The Greek or Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church

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.

In Roman religion, it was crucial “to serve the gods and ensure goodwill” (The Roman Republic). The English word “Religion” comes from the Latin word “Religio” (Overview of Religion). Latin was the ancient language of Rome, but for the Roman’s the translation meant something very different from what we understand it as today. To the Romans, “Religio” translated to “ the fear of gods” (Overview of Religion). Romans invested much of their time serving the gods, performing rituals and sacrifices in honor of them. On the contrary, Greek religion did not prefer to execute rituals as much as the Romans. Greeks were more lenient when honoring the gods. They did not have a theological dogma: belief or principle. There was no specific way in which the religion was executed. The Greeks many gods had different purposes and works they performed. They relied more on the verbal spread of the religion rather than having a written form. Although different, both religions had forms of praising and honoring their gods. Greek and Roman religion have many differences and similarities that impacted each group of people.

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”)

Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Catholics once included a solitary Christian church with two focuses of force, Rome and Constantinople. Known as the Great Schism, was the official split between Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Church. The Church split along doctrinal, religious, phonetic, political, and geographic lines, and the central break as never been mended. Though the Church split because of their differences, they still had some things that were similar.

There was many historical and theological issues surrounding the split between the Catholic and the Orthodox church. There were cultural factors that impacted how the religion was practiced. There was political factors, as per usual politics ruin everything. Aside from all the socio-political reasons the main reason there was a schism was because the east and west disagreed on aspects of religion.

Recently, the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church have been in a lengthy and complex disagreement regarding the role of the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual members of the church body and to what lengths the church should go in order to “accept” all the different sexual orientations within its congregation. The Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church have completely disagreed on the Communions core doctrine during this debate and have not come even close to creating a resolution. Disciplinary actions have been taken toward the Episcopal Church by the Anglican Communion in hopes for a withdrawal, but the Episcopalians have promised to stand firm on their very and beliefs for equality for all sexual orientations. Due to the recent conflicts between the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church must disband from the Anglican Communion in the near future in order to maintain on the path of its calling of loving and supporting the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual members.

Christianity came to a crossroads during the fourth century. Previously, there had been gaps in Church teaching, and so some people began to fill those gaps. One of those people was Arius. Arius was born in 256 A.D. in Libya, but moved to Alexandria, Egypt and became a presbyter there. He began to teach about Jesus as a creature created by God the Father, and so therefore not God. This was seen by many early Christians as a possibility, as there had not previously been any official teaching set, and many of them started to follow Arius. Though the Church experienced some struggle with this heresy, in the end it was made stronger because it was forced to set theological beliefs. The Christian Church was advanced in the fourth century through struggles with the Arian heresy, a drastic change in the Roman Empire, and the combination of the Empire and Church to combat heresy.

The third ecumenical council was held in Ephesus and was called by Theodosius II and Valentinian II in 431. There were many controversial ideas brought up that lead to this council. The first being Apollinarianism, which came from Apollinaris of Laodicea, which propagated the idea that “the divine Logos took the place of (replaced) the human soul or spirit in Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus had a human body in which dwelled a divine spirit;” however, Athanasius rejected this thought. The next came from Diodore and Theodore of Mopsuestia. This view was titled Nestorianism, which wanted a real humanity in the Lord. A student that studied under these two teachers, Nestorius, wanted to preserve this teaching, but encountered a word—Theotokos,

The official split between the Catholic and Orthodox churches was in 1054. However, there was a build up of conflict that started back when Rome chose Latin as their main language, while Constantinople chose Greek many years earlier. This small disagreement, along with many others, contributed to the split of the two branches of the church. (World History In Context). The most well-known disagreement between the two branches is in their understanding of the Pope. Catholics believe that the Pope is the highest office in the church while the Orthodox believe that all bishops should be equal. Disagreements continued to build and led to the division of of the two groups currently known as the Catholic and the Orthodox churches. From there,

Processional Crosses in Roman Catholic churches usually bear a corpus. Other denominations, if they use such a cross, prefer one without a corpus. Where there is a corpus, the cross-bearer (in Eastern Orthodox monasticism: Stavrophore) holds the cross so that the corpus is turned in the direction in which the procession is moving. This symbolizes Christ leading the procession. Traditional practice, still followed among churches of the Russian or other Slavic traditions, is that the use of the processional cross during the normal cycle of divine services is a primatial privilege, and will only be done when the Patriarch or First Hierarch is serving.

A great number of Catholic members continue to leave the Catholic Church, statistics show. According to an article in the National Catholic Reporter, “One out of every 10 Americans is an ex-Catholic… Almost half of those leaving the church become unaffiliated and almost half become Protestant” (Reese). Although the reasons for leaving differ amongst ex-Catholics, an important one is the teachings of the Bible, they claim. It may not make sense that the very same book that is claimed to be one of the final authorities in the Catholic Church, it’s the reason its members are turning away from it. It is the contradictory nature of some of the Church’s teachings –which undermine the word of God --the Bible-- that causes the members to leave the

In the 17th century, the conflict between Catholic churches and Protestant churches threw Europe into a great turmoil (Buelow 9). Half of Europe was plagued by the seemingly endless wars of religion, and countries such as Italy and Germany broke into numerous political fragments (Buelow 9). After the Thirty Years’ War, there existed more than 300 principalities in Germany (Vaubel 280); Italy also split into many independent or semi-independent states (Buelow 9). During this religious upheaval in the 17th century, a new type of music, Baroque music, developed rapidly and became increasingly prominent.

Greece is the only Orthodox country that became a member-state of the European Union, while its history manifests a strong engagement with West European culture and politics. By offering evidence of the manner in which Orthodoxy is shaping the domains of culture, society, ethnicity and politics, our goal is to allow scholars and researchers to use the Greek experience as a means for fleshing out some of the institutional characteristics and cultural attributes clearly identified with the Eastern Orthodox tradition. In this respect, this volume does not intend to examine the Greek case in isolation from broader European and/or global trends. On the contrary, the goal is to place the Greek case in the context

The Catholic Church’s current pope, Pope Francis, once said, “A good Catholic meddles in politics, offering the best of himself, so that those who govern can govern. But what is the best that we can offer to those who govern? Prayer!” (Pope Francis, 2013). Catholics are approximately half of the number of Christians, numbering more than one billion members. This number makes it one of the largest religions in the world. In 2003, the Catholic population in the United States was 63.4 million people (Roman Catholic Church, 2017). The Catholic Church’s basic beliefs influence their demographics, party affiliation, stances on different political issues, and involvement in American politics.

Throughout the Church history, details in which to interpret Scripture and the place of it, has been debated among major groups for centuries. Three major groups that all read and interpret scripture to a different standard are the Evangelicals, Liberals and the Neo-Orthodox. Each group holds the Scriptures sacred in their own way, but not everyone agrees to the others use.