Split between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church - Research Paper Example

Religion and Theology 26 February The Split between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church Great world religions erupted as a result of the collapse of classical dynasties that existed before. Most religions were region based for example Buddhism, which was a religion based and practised by Indians. Hinduism too was a religion within India though it was concentrated more around Brahman and some few surrounding towns. Christianity too was a religion that dominated the Roman Empire; it also crossed borders to the Middle East and some regions in Africa. The spread of Christianity began after the chaos in China that led to the collapse of Rome. Christianity spread towards the centre of the Middle East. It continually gained a significant number of converts and eventually became one of the world’s strongest religions. During the postclassical civilization, Christianity took the centre stage as it played a vital role both in Western and Eastern parts of Europe. Christianity is believed to have begun as part of Jewish reform movement. Even before the birth of Jesus, some Jews had begun to preach about the coming messiah. The Jews had the belief that the birth of Jesus would bring salvation to mankind, and judgement as well to those who failed to honour salvation. Christianity transformed from the persecuted group of believers over a long period of time, alongside the harsh and vastly changing political environment in Europe. During the fourth and the fifth century, the Roman Empire collapsed. This enhanced the growth of a very powerful church that remained on course for a very long time. All this collapse resulted in subjugation of the church. The early followers of Christ began to spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. It began with one the earliest converts like Saul, who was converted to Paul, and his major task was an assignment to take the Christ’s message around the Mediterranean region. Wherever he went, he created churches and constantly wrote letters to them. The early churches shared their common belief in Christ and were united in their worship; they usually met together, shared the scriptures and listened to one another. They were very caring and were usually bonded together. However, as time went by “Christians began to disagree as to who should lead the groups, the form the worship should take, and how Christian beliefs should be understood. This led to splits within the Christian church” (Jordan 5). It has been observed that the early churches enhanced their unity through faith. They had unity of the doctrine and the traditions that existed in the churches, and this led to true union between the church in Rome which was western based, and the church in the eastern part of the continent. Duval says that “this unity gave the possibility to the Christian church to resist and to crash all the heresies that appeared in the first three centuries and to keep unaltered the Christian “deposit of faith”” (17). The church began to show signs of disintegration one time when a council of Bishops met at Chameldon. After a lengthy meeting, they came up with resolutions that were not favourable to the Eastern Bishops. The discontentment led to the formation of an Eastern Oriented church. Full disintegration occurred in 1054; Keene says that “it was not until 1054, however, that the split between East and West became final with the formation of the Eastern Orthodox [right belief] church” (28). There are a number of differences that led to the split such as the declaration of the Roman Pope to have supreme powers over all the churches; Christians in the west clinched on Pope as the leader and the successor of St. Peter, whereas the Christians in the East could not accept the leadership of one person. The intention to make Rome the main headquarters of all the churches was the second reason. The third reason was a disagreement over the changes of the wordings regarding the Nicene Creed by the Romans; the Orthodox Church was in full disagreement over this. And finally, the manner in which the trinity was to be undertaken. This was the first major division to have occurred in Christianity and it came to be known as the great schism. The division of Christianity between the East and West is deeply rooted to church history. This is because there were earlier signs of disintegration between the churches; it began with the language barriers whereby the Eastern churches spoke and wrote in Greek, while the Eastern churches spoke and wrote in Latin. Additionally, there was geographical separation and the manner in which the pope seemed to favour the West, while ignoring the East; he is reported to have at one time turned his attention to the West after Pepin had donated a portion of his land that was situated in the central part of Italy to papacy (Eckman, graceuniversity.edu). Easter celebration became another source of misunderstanding between the West and the East. These theological differences occurred due to the East celebration of Easter during the Passover, while the West celebrated it on Sunday. Thereafter, Easter celebration underwent some modification. Each century came with its own formula and dates causing further division among the churches. The Roman Catholic Church did not achieve full loyalty by its members. There were some who were also discontented with the day to day running of the church activities. With time, a group of discontented individuals came up, among them was the man Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran Church. Once again, like the issue arose due to the position of the pope, Luther did not agree with the practice of the church to hype more praises to the Pope rather than to God. Protest by Luther led to the formation of protestant movement, which further split the church. Luther himself had to undergo some punishment like being denied to participate in Holy Communion and some other church activities. Further division of the Roman church occurred in England when the then king Henry VIII disagreed with the Pope over marital issues. He wanted to have a divorce, but after the king rejected his proposals, they fell out and he resolved to forming his own church, “he declared himself to be the head and protector of the church in England and its Supreme Governor” (Keene 29). During this period of great schism, Pope Leo IX excommunicated Orthodox Patriarch (Eckman, graceuniversity.edu). On the other hand, the Patriarch also excommunicated the pope. The intensity of the rivalry and separation escalated during 1204 Crusade; “the hostility and split were intensified when during the 1204 crusade, the crusaders sacked and pillaged Constantinople on good Friday ” (Eckman, graceuniversity.edu). There was a surprise change of relationship between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox between 1992 and 1965, during the wake of the Second Vatican Council and the Pan-Orthodox Conferences between 1961 and 1968 (FitzGerald 100). This new relationship was also experienced after the meeting between Pope Paul IV and Patriarch Athnagoras of Constantinople. Time after time, dialogues were held; however, in 1995 a formal meeting was held between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. Indeed, there are various steps and hopes for church reunion, as church leaders enter into various agreements. Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church formed a joint commission for a dialogue in 1979; there were several positives that resulted from this commission, “since its establishment, the commission has produced four significant statements” (FitzGerald 208). The first understanding dealt on the issue of sacraments. Secondly, in 1987, a deal was drawn that harmonised faith, sacraments, and the unity of the church. The third and the fourth dealt with ordained ministry and full communion consecutively. Non-conformist was the name given to those who did not conform to the doctrines of the church. Examples of non-conformists churches that were formed as rebels to the Roman churches were the Baptists church, the Methodist church, and the Salvation Army. The Baptists church was formed in the 17th century; their main concern was all about baptism and they believed that only adults were to be baptised and not children. The Quakers church was considered to be the quietest church. The Methodist church was formed in the 18th century; its priest was John Wesley and was based in England. The Salvation Army also existed in the 18th century and was a split from the Methodist. Church breakups are still evident to this day. Many churches are being formed leading to huge competition for the converts. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the denominations found on earth and has more than half of the total Christian believers in the world. Although it is found worldwide, it has strongest establishment in America and in Europe. Catholic believers lay their faith and teachings in Jesus and the apostles. However, they too have links to the later traditions of the church. The Roman Catholic Church is led by one leader, who is the Pope. On the other end, the Orthodox Christianity is characterised by its practise to stick to the traditions and the unchanging continuity of the past. Becoming a Christian had seemed to be very hard before, but now, it is a communal religion. The earlier understanding of Christianity was that someone had to belong to a community for him to be a Christian. Some Christianity has been turned to look more into an individual practice than community, otherwise it is a universal religion, and like those that practices Judaism believe that they have been called (i.e. they are the chosen one). When Jesus was spreading the word of God, he did not give out any guideline regarding the formation of religions or churches. After the inception of Christianity, varied communities and groups took different forms of worship with different scriptures and believe (Woodhead 181). Protestant churches came as a result of protests against the Roman Catholic Church; this was after loyalty was cut off due to dissatisfaction. The break up led to creation of a number of denominations, which are still grouped together under the Protestants. Between the Protestants and the Roman Catholic lies the Anglican Church which traces its origin to both the Catholic and the Protestants; there are a commonality of both denominations as practised in Anglican. Woodhead identifies the greatest difference among the Christian based denominations; she observes that “for the Orthodox churches, the tradition of the church- including its liturgy and its earliest writings and creeds- has primacy. For Catholics, the church, its sacraments, and tradition are central and these come to a focus in the figure of the Pope” (181). Protestants are much known for their attributes towards scripture rather than the traditions. Also the Protestants do not have much hierarchy. When the Roman Catholic lost its social and political power over the region, it has then resolved to consolidating management over its supporters. During some periods of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Catholic developed a habit of attacking modernity as well as condemning many social activities that were rampant throughout the world. Earlier popes experienced a lot of hostilities from various state leaders. However, the modern Popes and their clerical advisors and diplomats have done much to ensure that the church is in its strategic position in the modern world. It has gone to the point of entering various agreements with the modern leaders, so as to protect Catholicism and its work round the globe. Woodhead says that “such agreements often established the church’s right to maintain Catholic schools and colleges, protected the status and property of the church and its clergy, and allowed Roman Catholicism to be practised freely and openly” (184). Due to the fact that long periods of separation have been witnessed among Christians due to reasons ranging from political, social and cultural divides, the current crop of Christians needs to shake off the division and promote the unity. Division between the east and the west churches in the ancient times indeed created a gap amongst many denominations, as Slick says, “one of the signs of apostasy (falling from the truth) in the Christian Church is the bickering and disunity among Christians” (carm.org). Jesus had preached the gospel reiterating the importance of unity. He urged that through love, all Christians were going to get united. This division has further been condemned by Pope Francis, who said that “the divisions that exist among Christians are source of pain and scandal, and damage the credibility and work of spreading the Gospel” (Glatz, catholicnews.com). Christians need to have repentance; they need to look at themselves, have a look at one another, and make a common stand against the common enemy. All Christians are united by the blood of Christ and therefore, should not look at one another as Protestant, Catholic, or Lutheran. Slick urges all Christians to look at their hearts and minds, then make judgment, but consider loving one another (carm.org). The only true reconciliation is having faith in Jesus and the scripture. Although there are differences in opinion and worship styles, there is the need for all Christians to remain united in one as Christ’s body. Works Cited Duval, Eugene J. The Road to a United Christian Church. Bloomington: Author House, 2009. Print. Eckman, Jim. “The Split between Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.” graceuniversity.edu. 20 August 2011. Web. 26 February 2014. FitzGerald, Thomas E. The Ecumenical Movement: An Introductory History. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Glatz, Carol. “Divisions among Christians are ‘a Scandal,’ Pope says at Audience.” catholicnews.com. 22 January 2014. Web. 26 February 2014. Jordan, Anne. Christianity. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd., 2000. Print. Keene, Michael. Introducing Christianity. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998. Print. Slick, Matt. “The Need for Unity in the Church.” carm.org. n.d. Web. 26 February 2014. Woodhead, Linda. Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations. London: Routledge, 2003. Print. Read More