

The important thing about the Byzantine Empire is that it prospered for another 1000 years after the fall of Rome. The Roman Empire was split into the Byzantine Empire(East Roman Empire) by Diocletian to make it easier to rule the huge territory. The Emperor Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople, a city where many trade routes pass through. As a result, Constantinople was a rich and prosperous city and so was the empire. Emperor Justinian made a set of laws for all in the empire to follow called the Justinian Code. It covered almost every topic such as robberies, marriage, wills, and etcetera. Later in 1054, the Great Schism occurred splitting Christianity into the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church which was used in the Byzantine Empire. But the important thing about the Byzantine Empire is that it prospered for another 1000 years after the fall of Rome.

Before the split of 1054, the Roman Catholic Church or Western church and the Eastern Orthodox Church or Byzantine church were almost one with each other. The two churches held the same ideals and got along with one another the majority of the time. They had previous splits in the past but they were never a permanent situation because they usually found a solution to their issues and differences. The split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 seemed to have no resolution when their theological, political, and cultural differences became too much for them to harmonize upon.

None the less the Papacy was now divide. The saying "United we stand, while divided we fall." is very valid in this instance. The church is having many problems around this time period and many people are converting, or shale we say shifting, to other forms or Christianity. Whereas before these problems occurred the church was the central power in Western Europe and had great influence over the governments in their sphere of power. This event, the schism, caused a split in the Catholic Church and divided countries among the two popes. "Everyone realized that the schism resulting from the counter-election of Cardinal Robert of Geneva as Pope Clement VII . . . was a tragedy for the church . . ."

The Great Papal Schism is also known as the Western Schism that lasted from 1378 – 1417, during which the papacy (the position itself) was in great divide between three popes in the Roman Catholic Church. This political upheaval within the Roman Catholic Church caused distrust of the western civilization towards the church. It began after the Avignon Papacy or the more commonly referred to, “Babylonian captivity of the papacy” which was when the papal court was moved to France and French cardinals who later became popes from 1309-1378 resided in Avignon, France (a total of seven French popes by the papal names Clement V all the way to Gregory XI, who moved the court back to Rome) while being heavily influenced by the French kings; this also resulted to the decline of the papal power and authority (Miller, Study.com).

After the 4th century when Constantinople emerged as a great capital and church center, tensions sometimes arose between its leaders and the bishop of Rome. After the fall of Rome to Germanic invaders in 476, the Roman pope was the only guardian of Christian universalism in the West. He began more explicitly to attribute his dominance to Rome's being the burial place of Saint Peter, whom Jesus had called the "rock" on which the church was to be built. The Eastern Christians respected that tradition and recognized the Roman patriarch to a measure of honorable authority. But they never believed that this authority allowed the papacy to overrule another church or that it made the pope into a universally reliable figure within the larger

The devastating effect of the Crusades coupled with the spread of the Black Plague launched a changing public view of papal authority. This resulted in a more analytical mindset creating a foothold for the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution . An overtly secular focus took precedence over religious matters and the moral decay of the Church was called into question. This obsession of secular control is most clearly exemplified by the Great Schism that took place from 1378 to 1417 . The Great Schism was the result of the Babylonian Captivity, in which the papacy was forced to relocate to Avignon . Soon after returning to Rome, conflict arose within the papacy resulting in three popes fighting for the title. “When the Council of Constance unified the papacy in 1417 with the election of Martin V, the pope’s political authority outside of the

Most notably, the difference in leadership sparked a lack of unity between the East and West. The West divided secular and ecclesiastical issues into two roles: the emperor and the Pope. This separation of responsibility allowed each head to focus a great amount of energy into the protection of the Church and state. In particular, the elimination of heretics in the West was a source of pride for the Roman Catholic Church and is mentioned in multiple primary sources, such as Document #63 in The Human Record and “Anna Comnena on the Suppression of Bogomil Heretics.” Unfortunately, the separate leadership positions produced an internal tension while both the Pope and emperor were aiming to be accepted as the more powerful leader. A prime example of this competition would be between Pope Leo III and King Charles when, before King Charles could declare himself emperor of all of the West, Pope Leo III invited him to Rome, where mosaics depicting shared power between the Pope and emperor had been placed, and crowned him emperor, which reinforced the idea that the religious leader held power over the secular leader. In contrast, the East’s leader was both the secular and religious leader, as shown in the Ravenna mosaics of Justinian and Theodora (Document #61, The Human Record). The couple were depicted with symbols of both legal and religious authority including purple robes, for royalty, religious, military, and domestic figures, ornate crowns, and the bread and wine for mass. The choice to keep one person as both secular and religious leader caused a lack of tension between the two aspects, but also caused less changes to be made, such as banning heretics, which the West found appalling. In Document #63 of The Human Record it reads, “all heresies have emanated from [the East] and have flourished among [the East]; among us, that is Westerners, they

There were many issues that created the Great Schism between the east and west, both prior to 1054 and after. It would appear from the document that the east had more issues with how the west governed the church. The split could probably have been avoided as well as its consequences. The Great Schism had many consequences two of which were the Eastern Orthodox's trying to tell the Roman Catholic how to run the church and the Roman Catholics attacking the Eastern Orthodox church with religion. In document 1 the Roman Catholics forcing Greeks to become part of their religion. The event in this document occurred after the year 1054. Document 2 also occurred after the year 1054, but this document talks about the Orthodox Church. In this document

Many issues that created the Great Schism between the East and West, both before 1054 and after 1054. It would appear from the documents that the Eastern Orthodox has more issues with how the West was conducting religion. Some documents would tell us that the Catholic had issues before and after 1054 C.E. Also the Eastern Orthodox had issues before and after 1054. Both religions had issues before and after the time of 1054 C.E., but the Eastern Orthodox had more issues. It would appear to us by the documents that the Catholic had issues before 1054 C.E. In 86 C.E we learned that the Pope had an problem because the jurisdiction of Rome should be restored as possible. We learn that the jurisdiction of Rome was necessary because it helped them

The Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic, are two variations of the same religion, that due to some disagreements over certain ideas and religious teachings leads to the great Schism in 1054 AD. The great schism of 1054 refers to the final separation of the Eastern Orthodox church, led by the patriarch in Constantinople and the western church, led by Pope Leo IX. The estrangement between the Orthodox and Roman church, happened gradually over the course of the 5th and much of the 11th century. The reasons of the Schism are attributed to several differences between the two churches. The religious and doctrinal studies of the East, had roots in Greek philosophy, while the Western studies closely followed Roman law. Misunderstandings between the two churches then led to two separate ways of defining one doctrine, which would initiate the split. The doctrine in question, procession of the Holy Spirit, where without consulting the East the Roman churches added “and from the Son” to the Nicene Creed. This was not the only thing the two churches clashed on. The eastern church resented the forced clerical celibacy, political jealousies and interests only intensified the disputes. There had been schisms before but not ones that were permanent. While there may have been hopes for a reconciliation, the eastern Greeks were infuriated by the Latin capture of Constantinople in 1204 A.D. After this, any pleas from the west concerning reunion were rejected. (“Schism of 1054”)

In American History we are currently studying the concept of sectionalism. Sectionalism is division within a country based on regional beliefs and interests. In the early mid 1800’s, sectionalism in America as slavery divided the Nation. Slavery was ignored, compromised, and argued about by the states until the conflict drove our country into the Civil War. Although regional differences are not as distinct these days, many issues are currently causing division among the states and people of our country. These issues lead to what our history class describes as “modern sectionalism.” One such issue is Abortion.

In 1054, the Great Schism occurred between the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Christians, when the Pope first excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople. Not long after that, the Patriarch excommunicated the Pope, causing the split. There were many issues prior that created the Great Schism between the east and west both before and after 1054. It would appear from the documentation that the east had more issues with how the west conducted the church. The issues that caused the Schism between the two churches happened prior to 1054, but more issues occurred after the split.