Causes Of East-West Schism

“The Great Schism”

The Great Schism also referred to as The East-West Schism, divided "Chalcedonian" Christianity into Western Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in 1054. The East-West Schism was the result of an extended period of separation between the two bodies of churches. It was the historic sundering of Eucharistic relations between the see of Rome – now the Roman Catholic Church, and the sees of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem – now the Orthodox Church. It divided medieval Mediterranean Christendom into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively.

The political cause was the splitting of the Roman Empire. In the 400s AD, the

Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. These religions consider that, outside of marriage, deliberate sexual thoughts, feelings, and behavior are sinful; clerical celibacy also requires abstention from these. In the West, Rome began to require all clergy to be celibate. Clerical celibacy is mandated for all clergy in the Latin Church except deacons who do not intend to become priests. Exceptions are sometimes admitted for ordination to transitional diaconate and priesthood on a case-by-case basis for married clergymen of other churches or communities who become Catholics, but ordination of married men to the episcopacy is excluded. Clerical marriage is not allowed and therefore, if those whom in some particular Church celibacy is optional, such as permanent deacons in the Latin Church, wish to marry, they must do so before ordination. In the East, Eastern Catholic Churches either follow the same rules as the Latin Church or require celibacy for bishops while allowing priestly ordination of married

Differences, disagreements, and distance had been laying the foundation for the Great Schism for