lOMoARcPSD|22015503
CHHI WEEK 3 BB - BLACK BOARD
DISCUSSION
Survey of History of Christianity (Liberty University)
lOMoARcPSD|22015503
The great schism of 1054 that divided the eastern and western churches provides a plethora of
lessons for today’s believers on the causes of splits and schisms and offers them an opportunity
to learn how to prevent such splits and schisms from happening within their local congregations
and the global body of Christ. As a student of conflict resolution and peacemaking, the lessons
to be learned from the great schism won’t just help to prevent splits within both local and global
expressions fo the church but would help prevent conflict within any relationship.
In this post, we will first look at the causes of the great schism and then we will look at lessons
that can be drawn from the schisms and applied to prevent splits today.
Part I. Causes of the Great Schism
When we look at the causes of the Great Schism, one may blame the distinct religious culture,
cultural, language, theological, and liturgical differences that existed between the West and the
East. While accurate, such blame would be unhelpful. Such differences just a part of life that is
often out of our control. How we handle them, though, is within our control. The leaders of the
East and West had to choose to respond in ways that bridge the differences or simply complain
or magnify them.
Here are some other differences that Mark Noll points out in chapter 6 of his book, Turning
Points [1].
•“A sharp dispute during the second half of the ninth century between two capable
leaders, Pope Nicholas I (858–67) and Photius, the patriarch of Constantinople
(intermittently 858–86), strained connections between the churches.” Lane, chapter 6
•The West’s addition filioque to the Nicene Creed. This violated both the spirit and the
letter of what had transpired at Nicea. “The spirit by acting unilaterally in making the
change, and the letter by violating an explicit canon of the council that the wording of
its formula was not to be changed.” This is worsened by the fact that the East believes
that this “Western addition was a grievous theological error.”
•A very long and tortuous history of suspicion, disengagement, and estrangement
•“Tangled political–ecclesiastical strife precipitated the crisis”
•The Pope’s political games to go behind the back the Eastern patriarch and regain
authority over the few Greek churches in Italy. Just like the western emperor and
pope were negotiating, the Eastern emperor and patriarch should have been at the
table.
•The Eastern Patriarch’s revenge to shut down the Latin churches in the East when they
refused to his demands to conform to eastern rites. He wanted to reciprocate the
takeover of the Greek churches in Italy.
•Mutual excommunication, started by the West and reciprocated by the East
•“Centuries of East-West cultural disengagement, theological differences,
