The Division of Religion :: essays research papers fc

The East-West snag, known also as the Great Schism (though this latter term sometimes refers to the later Western Schism), was the event that change integrity Chalcedonian Christianity into Western Catholicism and easterly Orthodoxy. Though normally dated to 1054, when pontiff Leo IX and patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other, the East-West Schism was real the result of an extended period of estrangement between the two Churches. The primary feather causes of the Schism were disputes everyplace papal say-sothe Pope claimed he held authority over the four Eastern patriarchs, while the four eastern patriarchs claimed that the primacy of the Patriarch of seat of government of Italy was only honorary, and thus he had authority only over Western Christiansand over the insertion of the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed. There were other, little significant catalysts for the Schism, including variance over liturgical practices and conflicting claims of jurisdiction.The Church interrupt along doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political, and geographic lines, and the fundamental breach has never been healed. It might be alleged that the two churches actually reunited in 1274 (by the Second Council of Lyons) and in 1439 (by the Council of Basel), just now in each case the councils were repudiated by the Orthodox as a whole, given that the hierarchs had overstepped their authority in consenting to these so-called "unions". Further attempts to pacify the two bodies have failed however, several ecclesiastical communities that originally sided with the East changed their loyalties, and argon now called Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. For the most part, however, the Western and the Eastern Churches are separate. Each takes the view that it is the "One Holy Catholic and portentous Church", implying that it was the other group that left the true church during the Schism.Since its soonest days, the Church recognized the special positi ons of three bishops, who were known as patriarchs the Bishop of Rome, the Bishop of Alexandria, and the Bishop of Antioch. They were conjugated by the Bishop of Constantinople and by the Bishop of Jerusalem, both confirmed as patriarchates by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The patriarchs held both authority and precedence over fellow bishops in the Church. Among them, the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) was deemed to hold a higher status, by virtue of his position as the successor of Saint Peter. Moreover, the Popes see was of particular importance, as Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire. Even