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This structure carried the Church through wave after wave of heresies
that warred against her unity. A major schism did eventually occur,
however, largely due to political developments. From the time the
Church was legalized, there had always been some sense of separation
between the Patriarchate of Rome, which was Latin-speaking and
associated with the Western Roman Empire, and the other four
patriarchates, which were Greek-speaking and associated with the
Eastern Roman Empire. From the fifth century on, this sense of
separation was heightened as the Western Empire began to disintegrate,
torn apart by barbarian invasions. The chaotic situation made
communications with Constantinople problematic, as words could then be
carried only by human beings, and travel through the war-torn regions
between Rome and Constantinople was difficult if not impossible much
of the time. Additionally, as institutions of learning were destroyed
by the barbarian hordes, fewer and fewer people in the West could
understand Greek. Theologians arose in the West (notably Augustine)
who interpreted the Faith in ways that were subtly different from
those of the rest of the Church; as these differences could not be
corrected immediately, they grew into serious theological problems.
The most serious of these problems is referred to briefly as "the filioque." The Nicene Creed, adopted by the entire Church at the two
Councils of Nicaea in the fourth century, stated, "I believe in the
Holy Spirit . . . who proceeds from the Father, who is worshipped and
glorified with the Father and the Son." For reasons too complicated to
go into here, the West gradually came to adopt an alteration to the
Creed, so that it read, "I believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds
from the Father and the Son [in Latin, filioque] . . ." This addition
has the effect of reducing the Holy Spirit to a secondary place in the
Trinity, subordinate to the Father and the Son; it was soundly
repudiated by the Church in the East.
Over the course of the following centuries, the Western Church, guided
by Rome, grew gradually more distinct from and independent of the
Eastern Church, and the bishops of Rome appropriated more and more
power-both secular and ecclesiastical. Their division reached a climax
in 1054, when the patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople mutually
excommunicated each other. This event is referred to as the Great
Schism. From this time on, the Church in the West called itself the
Roman Catholic Church, while the Church in the East was known as the
Eastern Orthodox Church ("Orthodox" meaning "right doctrine" or "right
worship").
What is The Orthodox Christian Church?: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
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