The East/West Schism

The East/West Schism



During the Middle Ages, in the year 1054 Pope Leo IX of the West and Patriarch Michael Cerularius of the East excommunicated one another, orders which remained in effect until they were annulled in 1965. This happened after centuries of argument and caused the first and greatest rift in the Christian church to this day. That split is known as the East/west schism, and from it grew the two major halves of Christianity that exist today, the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic

The East/West schism was the first major schism of Christianity. The two major groups of Christianity were the Roman and Constantine Churches, and while the eventual excommunication of both groups was over a very small matter it was the result of many differences between the two churches and paved the way for many more divisions within the Christian church for centuries to come.

The year 1054 was not the beginning of the break between the east and west churches, but the year o...