1. The Byzantine Church

2. The Roman Empire The Christian religion started in this empire.
It was called the Roman Catholic religion.
The leader of the Roman Catholic church is the Pope.

3. When the Roman Empire fell…
The Pope stayed behind to help calm and Christianize the Germanic Barbarians.

4. The Byzantine Empire
The Romans who moved east to Constantinople needed a new religious leader since they could no longer easily communicate with the Pope in Rome.
Constantinople
Rome

5. The Byzantine Empire
Selected a leader they called the Patriarch to be the head of their faith.
They began to call their religion the Eastern Orthodox Church.

6. Both are Christian Roman Catholic Western Europe Leader = Pope
Other churchmen select who will be Pope
Used Latin in the church services
Crowns leaders in a religious service
Believes the Pope is more powerful than kings
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Europe
Leader = Patriarch
The Byzantine emperor selects who will be Patriarch
Used Greek in the church services
Crowns leaders in a religious service
Believes the emperor is more powerful than the Patriarch

7. Icons = pictures of holy people
Many Byzantine people liked them.
Their emperor, Leo III, banned them.
Many Byzantines and the Pope in Rome were upset by this.
This caused the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Christians to start to separate from one another.
Oddly, the Eastern Orthodox church still uses icons today.

8. The split widens
The Pope in Rome claimed to be the head of all Christian churches everywhere.
The Byzantines disagreed, saying the Patriarch and other bishops were equal to the Pope.
One leader for all Christians everywhere.
No, we are all equal leaders.

9. The split widens even more
In the late 700s the Byzantine emperor refused to help the Pope in Rome when he was attacked by barbarians.
The Pope turned to the Frank tribe for help and gave the Frankish king, Charlemagne, the title of Holy Roman emperor.
This angered the Byzantines.

10. Schism = the final separation
In 1054 the Pope and the Patriarch excommunicate one another (declare that the other is no longer part of the church or heaven bound.)
This separated Roman Catholic Christianity from Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Eastern Orthodox
Roman Catholic