Question

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	Which event sparked the division of Catholicism into distinctly Western and Eastern religious and cultural traditions? [A]. Which event solidified this division, which remains today?

Answer 1

The Great Schism divided Chalcedonian Christianity into what are now known as the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths. The East–West Schism, also called the Great Schism and the Schism of 1054, was the break of communion between what are now the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches, which has lasted since the 11th century. Eastern Orthodox Catholics and Roman Catholics are the result of what is known as the East-West Schism (or Great Schism) of 1054, when medieval Christianity split into two branches. The Byzantine split with Roman Catholicism came about when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne, King of the Franks, as Holy Roman Emperor in 800. From the Byzantine viewpoint, this was a slap to the Eastern Emperor and the Byzantine Empire itself an empire that had withstood barbarian invasions and upheld the faith for centuries. After Rome fell in 476, Byzantium was the only vestige of the Holy Roman Empire.

Charlemagne’s crowning made the Byzantine Emperor redundant, and relations between the East and the West deteriorated until a formal split occurred in 1054. The Eastern Church became the Greek Orthodox Church by severing all ties with Rome and the Roman Catholic Church from the pope to the Holy Roman Emperor on down.

Over the centuries, the Eastern Church and Western Church became more distant and isolated for the following reasons. Over the centuries, the Eastern Church and Western Church became more distant and isolated for the following reasons.

Geography: The West encompassed Western Europe and the northern and western areas of the Mediterranean and the East took up Asia Minor, the Middle East, and Northern Africa.

Ignorance: The Byzantine Church knew less and less Latin and even less Latin tradition, and vice versa.

Different theologies: The West (Latin) was more practical and, although with belief in the divinity of Christ. The East (Byzantine) was more theoretical and, although fully believing in the humanity of Christ, focused on his divinity, which was much more mysterious.

In northern Europe, the Teutonic Knights, after their 12th- and 13th-century successes in the Northern Crusades, attempted (1240) to conquer the Eastern Orthodox Russian Republics of Pskov and Novgorod, an enterprise endorsed by Gregory IX (Pope from 1227 to 1241). One of the major defeats the Teutonic Knights suffered was the Battle of the Ice in 1242. Catholic Sweden also undertook several campaigns against Orthodox Novgorod. There were also conflicts between Catholic Poland and Orthodox Russia. Such conflicts solidified the schism between East and West.

The Great Schism split the main faction of Christianity into two divisions, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. Today, they remain the two largest denominations of Christianity.