Latest / Short History of the Christian Church / 045 - 14 Schism between the East and the West

Transcript

045 - 14 Schism between the East and the West · Short History of the Christian Church

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Part two, Chapter fourteen of Short History of the Christian
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is in
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter fourteen Schism between the East and
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the West. Early differences existed between the Church and the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: East and the West. They were due in part to
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: political relations and in part to antagonism of temperament. The
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: removal of the Roman capital to Byzantium brought political considerations
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: into predominance over religion, while in Rome the growth of
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: episcopal power gained supreme ascendancy. The Greek was speculative, fanciful, excitable,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and wandered wildly into doctrinal paths. The Roman Christian was practical, steady,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: and conservative. He was slow to accept any novelty, but
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: having once admitted it, it was next to impossible to
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: induce him to surrender it. The doctrinal divergence between the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: East and the West was first perceptible in the variety
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: of teaching on the divinity of the Holy Ghost. The
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Council of Constantinople decided in three eighty one that the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost is equal in essence with the Son, and
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: that both are consubstantial with the Father. The Western teaching
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: guided chiefly through the clear and logical intellect of Augustine
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: held that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the Son. In five eighty nine, the Toledo Council, in
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: accordance with this view, added to the symbol of Constantinople.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: The term philioke. Roman primacy was also a ground of
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: violent antagonism. The Bishop of Rome held that his decisions
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: should apply to the entire Christian Church. The growth of
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the papal primacy was rapid and subject to only temporary interruptions,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: and was therefore looked upon by the Eastastern Church with
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: grave suspicion. The Eastern Church held that the patriarch of
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Constantinople was equal in rank to the Roman bishop, but
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: this was not only not admitted in Rome, but indignantly rejected.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: There was no dependence upon Roman approval of the decisions
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: of Eastern councils and synods. What was regarded as orthodox
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: on the Bosphorus might be promptly decided very heterodox on
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: the bank of the Tiber. Here was a large field
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: for bitter antagonism. The entire political and ecclesiastical life of
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the two regions grew more discordant with the years. Often
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the animosity was as intense between them as though neither
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: East nor West professed the Christian religion. The ecclesiastical laws
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: and usages were also calculated to widen the chasm. The
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Greek Church accepted eighty five of the Apostolic Canons, while
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the Latin Church acknowledged but fifty. The controversy on images
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: in the sacred buildings fluctuated with great violence and during
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: a long period. The result was that the Greek Church
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: rejected them, while the Roman endorsed them and gave the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: type for the abuse throughout Western Christendom. The Latin Church
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: declared against the marriage of the clergy, while the Greek
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Church permitted all its clergy, excepting bishops, to remain in
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the marriage relation, provided that at the time of their
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: ordination they were already married. The eating of animals strangled,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the use of the figure of a lamb to represent
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Christ and fasting on Saturday were permitted by the Latin
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Church but rejected by the Greek. The Second troll and
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Council in six ninety two so sharply defined these differences
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: that its action was a violent factor towards the great schism. Photius,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Patriarch of Constantinople invited all the Eastern patriarchs to a council,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: which convened in eight sixty seven. Here he formulated the
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: points of difference between the Greek and Latin Christians, and
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: gave a catalog of the doctrinal and other alleged vagaries
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: which the Western Christians had committed. The Pope was even
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: declared deposed, and the information extended to the Western Church.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: The complete schism took place in ten fifty four. Constantine Monomicus,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the Byzantine Emperor, having in view a war, applied to
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the Roman Pope for friendly support. This overture awakened the
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: wrath of Michael Serillarius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and of Leo
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: of Acrida, Metropolitan of Bulgaria. They wrote a letter to
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the bishops of the Latin Church, charging it with grave
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: doctrinal errors and urging it to renounce them. This letter
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: reached Pope Leo the Ninth. He was greatly exc and
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: bitter letters passed between Rome and Constantinople. The Pope sent
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: three delegates to the latter city, but only a fiercer
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: animosity ensued. The closing signal of an open and final
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: rupture was given by the issuing of a public excommunication
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: of the patriarch by the legates in the Church of
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Saint Sophia and their withdrawal to Rome. Attempts at reunion
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: were subsequently made, but the divergence increased with time. The
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: doctrinal differences became more prominent, while the constant growth of
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the papal authority in the Latin Church made conciliation impossible.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: During the Crusades which united al Christendom, strong attempts to
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: restore the unity of the East and the West were made,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: but in the end proved fruitless. The Council of Leon
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: in twelve seventy four declared the reunion complete. The Eastern
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: delegates accepted the Roman Confession of Faith and acknowledged the
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: primacy of the Roman Pope, while the Roman delegates agreed
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: that all existing usages of the Eastern Church might in
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: future be conceded to it, while the Nicene Creed, without
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: addition or comment, might remain in permanent use. This pacification
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: was brought about by the Eastern Emperor Michael Paleologus, but
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: when he died and another took his place, the old
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: schism reappeared. In full force. Efforts at restoration continued to
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: be made until the middle of the fifteenth century, but
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: when the Byzantine Empire went down in fourteen fifty three,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: all serious and general attempts ceased. End of Chapter fourteen