70: Why So Many Churches?: The Day Christianity Split in Two – Part 4

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Welcome to the Ready for Eternity podcast, a podcast and blog dedicated to inquisitive

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Bible students exploring Biblical truths that might not be fully explored in typical sermons or Bible studies.

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My name is Eddie Lawrence. In 1054 AD, one act inside a grand cathedral shattered a thousand years of church unity.

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Today, we explore the first church split. July 16, 1054

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AD started like any other day in Constantinople. By evening,

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Christianity had officially split for the first time in its thousand -year history.

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A Roman church representative walked into the Hagia Sophia, the magnificent cathedral of the

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Eastern Church. He placed a letter of excommunication on the altar, then walked out.

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The letter condemned the patriarch of Constantinople and anyone who followed him.

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One thousand years of Christian unity ended with a piece of parchment. How did it come to this, and what does this ancient split teach us about handling disagreement in our churches today?

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The division didn't happen overnight. For centuries,

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Eastern and Western Christianity had been drifting apart, like continents slowly separating.

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Geography played a role. Rome anchored the Western churches, Constantinople, which is modern -day

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Istanbul, led the Eastern churches. These cities sat over 800 miles apart in an age when communication traveled at the speed of horses.

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Language also created barriers. Western churches spoke Latin, while Eastern churches spoke

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Greek. Western Christianity developed a more legal, organized approach. Eastern Christianity emphasized mystery and contemplation.

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Different cultures produced different ways of following Jesus. But the real problem was power.

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Who had authority over the entire Christian church? After the

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Roman Empire collapsed in the West, the Pope filled the power vacuum. He claimed authority over all

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Christians everywhere. This made sense to Western Christians who had watched their bishops provide leadership when the governments failed.

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But Eastern Christians disagreed. They had their own bishops, their own emperor, their own thriving civilization.

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Why should a bishop in distant Rome tell them how to run their churches? The Eastern church operated more like a family of equal siblings.

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Major bishops held equal authority in their regions, and important decisions required consensus among these leaders.

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The Western church developed more like a corporation. The Pope served as CEO with other bishops reporting to him.

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This provided clear leadership, but concentrated enormous power in one person.

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By 1054, specific disagreements and rivalries made the underlying tensions explosive.

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According to Philip Schaff in History of the Christian Church, there were three primary causes of East -West division.

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1. Political and ecclesiastical rivalry. The Patriarch of Constantinople, who was backed by the

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Byzantine Empire, and the Bishop of Rome, who was connected to the new

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German Empire, competed for supremacy and influence. 2.

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Growing papal centralization. As the Roman church centralized more power through the papacy, its overbearing conduct alienated

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Eastern churches. 3. Divergent development paths.

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The Greek or Eastern church maintained traditional theology and claimed perfection in their existing creed.

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The Roman church became progressive and dynamic, developing new theological ideas and expanding into new territories.

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Schaff also lists several factors which contributed to the wedge being driven between East and West.

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One was the filioque controversy. Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the

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Father alone, or from the Father and the Son? Western churches had added the words and the

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Son, which is the word filioque in Latin, to the Nicene Creed without consulting

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Eastern churches. Eastern leaders saw this as both theologically wrong and procedurally arrogant.

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Another contributing factor was priestly marriage. Eastern churches allowed married men to become priests.

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Western churches required celibacy. A third factor was liturgical practices.

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Rome withdrew the communion cup from lay people, while the East continued giving both bread and wine.

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And fourth, the immaculate conception of Mary. Rome adopted the idea that Mary was free of original sin and remained free of personal sin.

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The Eastern church rejected this. Add political pressure, cultural pride, and centuries of growing mistrust, along with theological difference, and all these became weapons of war, so to speak.

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The final crisis began when the Pope claimed authority over churches in Southern Italy that had traditionally followed

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Eastern practices. The Patriarch of Constantinople protested. The Pope sent representatives to resolve the dispute, but instead of negotiating, the papal representatives issued ultimatums.

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They demanded the Eastern church submit to Roman authority and adopt Western practices.

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When Eastern leaders refused, the representatives excommunicated them.

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For the first time in Christian history, major church leaders formally declared each other outside the faith.

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The church that had survived Roman persecution, barbarian invasions, and theological controversies finally split apart.

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So what are the lessons for today? The Great Schism reveals patterns that still affect churches today.

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For example, communication breakdown leads to conflict escalation.

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When Eastern and Western leaders stopped talking, misunderstandings multiplied. When they finally did communicate, they spoke past each other instead of listening.

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Another is that cultural differences can create theological tensions. Different cultures naturally emphasize different aspects of biblical truth.

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This diversity can enrich the church, but it can also create division when people assume their cultural approach is the only biblical approach.

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Power struggles corrupt spiritual discussions. The Great Schism wasn't really about communion practices or the marriage status of priest.

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It was about who controlled Christianity's future. When spiritual discussions become power contests, everybody loses.

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And finally, small issues become major conflicts without wise leadership.

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Patient dialogue and mutual respect could have resolved many of the specific agreements, but leaders on both sides chose confrontation over the priorities of God's kingdom.

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Today's churches face similar tensions, splitting over worship styles, leadership structures, and theological interpretations.

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The Great Schism offers both warning and wisdom. Pride, power, and poor communication destroyed unity over issues largely absent from New Testament teaching.

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Much of what divided East and West, clerical celibacy, papal supremacy, liturgical language, and the

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Filioque clause represented traditions developed centuries after the apostles, not biblical mandates.

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These disputes elevated human customs to the level of divine command, claiming authority that belongs only to God.

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Paul asks the Corinthians, Is Christ divided? This question still challenges us.

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When Christians fight over non -essential traditions rather than biblical truth, the world watches and the gospel's credibility suffers.

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The New Testament records plenty of Christian conflict. The challenge is distinguishing between essential doctrine and secondary issues, handling disagreements in a way that honor

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Christ while maintaining spiritual unity. The Great Schism reminds us how much damage we can do when we teach as doctrine the precepts of men.

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That's all for now. Keep studying your Bible, growing closer to God, and getting ready for eternity.