The Eastern Orthodox Church

A Photo History

Learning Goals

• To understand the factors that led to the split of the Christian Church.

• To explain how the decline of the Byzantines changed the course of European history.

ROMANS &BYZANTINES

? Roman Catholic Pope Francis

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill(The largest of the Orthodox Churches)

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But why and how did this split happen?

Lead up to the Great Schism

• Iconoclasm• 800 AD - Pope declares Charlemagne Holy Roman

Emperor. So how do you think the Emperor in Constantinople felt?

• Geography – Very far apart.• Language - Latin Vs. Greek• Religious Focus• Personalities and Conflicts• Christian Religions

The Great (East-West) Schism

• The Official Split of Christianity happened in 1054 AD.

Recent News

Attempts to bridge the gap.

ICONS

ICONOCLASMImage Breaking

More on Iconoclasm. Back

Religious PracticesRoman -West Byzantine - East

Emphasis on Jesus’s Humanity Emphasis on Jesus’s Divinity

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Personalities and Conflicts• Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Pope

St. Leo IX weren’t friends, and each one mistrusted the other. Cerularius crossed the line when he wrote in a letter that the Latin use of unleavened bread was Jewish but not Christian. He was denying the validity of the Holy Eucharist in the Western Church. Leo countered by saying that the patriarchs had always been puppets of the Byzantine emperors.

• In the end, Pope Leo and Patriarch Michael excommunicated each other and their respective churches.

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ChristianReligions

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