East-West Schism
The topic I chose for my project was The East–West Schism, also called the Great Schism and the Schism of 1054. A schism is a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief. The east-west schism was a split that happened between two parts of the roman empire which changed people views of cultural and political things. 1054 was the year that Christianity split into two branches of communion that are now known as the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches. The split was given a formal status when the spiritual leaders of the two competing branches officially excluded each other and their respective churches from participating in sacraments and services. The break happened through a gradual process that extended from the 9th to the 15th century. Causes of the divisions included political, cultural, economic, and social as well as religious differences that originated before the 1000’s. In 1053, the first step was taken in the process which led to the formal schism, the Greek churches in southern Italy were forced either to close or to conform to Latin practices. In respond, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius ordered the closure of all Latin churches in Constantinople. Communication between the Greek-speaking East and the Latin West broke down as church and other leaders in each no longer spoke or read the language of the other half of the Christian world. In 1054, Pope Leo IX sent three legates, led by Cardinal Humbert, to Cerularius. On July 16, 1054, Humbert laid upon the altar of Hagias Sophia a bull of excommunication of Cerularius and his partisans. The Latin Crusaders made the schism definitive, between the Greek...
