In actuality, the pope played two roles which had to be distinguished. Uninvited intervention in the internal affairs of another patriarchate was not tolerated.Īs Patriarch of the Western Church, the pope held jurisdiction which was no more extensive than that of the other patriarchs in ordinary matters. Each exercised the right to appoint its own hierarchy, to legislate for itself, and to engage in its own liturgy of worship. In respect to jurisdiction in its own area, each patriarchate had always enjoyed independence in administration. It was his special office as Supreme Pontiff to arbitrate decisively everywhere in ecclesiastical disputes. In the sight of his peers, the patriarchs, he has been considered first among equals. The Bishop of Rome is Patriarch of the West. This domination by the West was linked to the pope. Gradually, Latin and Latinization became synonymous with Roman interference in and Westernization of the Church in the East. The Patriarch of the West permitted a Latin hierarchy to be set up in Constantinople and Jerusalem, areas in which a Greek hierarchy already existed. This intrusion of the West in Eastern patriarchates undermined any sense of equality and mutual respect. In addition to sacking Constantinople and establishing a new kingdom of Jerusalem, the Crusaders imposed Western authority and practice on the East. Actually they were more damaging to the cause of reunion and had an effect worse than any of the prior complications. The Crusades aggravated the tension after the schism of 1054. Western European Christians soon began an unfortunate pattern of intervention in the East. While only Constantinople formally broke from Catholic unity, the rest of the Byzantine Church followed, taking millions of faithful with a true priesthood and valid sacraments. Consequently, the three other Eastern patriarchates were separated. The Turkish Muslims who conquered Constantinople found it advantageous to widen this rift. A more promising settlement after the Council of Florence in 1439 lasted until 1472. The breach in 1054 was mended temporarily by the union following the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, but it ruptured once again in 1282. The previous minor schism culminated in the major separation of Constantinople and Rome. Then the complex problem between East and West in the eleventh century involving Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, ended in a gigantic division. The difficulties concerning Photius in Constantinople in the ninth century opened the first wound of separation since the withdrawal of the Assyrians (Nestorians in Mesopotamia and Persia) and of the non-Chalcedonians (Monophysites in North Africa and Asia Minor) in the fifth century. It was a gradual, almost imperceptible severance extending over centuries. The Great Schism dividing East and West split the Church and was reflected in the political spheres. Constantinople developed into the most important and powerful patriarchal see, for it was the capital of the Byzantine and Roman world. Peter moved to Rome, was an important center of Christianity for several centuries. Antioch, the first headquarters of the Church until St. The other patriarchates were in the East. Rome was often referred to as the Patriarchate of the Western Church. Each patriarchal see was a major center of early Christianity. The five patriarchates were named for their see cities: Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Constantinople. Within each of the five distinct areas was a chief bishop called a patriarch. Each flexible grouping included a particular geographical area and Christians of similar background and heritage. Until the schism of the East, which occurred after more than a thousand years of Christianity, the Church was organized on a kind of federal basis. For while the one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ is unified, the Church certainly is not uniform in all aspects. (photo: courtesy, Church of the Annunciation, Nazareth)Īttitudes among Catholic and Orthodox peoples on the Church and their place in it not only stem from their strong national feelings, but are also deeply rooted in their ecclesiastical history and religious thought. The central mosaic in the Church of the Annunciation, Nazareth, represents the Vatican II doctrine of the Church, according to the dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium (“Light of All Nations”): “By her relationship with Christ, the Church is a kind of sacrament of intimate union with God, and of the unity of all mankind that is, she is a sign and an instrument of such union and unity.” Jesus and Peter are in the center, Mary is to the side on a throne, and saints, clerics, and laity from various Christian traditions surround them.
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