The Great Schism
The Church Divides During the Byzantine Empire, Christianity underwent a dramatic development. The Empire had grown to such an extent again that communication throughout the empire was difficult. Christianity had begun to develop differently in the Western and Eastern Empires. WEST SIDE EAST SIDE
Eastern Christianity In the East, Christianity had built its heritage on the works of early Church fathers, they would write and describe how monks and Christians should behave.
Social Ladder Problems In the Catholic Church, the top of the ladder is the Pope Next come Bishops, then Cardinals, then Priests and Monks. A Patriarch in the leading Bishop. All church officials are referred to as the Clergy Even the Pope or a Patriarch has to bow to the Emperor, yet an Emperor has to listen to a Pope to receive salvation. This conflict between the Emperors and Popes relationship will cause conflicts for the rest of time. The Pope is located in Rome (West) and the Emperor is located in Constantinople (East)
Problem #1 Emperor Leo III (in the EAST) bans the use of Icons Pope (in the WEST) says Icons are okay
Problem #2 Excommunication- banning someone from the Church and salvation The Pope (leader of church in West) excommunicates the Patriarch (leader of church in the East) They decide to go their separate ways and the EAST creates a new type of church…the EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Orthodox Christianity Orthodox means, “correct in teaching”. As the West and East grew apart, the two traditions competed for converts. Missionaries in the East took their form of Christianity to the Slavs, groups that inhabited the forests north of the Black Sea. But how do you make someone understand something when you don’t speak the same language?
Illuminated Manuscripts Books that are supplemented with art--ornamental designs, fancy capitals, miniature illustrations, etc.
Cyrillic Alphabet Saint Methodius and Saint Cyril worked among the Slavs and invented an alphabet for the Slavic languages. This Cyrillic Alphabet is the alphabet used to write Bibles for the Orthodox Church With an alphabet, Slavs would be able to read the Bible in their own tongues.
Ibrihim Isaac Sidrak Pope Francis
Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox Comparison Chart Use your textbook to complete the chart comparing and contrasting the two churches