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Religion and the Great Schism

Directions: Read the documents and answer the questions which follow. Then fill out the chart.

Background: In 800 CE Pope Leo III (Religious leader of the Catholic Church) crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor, igniting tensions. In the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor was head of the churches, therefore a Pope should not have had the power to appoint an Emperor. Tensions continued, and in 1014 CE, Pope Leo IX claimed he, not the Emperor should have authority over the Patriarchs in the Empire (Patriarchs are heads of church). Finally, in 1054 CE, Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Cerularius excommunicated one another after an altercation (excommunication occurs when one is banished from the church, and barred entrance into Heaven). At that point, the church split. Western Europeans adopted Roman Catholicism and the Byzantine Emperor adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Document 1

Source: Nicetas, Archbishop of Nicomedia, 12th century

… we do not deny to the Roman Church the primacy amongst the five sister Patriarchates; and we recognize her right to the most honorable seat at an Ecumenical Council. But she has separated herself from us by her own deeds, when through pride she assumed a monarchy which does not belong to her office... How shall we accept decrees from her that have been issued without consulting us and even without our knowledge? If the Roman Pontiff [the Pope], seated on the lofty throne of his glory, wishes to thunder at us and, so to speak, hurl his mandates at us from on high, and if he wishes to judge us and even to rule us and our Churches, not by taking counsel with us but at his own arbitrary pleasure, what kind of brotherhood, or even what kind of parenthood can this be? [if this happens] We should be the slaves, not the sons, of such a Church, and the Roman See would not be the pious mother of sons but a hard and imperious mistress of slaves .(Quoted in S. Runciman, The Eastern Schism, p. 116).

  1. Is the Archbishop Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox? How do you know?
  1. How/ Why does the Archbishop criticize the Pope?

Document 2

Theodore Balsamon, Partriach of Antioch, c. 1190 CE

For many years [he does not say how many] the western Church has been divided in spiritual communion from the other four Patriarchates and has become alien to the Orthodox…. So no Latin (Roman Catholic) should be given communion unless he first declares that he will abstain from the doctrines and customs that separate him from us, and that he will be subject to the Canons of the Church, in union with the Orthodox (Quoted in Runciman, The Eastern Schism, p. 139).

  1. Is Theodore Balsamon Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox? How do you know?
  1. According to this document, what are Roman Catholic’s forbidden to do?

Document 3

Source: Chorus of song sung by Catholic Crusaders, 12th century, after their sack of Constantinople during the 4th Crusade

“Constantinopolitana, civitas diu profana”

Translation: ("City of Constantinople, so long ungodly").

  1. Shade areas which adopted Christianity Blue
  2. Shade areas which adopted Greek Orthodox Christianity Red

Document 5

Roman Catholic / Eastern Orthodox
Pope (Bishop of Rome) / Emperor
Cardinals / Patriarchs (Head of the Church)
Archbishops (Serve over several diocese) / Archbishops (Serve over several diocese)
Bishops (Serve over on diocese) / Priest (Serve over one parish)
Priests (Serve one parish) / Laity (The People)
Laity (The people)

Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic And Eastern Orthodox Churches

  1. Who is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church? Who is the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church?
  1. Why do you think this difference caused tensions between the two religions?

Document 6

During the 8th century, (700-799 CE) many Christians in the former Roman Empire (in the west) used icons, or religious images, to assist in their worship services. In the Byzantine Empire (the eastern half of the former Roman Empire), disagreement developed as to whether or not icons broke the second commandment, of the Ten Commandments, which prohibited the making of “graven images…” The Emperor of the Byzantine Empire tried to wrestle his people away from icon worship, while the leaders of the Roman Church in Italy became upset with the Byzantines. Since most people in Western Europe at the time could not read, icons were valuable assets in the teaching of Christianity. The Pope and other church leaders in Rome banished the Byzantine emperor from the Christian church.

- adapted from “Christianity Clashes” Gluck

1. Why did the two sides of the Empire clash over icons?

Document 7

Source: Chart compiled from the World Fact Book, 2011

In the centuries that followed the founding of the Byzantine Empire, the Christian Church of Rome and the Christian church of Constantinople gradually grew apart. The split had to do with the interpretation of the Bible (whether or not priests could get married) and the refusal of Constantinople to accept the supreme authority of the Pope over the Emperor. The Pope became the head of the Catholic Church and the Patriarch became the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Eastern Orthodox Christianity would spread throughout Northern Europe.

Nation / World Rank in Orthodox Population / Population who are Eastern Orthodox / Percentage of Nation Eastern Orthodox
Russia / 1 / 106,445,473 / 75%
Ukraine / 2 / 34,862,521 / 76%
Ethiopia / 3 / 34,461,135 / 44%
Romania / 4 / 18,726,332, / 88%
Greece / 5 / 11,020,059 / 98%
United States / 11 / 5,269,864 / 2%
  1. What were the two reasons why the Eastern and Western churches split?
  1. Where did Eastern Orthodox Christianity spread?

Document 8

Source: the Russian Orthodox Church of Washington DC at

Pepin [steward of the Frankish Kings who were allied with the Pope]… took away from the Lombards [not allied with the pope] the lands conquered by them in Italy and delivered into the pope's hands the keys to twenty two cities and the Ravenna Exarchate, which had previously belonged to the Byzantine Empire. Thus, the Pope was transformed from a subject of the Eastern Roman (Constantinopolitan) emperor into an independent secular sovereign, not dependent on any other sovereign, with an independent territory and with possession of supreme state authority on this territory.

  1. What territory did Pepin give to the Pope?
  1. What does this tell you about the Pope’s power?

Document 9