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east west schism
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The East West Schism in Chrisitan Church Explain the causes of the Schism between the East and West Christian Churches. Evaluate the impact of the Schism on the development of the Western Christian Church. The East West Schism of 1054 occurred due to centuries of tensions between the Greek and Roman Church. The eventual split between the two denominations cannot be pinpointed to one specific event but a built up of hostility which occurred as a result of many small problems between the groups. In the period building up to the Schism certain individuals and events provided fuel for the development of arguments within the church. The Schism had a significant impact on the church and effected the respective development of the Roman Catholic or West church and the Eastern Orthodox or East Church. The cause of the Schism varied significantly, doctrinal differences between the two denominations began to arise and cause conflict between the leaders of the church. The issue regarding the sacredness of saints arose within the church. The Greeks under Emperor Leo believed no reverence should be given to the saints and with this removed all images of saints from their churches. Rome objected to this behavior, which in turn caused arguments between Emperor Leo and the Bishop of Rome. It was not only the issue of saints that plagued differences within the doctrinal teachings of the churches. The nature of Christ also caused divergence within the Church. The council of Ephesus in 431CE and the Council of Chalcedon in 415CE saw a dispute over the nature of Christ between the Greek and Roman groups. During this the Greek Church developed their own ecclesial structure in which they defined their own opinion of the divine and human nature of Christ. This caused uproar within the church and had a notable effect on the eventual Schism. The council of Chalcedon continued to be an issue of unrest within the church with numerous councils and individuals arguing over the doctrines created, this included the Second Council of Constantinople and Emperor Zeno. Differences within the culture of the two groups had an effect on the nature of the Schism. The church had tried to adopt both the Roman and Greek culture into it’s liturgies but found this impossible. Variations in the groups remained too important to be ignored. Language being one of these factors, the Greeks wanted to say mass in Greek where as the Roman’s wanted to keep the mass in the traditional Latin. The Roman Church was not concerned with translating the bible into the local languages of the people unlike the church in the east. Within the Eastern Church icons had also been an important expression of faith, while the Western church believed that the Crucifix should be the only icon worshiped.
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