Christianity beginnings, the Great Shcism and Reformation of the Church.
...sed in Rome with the Pope as the head. The church of the east known today as the Orthodox Church was based in Constantinople with the Patriarch its Head. The Great schism was caused by the different positions taken by the Western and Eastern Churches on Papal Authority, inclusion of the filioque phrase, the relationship between rituals and doctrine clerical celibacy and other issues seen as minor in today’s world. Papal Authority was an important doctrinal issue that was given the cause of the Great Schism. The west held that the Pope should have absolute power in both the East and West. The East was prepared to honour the special position of the pope but believed that doctrinal issues were best decided by a council of the Church’s bishops. Therefore the East disagreed to the Pope being the Head of both east and west. The filioque controversy was a dispute centred on the fact that the West had inserted a special phrase in the Nicene-Constantinople Creed. The original phrase was “I believe… in the Holy Spirit the, Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the father”. However the West insisted on the change to “Who proceeds from the Father and the Son”. The phrase ‘and the son’ is known as the filioque phrase. The east feared this changed would affect the relationship between the persons of the trinity, and affect understanding of the Holy Spirit and the church. Each side did not come to a resolution and remained to disagree on this subject. Clerical Celibacy was a contentious issue. The West decided to not let Priests be allowed to marry where as the East though Priests could marry. Liturgical and Doctrinal disputes also separated the church. Differences in attitudes towards leavened and unleavened bread; the East made it imperative that leavened bread shall be used for the Eucharist. The West stated it was not particular, and wasn’t a debatable problem, and remained to choose either leavened or unleavened bread. A doctrinal issue was Priests having beards; the east made Priests to have beards and the West did not agree with this. The east also decided to stay with the Jewish calendar and the west changed to the Julius Caesar calendar (Roman calendar). Overall the East did not agree with the western church’s minute changes or differences. From the 5th Century to the 11th Century there were disputes over icons, paintings of god, Jesus, Mary and the saints. In 726 Emperor Leo III declared that all images were to be destroyed. The west reacted angrily to this. The Catholic Church kept its icons of Jesus, Mary and saints etc for worship and ritual purposes. People who disagreed to icons were called iconoclasts from the order iconoclasm. The consequence of the great schism is that the relationships between the Western, Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches were stained. No longer did each get along and there was great antagonism between them. The Reformation The renaissance and the philosophy that science was the new religion, and normal citizens could achieve a good education prepared the way for the reformation. The reformation was the expansion of the western Catholic Church. It formed the Anglican Church (church of England), the Calvinists and Lutherans. The causes of the reformation are - The Renaissance: It fostered the idea of individualism and nationalism, and people wanted their own national church, not the one western church ruled from by the Pope. It was a time of controversy in philosophy, the arts (Da Vinci) and renewed interest in society, education and learning. Papal authority: The authority of the Pope had eroded about two hundred years prior to the reformation. Church leaders tended to follow the wishes of power instead of spirituality for there interests in leadership of their church. Many priests were ignorant and poorly trained. From the 14th Century onwards many felt that the pope and his bishops had developed into an abusive feudal monarchy. The Church had lost its credibility. Intellectual causes: occurrences such as the crusades, the emergence of universities and monasteries made the society at the time aware of what was occurring in their country, and global society. People became to think on their own and propose alternative answers, in which science was the new religion. Along with New research and printing (the printing press 1450) led to an information explosion, which at times challenged the church’s traditional power and teachings. There were also Reformation ‘celebrities’. They were Martin Luther, John Calvin and King Henry VII. These men had different views of how the Catholic Church practiced and preached. Their views, such as sacraments, and alternative answ...