East and West: the growing divide and the schism of 1054

Program / Course 12: Patristics and Historical Theology / Lesson 5.5

What you will learn

• Describe the long-term causes of the estrangement between the Greek East and the Latin West.
• Explain the dispute over the Filioque and the dispute over papal authority.
• Narrate the events of 1054 and say why historians do not treat it as the single moment of division.
• Summarize later attempts at reunion and the steps taken since 1965.

The big idea

The division between the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church was not caused by one event. It grew over centuries from differences of language, politics and custom, and from two disputes of doctrine: whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone or also from the Son, and what authority the bishop of Rome has over the whole church. The mutual excommunications of 1054 are the traditional date, but most historians see them as one step in a long process. The Fourth Crusade of 1204 deepened the break far more in the minds of many Greeks.

Key terms

Schism

A break in communion between churches, often because of disagreements about authority or practice rather than about doctrine alone.

Filioque

Latin for and from the Son. A phrase added in the West to the Nicene Creed, so that it says the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Papal primacy

The teaching that the bishop of Rome holds a special leadership among the bishops. Churches disagree about how far it extends.

Patriarch

A title for the senior bishop of one of the great sees such as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.

Excommunication

A formal exclusion from communion with a church. In 1054 it was directed by individuals at other individuals, which is why its scope is debated.

Azymes

Unleavened bread, used in the Latin Eucharist but not in the Greek, a custom over which the two sides quarreled.

Communion

In this context, the shared life of churches who recognize one another’s sacraments and share the Eucharist.

Background

For the first centuries, the church was one in a world united by Roman rule, with Greek and Latin as its two languages. Even then, East and West had different temperaments. The West tended to ask legal and practical questions, as Augustine and Tertullian did, and the East tended to ask questions about mystery and vision, as the Cappadocians did. These tendencies were not rigid, but they shaped how each side heard the other.

Political events pulled the halves apart. The Western empire fell in the fifth century. The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor in the year 800 by the pope seemed to the Byzantine court to be a rival claim. Few people in the West learned Greek, and few in the East learned Latin. By the ninth and tenth centuries, communication was mostly through officials and envoys, which made misunderstandings easier.

There had been earlier breaks that were healed. In the ninth century, a dispute over the patriarchate of Photius led to a temporary schism, and in the late fifth century a break over Constantinople and Rome lasted decades. The estrangement of 1054 is therefore best seen in that line.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: The Filioque

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, in its Greek form, says the Spirit proceeds from the Father. In Spain, church councils from the late sixth century added and from the Son, partly to stress the Son’s full divinity against Arian Visigoths. The usage spread to Gaul and the court of Charlemagne, and Rome adopted it in the liturgy in 1014. The East objected on two grounds. First, the creed belonged to an ecumenical council and no single church had authority to change it. Second, many Greek theologians held that the Father alone is the source of the Godhead, and that to say the Spirit also proceeds from the Son compromises that.

Western theologians replied that Augustine and others had taught that the Spirit comes from the Father and the Son as from one principle, and that this was a faithful explanation of Scripture, where the Spirit is called the Spirit of the Son (Galatians 4:6). Some Greek Fathers also spoke of the Spirit being sent through the Son. Both sides claim the support of the Fathers. Modern dialogues have suggested that the two traditions may use the word proceeds in different senses, although Orthodox and Catholic theologians do not all agree on this.

Step 2: Authority in the church

The second dispute concerned the bishop of Rome. All agreed that Rome held a place of honor and had a special tie to Peter and Paul. The East saw this as the first place among equals, within a church governed by councils of bishops. The West increasingly taught that the pope had a direct authority over all bishops. By the eleventh century, a reform movement in the West strengthened such claims, and it clashed with the Byzantine patriarch, who did not accept them.

Other differences added to the strain. The Latins used unleavened bread in the Eucharist and the Greeks leavened. Latin priests were increasingly required to be celibate, while Greek priests could marry before ordination. Each side listed the other’s customs as errors. Many of these were matters of discipline, not doctrine, but they carried emotional weight.

Step 3: The events of 1054

In 1054, Pope Leo IX sent a delegation to Constantinople led by Cardinal Humbert. The immediate issue was a quarrel in southern Italy and a letter from Patriarch Michael Cerularius that attacked Latin customs. The talks went poorly. On July 16, Humbert and his companions placed a bull of excommunication against Cerularius on the altar of Hagia Sophia. Leo IX had died in April, which has led historians to question whether the delegation still had authority. Cerularius then held a synod and condemned the legates, not Rome or the Western church as a whole.

Contemporaries did not see this as the end of the unity of the church. Contact continued, and for some time many people on both sides regarded themselves as in communion. Historians generally say the date 1054 acquired its symbolic weight later.

Step 4: Deepening the break

The Crusades brought Western armies through Byzantine lands. In 1204, the Fourth Crusade, diverted from its aim, sacked Constantinople, installed a Latin patriarch and plundered churches. Many Greeks never forgave this, and it hardened the division in popular feeling. Later, rulers sought reunion for political reasons, such as the need for help against the Turks. The councils of Lyon in 1274 and Ferrara-Florence in 1438 to 1439 produced union agreements, but they were rejected by the Greek clergy and people.

In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, and the Orthodox lived under Muslim rule for centuries. Meanwhile, in the West, the Reformation introduced new divisions.

Step 5: Since 1965

On December 7, 1965, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople issued a joint declaration lifting the mutual excommunications of 1054, expressing regret for the words and actions that had hurt each side. This did not restore communion. Since then, popes and patriarchs have met, theologians have held dialogues, and in some places Catholic and Orthodox worship together on occasion. The Filioque, the role of the pope and other questions remain open to dialogue.

1. Why might an addition to a creed made by one church trouble another, even if its meaning is defended as true?
2. What is the difference between first among equals and a direct authority over all?
3. Why do small customs like the kind of bread carry such weight?
4. Why did the sack of 1204 matter so much?
5. What might it mean to say that a schism has not one date but a process?
6. What would it take for two churches to restore communion?

Examples

Different perspectives

Catholic

The Catholic Church teaches that the bishop of Rome has primacy of jurisdiction, as defined at the First Vatican Council, and that the Filioque expresses a true insight. The Church also recognizes the Orthodox as sister churches with valid sacraments and has encouraged dialogue, and some Eastern Catholic churches follow Eastern rites while in communion with Rome.

Orthodox

The Orthodox Church holds that the faith of the councils is kept without addition, and that the creed should be said without the Filioque. It teaches that the pope is first in honor among bishops but does not hold universal jurisdiction, and it places authority in the councils and the whole body of the church.

Protestant

Most Protestants, who stem from the Western church, retain the Filioque, and reject papal authority. Some Protestants, including some Anglican bodies, have considered omitting the Filioque in dialogue with the Orthodox, partly for the sake of unity. Protestants generally view the division as a tragedy that has multiplied.

Scholarly views

Historians stress that the schism was a process and that 1054 was a symbolic moment. They discuss the political context, the roles of Humbert and Cerularius and how much the doctrinal issues, as against power and pride, drove the break. They note that many ordinary people in the East and West continued to meet for a time.

Why it matters

The division between East and West is one of the oldest in Christianity, and it shapes the map of the churches today. Understanding it helps a student see why dialogue is slow, why the Filioque and papal authority keep returning, and why events like the Fourth Crusade still matter.

Common misunderstandings

Knowledge check

Think it through

1. How might the memory of a wrong, like 1204, last for centuries?
2. What is the difference between a difference in custom and a difference in doctrine?
3. How can a church be loyal to its tradition and still listen to another?
4. What do you think an ordinary parishioner in 1054 knew about the quarrel?

Independent assignment

A timeline of estrangement

Create a timeline in your notebook from 400 to 1965 with at least twelve entries, including the Filioque in Spain, Charlemagne, Photius, 1054, 1204, Lyon, Florence, 1453 and 1965. For each entry, write one line on what happened and one on how it affected relations between East and West. Then write 200 words on whether you would call 1054 the moment of the schism, and why. Aim for 450 to 650 words.

Further study

• Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church Read the chapters on the schism and on Orthodox ecclesiology.
• Council of Nicaea (325) and Council of Constantinople (381), The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed Compare the Greek and Latin forms of the third article.
• First Vatican Council, Decrees of the First Vatican Council (including Pastor Aeternus on papal primacy and infallibility) Read the decree on the primacy of the pope.
• Augustine of Hippo, On the Trinity See Augustine’s account of the Spirit as the gift of Father and Son.
• John 15:26 The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father.
• Galatians 4:6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son.
• John 17:21 That they all may be one.