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The Byzantine Empire
The Schism of Christianity into two Churches - The Orthodox Church
In 1054 the Christian Church was divided into two movements, Catholic
and Orthodox. This Skhisma (Greek for break or divide,) confirmed the independence of Byzance from Rome.
This schism was a result of several rather complicated factors which
alienated the East in Byzance, (Constantinople) from the West in Rome.
In 988 Russian and Ukrainian Slavs had converted to Christianity under Prince Vladimir
in Kiev. The new Russian Christians had a very different experience of life and spirituality
than the older Christians. Their conversion changed the balance of interests among theologians in Constantinople. Between 1000 and 1053, Constantinople and Rome argued over religious matters, such as whether popes in Roman and
Patriarchs in Constantinople should be allowed to marry and have families, or if whether Jesus Christ should be emphasised
rather than Christianity’s Holy Spirit. The Byzantines emphasised mystical and philosophical spirituality, but
the Roman church emphasised the material existence of Jesus Christ and
was more practical and obedience-focused. -
The most important reason for a rupture was the Iconoclastic controversy in 1053-54. This was a
dispute about images, begun by Leo the Isaurian in the period 717-741, when he adopted certain elements of Islamic
belief. For the Byzantines and for Muslims, worshipping images in the place of their God and prophets was thought to
be wrong. So in 1054 the Byzantine Patriarch accused the Pope in Rome
of supporting the worship of images, a grave fault in the eyes of the Patriarch in Constantinople.
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These were strong elements for a schism in the Church, but the separation was further confirmed in 1204. The
Western Catholic Christians did not always show a lot of respect for their Eastern neighbours. In 1204 Frankish Crusaders
were conducting a holy war against non-Christians, following a Byzantine Patriarch’s request for help.
However, during the Franks' crusade they attacked Christian Constantinople for their personal advantage! A consequence of this was
that the Orthodox Byzantines became very distrustful of Catholic Western Europe.
The End of Byzantium
A modern historian has written: Between 1000 and 1453, the Empire became more
and more introverted, that means more concerned with its own internal
affairs than with those of the rest of Europe, Asia or Africa. Internal political disputes became vicious, although
they did not affect the stability of Empire. As in the ancient Roman Empire, the Byzantines had many palace
revolutions and ambitious assassins.
In 1453 Byzantium became Muslim following
its defeat by the Ottoman Turks.
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