Effects Of The Great Schism

The Great Schism is the first major split in the Christian Church between the Greek Eastern side of the Church and Roman Western side of the Church. This Split came from a combination of many events such as the Filioque controversy, the split of the Roman Empire, Communion bread controversy,and ending with the excommunication of Cerularius. This split led to great changes in the Church, politics, and society with its effects still being present today.

The Great Schism had a variety of events leading up to it. One of them is the Filioque controversy. The Filioque controversy is a complication between the two Churches on which the Holy Spirit derives from. The West believes that the Holy Spirit derives from both God and the Son while the East

They were no longer able to communicate with each other efficiently because the West speaks Latin and the East speaks Greek (Source 1). This distinction between each side made the East question why they should be ruled by someone so far away that they do not even share the same culture which also led to the split. Additionally, a controversy that caused the split of the Western and Eastern Church is the Communion bread controversy. The West believed that unleavened bread should be used for Communion while the East believed that they should not use unleavened bread and just use regular bread (Source 2). This is very important to the split because this is a disagreement on the most important part of the faith. It is hard for a religion to be united when the most important part has disagreements. All these events added up and resulted in Pope Leo III from the West and Michael Cerularius from the East excommunicating each other which solidified the split. The main effect of the Great Schism is the Church being split and never becoming

One reason the Great Schism was inevitable is because the fall of the Western Roman Empire made these two heads of the Church very distant from each other (Source 3). The distance between them made it impossible for them to talk to each other efficiently and the difference in language made it even more difficult. If they cannot communicate well and do not have the means to travel to each other in a timely manner they cannot easily settle controversies and correct writing that have most likely been translated differently. Also the distance from each other made the East question why they are following someone so far away from them. It was also inevitable because the Church was still relatively young at the time and are still making changes and interpreting the text that can spark controversies which, like stated before, are very hard to solve because of their distance. Finally, the Great Schism was inevitable because the controversies in the were left out standing for hundreds of years (Source 4). When doctrines are not united for hundreds of years they start to treat each other as strangers and with unkindness like Humbert and Cerularius (Source 4). With them being this distant in doctrine with no turning back because they cannot communicate well, there is no other compromise but splitting