The church schism is one of the most tragic, ugliest and painful phenomena in the history of the Church, which was a consequence of this oblivion, the impoverishment of love between brothers in Christ. Today we will talk a little about it.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, then I am a ringing gossamer or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I could move mountains, but do not have love, then I am nothing. And if I give away all my property and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good,” the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, instructing them in the main law of Christian life, the law of Love for God and other people.
Unfortunately, not all members of the Church and not always remembered these words and experienced them in their inner life. The consequence of this oblivion, the impoverishment of love between brothers in Christ, was one of the most tragic, ugliest and painful phenomena in the history of the Church, called the church schism. Today we will talk a little about it.
What is schism
Church schism (Greek: schism) is one of the most difficult topics to discuss. Even terminologically. Initially, schism was the name given to any disunity in the Church: the emergence of a new heretical group, the cessation of Eucharistic communion between episcopal sees, and simple quarrels within the community between, for example, a bishop and several priests.
Somewhat later, the term “schism” acquired its modern meaning. This is what they began to call the cessation of prayerful and Eucharistic communion between Local Churches (or communities within one of them), caused not by a distortion of dogmatic teaching in one of them, but by accumulated ritual and cultural differences, as well as discord between the clergy.
In heretical groups the very idea of God is distorted, the Holy Tradition left to us by the apostles (and the Holy Scripture as part of it) is distorted. Therefore, no matter how great a heretical sect is, it falls away from church unity and is deprived of grace. At the same time, the Church itself remains one and true.
With the split, everything is noticeably more complicated. Since disagreements and the cessation of prayerful communication can occur on the basis of a banal riot of passions in the souls of individual hierarchs, Churches or communities that have fallen into schism do not cease to be part of the one Church of Christ. A schism can end either in an even deeper violation of the internal life of one of the Churches, followed by a distortion of dogma and morality in it (and then it turns into a heretical sect) or in reconciliation and restoration of communication - “healing”.
However, even a simple violation of church unity and prayerful communication is a great evil and those who undertake it commit a terrible sin, and some schisms can take tens, if not hundreds of years to overcome.
Novatian Schism
This is the first schism in the Church, which occurred in the 3rd century. “Novatian” it was named after the deacon Novatian who headed it, who belonged to the Roman Church.
The beginning of the 4th century was marked by the end of the persecution of the Church by the authorities of the Roman Empire, but the last few persecutions, in particular Diocletian's, were the longest and most terrible. Many captured Christians could not stand the torture or were so frightened by it that they renounced their faith and sacrificed to idols.
The Carthaginian Bishop Cyprian and Pope Cornelius showed mercy to those members of the Church who, out of cowardice, renounced, and with their episcopal authority began to accept many of them back into the community.
Deacon Novatian rebelled against the decision of Pope Cornelius and proclaimed himself an antipope. He stated that only confessors have the right to receive the “fallen” - those who suffered persecution, did not renounce the faith, but for one reason or another survived, that is, did not become a martyr. The self-proclaimed bishop was supported by several representatives of the clergy and many laity, whom he led away from church unity.
According to the teachings of Novatian, the Church is a society of saints and all those who have fallen and committed mortal sins after baptism must be cast out of it and in no case can be accepted back. The Church cannot forgive serious sinners, lest it itself become unclean. The teaching was condemned by Pope Cornelius, Bishop Cyprian of Carthage and Archbishop of Alexandria Dionysius. Later, the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council spoke out against this way of thinking.
Akakian schism
This schism between the Churches of Constantinople and the Roman Church occurred in 484, lasted 35 years, and became a harbinger of the schism of 1054.
The decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon) caused a long-term “Monophysite turmoil.” Monophysites, illiterate monks who followed the Monophysite hierarchs, captured Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, expelling the Chalcedonite bishops from there.
In an effort to bring the inhabitants of the Roman Empire to agreement and unity in faith, Emperor Zeno and Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople developed a compromise doctrinal formula, the wording of which could be interpreted in two ways and seemed to match the Monophysite heretics with the Church.
Pope Felix II was against the policy of distorting the truths of Orthodoxy, even for the sake of achievement. He demanded that Acacius come to the council in Rome to give explanations on the document he and the emperor were sending out.
In response to Acacius’ refusal and his bribery of the papal legates, Felix II in July 484 at a local council in Rome excommunicated Acacius from the Church, and he, in turn, excommunicated Pope Felix from the Church.
Mutual excommunication was maintained by both sides for 35 years, until it was overcome in 519 by the efforts of Patriarch John II and Pope Hormizda.
Great Schism of 1054
This schism became the largest in the history of the Church and has not yet been overcome, although almost 1000 years have passed since the break in relations between the Roman Church and the four Patriarchates of the East.
The disagreements that caused the Great Schism accumulated over several centuries and were of a cultural, political, theological and ritual nature.
In the East they spoke and wrote Greek, while in the West Latin was used. Many terms in the two languages differed in shades of meaning, which very often served as the cause of misunderstanding and even hostility during numerous theological disputes and the Ecumenical Councils that tried to resolve them.
Over the course of several centuries, the authoritative ecclesiastical centers in Gaul (Arles) and North Africa (Carthage) were destroyed by the barbarians, and the popes remained the single most authoritative of the ancient episcopal sees in the West. Gradually, the awareness of their exceptional position in the West of the former Roman Empire, the mystical conviction that they are the “successors of the Apostle Peter” and the desire to extend their influence beyond the boundaries of the Roman Church led the popes to the formation of the doctrine of primacy.
According to the new doctrine, the Roman pontiffs began to claim sole supreme power in the Church, which the patriarchs of the East, who adhered to the ancient church practice of conciliar resolution of all important issues, could not agree with.
There was only one theological disagreement at the time of the break in communication - the addition to the Creed accepted in the West - the “filioque”. One single word, once arbitrarily added to a prayer by Spanish bishops in the fight against the Arians, completely changed the order of relations between the Persons of the Holy Trinity and greatly confused the bishops of the East.
Finally, there was a whole series of ritual differences that were most striking to the uninitiated. The Greek clergy wore beards, while the Latin clergy shaved smoothly and cut their hair under the “crown of thorns.” In the East, priests could create families, while in the West, compulsory celibacy was practiced. The Greeks used leavened bread for the Eucharist (comunion), and the Latins used unleavened bread. In the West they ate strangled meat and fasted on the Saturdays of Lent, which was not done in the East. There were other differences as well.
The contradictions escalated in 1053, when the Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius learned that the Greek rite in the south of Italy was being replaced by the Latin one. In response, Cerularius closed all the churches of the Latin rite in Constantinople and instructed the Bulgarian Archbishop Leo of Ohrid to compose a letter against the Latins, in which various elements of the Latin rite would be condemned.
In response, Cardinal Humbert Silva-Candide wrote the essay “Dialogue”, in which he defended the Latin rites and condemned the Greek ones. In turn, Saint Nikita Stiphatus created the treatise “Anti-Dialogue”, or “The Sermon on Unleavened Bread, Sabbath Fasting and the Marriage of Priests” against the work of Humbert, and Patriarch Michael closed all the Latin churches in Constantinople.
Then Pope Leo IX sent legates led by Cardinal Humbert to Constantinople. With him, the pope sent a message to Patriarch Michael, which, in support of the papal claims to full power in the Church, contained lengthy extracts from a forged document known as the “Donation of Constantine.”
The Patriarch rejected the papal claims to supreme power in the Church, and the angry legates threw a bull on the throne of Hagia Sophia, anathematizing the Patriarch. In turn, Patriarch Michael also excommunicated the legates and the pope, who had already died by that time, from the Church, but this did not mean anything - the break in communication took on an official character.
Similar schisms, such as the Acacian Schism, had happened before, and no one thought that the Great Schism would be so long-lasting. However, over time, the West increasingly deviated from the purity of Christ’s teaching into its own moral and dogmatic fabrications, which gradually deepened the schism into heresy.
New dogmas were added to the filioque about the infallibility of the Pope and the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. The morality of the West has also become even more distorted. In addition to the doctrine of papal supremacy, the doctrine of holy war with the infidels was invented, as a result of which the clergy and monks took up arms.
Also, the Roman Church attempted to forcibly subjugate the Eastern Churches to the power of the pope, plant a parallel Latin hierarchy in the East, conclude various unions and active proselytism on the canonical territory of the Eastern Churches.
Finally, not only priests, but also the highest hierarchs of the Roman Church began to violate their own vows of celibacy. A striking example of the “infallibility” of the Roman pontiffs was the life of Pope Alexander VI Borgia.
What adds to the severity of the schism is that the Roman Church, which remained the only most authoritative see in the West, influenced almost all of Western Europe, North Africa and the colonies formed by Western European states. And the ancient Eastern Patriarchates were for many centuries under the rule of the Turks, who destroyed and oppressed the Orthodox. Therefore, there are significantly more Catholics than Orthodox Christians in all Local Churches combined, and people unfamiliar with the problem get the impression that the Orthodox are in schism with their spiritual monarch - the pope.
Today, Local Orthodox Churches cooperate with the Roman Catholic Church on a number of issues. For example, in the social and cultural spheres, however, they still do not have prayerful communication. Healing this schism is possible only if Catholics renounce the dogmas they developed outside the conciliar unity and renounce the doctrine of the supremacy of the power of the pope throughout the Church. Unfortunately, such a step by the Roman Church seems unlikely...
Old Believer schism
This schism occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1650-60s as a result of the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon.
In those days, liturgical books were copied by hand and, over time, they accumulated errors that needed to be corrected. In addition to the book law, the patriarch wanted to unify church rituals, liturgical regulations, canons of icon painting, etc. As a model, Nikon chose contemporary Greek practices and church books, and invited a number of Greek scientists and scribes to carry out book research.
Patriarch Nikon had a stronger influence on Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and was a very powerful and proud man. When carrying out the reform, Nikon preferred not to explain his actions and motives to his opponents, but to suppress any objections with the help of patriarchal authority and, as they say today, “administrative resource” - the support of the tsar.
In 1654, the Patriarch organized a Council of Hierarchs, at which, as a result of pressure on the participants, he obtained permission to conduct a “book investigation of ancient Greek and Slavic manuscripts.” However, the comparison was not with old models, but with modern Greek practice.
In 1656, the Patriarch convened a new Council in Moscow, at which all those who crossed themselves with two fingers were declared heretics, excommunicated from the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and solemnly anathematized on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
The patriarch's intolerance caused a split in society. The broad masses of the people, many representatives of the nobility, rebelled against the Church reform and in defense of the old rituals. The leaders of the religious protest movement were some well-known clergy: archpriest Avvakum, archpriests Longin of Murom and Daniil of Kostroma, priest Lazar Romanovsky, priest Nikita Dobrynin, nicknamed Pustosvyat, as well as deacon Fedor and monk Epiphanius. A number of monasteries declared their disobedience to the authorities and closed their gates to the royal officials.
Old Believer preachers also did not become “innocent sheep.” Many of them traveled around the cities and villages of the country (especially in the North), preaching the coming of the Antichrist into the world and self-immolation as a way to preserve spiritual purity. Many representatives of the common people followed their advice and committed suicide - burning or burying themselves alive along with their children.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich did not want such disturbances either in the Church or in his state. He invited the patriarch to resign his rank. The offended Nikon went to the New Jerusalem Monastery and was deposed at the council in 1667 under the pretext of leaving the see without permission. At the same time, the anathema to the Old Believers was confirmed and their further persecution by the authorities was sanctioned, which cemented the split.
Later, the government repeatedly tried to find ways of reconciliation between the Russian Orthodox Church, the reform that followed, and the Old Believers. But this was difficult to do, since the Old Believers themselves very quickly disintegrated into a number of groups and movements, diverse in teaching, many of which even abandoned the church hierarchy.
At the end of the 1790s, the Edinoverie was established. The Old Believers, the “priests,” who retained their hierarchy, were allowed to create Old Believer parishes and conduct services according to the old rites if they recognized the primacy of the patriarch and became part of the Russian Orthodox Church. Later, the government and church hierarchs made many efforts to attract new Old Believer communities to Edinoverie.
Finally, in 1926, the Holy Synod, and in 1971, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, lifted the anathemas from the Old Believers, and the old rituals were recognized as equally saving. The Church also brought repentance and apology to the Old Believers for the violence previously inflicted on them in attempts to force them to accept the reform.
From this moment on, the Old Believer schism, represented by the Edinoverie communities, is considered healed, although in Russia there is also a separate Old Believer Church and many religious groups of various kinds adhering to the Old Believer rites.
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Schism of the Christian Church in 1054, Also Great Schism And Great Schism- church schism, after which the Church was finally divided into the Roman Catholic Church in the West, centered in Rome, and the Orthodox Church in the East, centered in Constantinople.
History of the schism
In fact, disagreements between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople began long before, however, it was in 1054 that Pope Leo IX sent legates led by Cardinal Humbert to Constantinople to resolve the conflict, which began with the closure of the Latin churches in Constantinople in 1053 by order of Patriarch Michael Cyrularius , during which his sacellar Constantine threw out the Holy Gifts, prepared according to Western custom from unleavened bread, from the tabernacles, and trampled them under his feet. However, it was not possible to find a path to reconciliation, and on July 16, 1054, in the Hagia Sophia, the papal legates announced the deposition of Kirularius and his excommunication from the Church. In response to this, on July 20, the patriarch anathematized the legates.
The split has not yet been overcome, although in 1965 the mutual anathemas were lifted.
Reasons for the split
The historical background of the schism goes back to late antiquity and the early Middle Ages (starting with the defeat of Rome by the troops of Alaric in 410 AD) and is determined by the emergence of ritual, dogmatic, ethical, aesthetic and other differences between Western (often called Latin Catholic) and Eastern (Greek Orthodox) traditions.
The point of view of the Western (Catholic) Church.
The letter of excommunication was presented on July 16, 1054 in Constantinople in the St. Sophia Church on the holy altar during a service by the Pope's legate, Cardinal Humbert. In the letter of excommunication, after a preamble dedicated to the primacy of the Roman Church, and praise addressed to “the pillars of the imperial power and its honored and wise citizens” and the whole of Constantinople, called the “most Christian and Orthodox” city, the following accusations were made against Michael Cyrularius “and the accomplices of his stupidity ":
As for the view on the role of the Roman Church, according to Catholic authors, evidence of the doctrine of the unconditional primacy and universal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome as the successor of St. Peter's have existed since the 1st century. (Clement of Rome) and further found everywhere both in the West and in the East (St. Ignatius the God-Bearer, Irenaeus, Cyprian of Carthage, John Chrysostom, Leo the Great, Hormizd, Maximus the Confessor, Theodore the Studite, etc.), so attempts to attribute only to Rome some kind of “primacy of honor” is unfounded.
The point of view of the Eastern (Orthodox) Church
According to some Orthodox authors [ Who?], the main dogmatic problem in the relationship between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople was the interpretation of the primacy of the Roman Apostolic Church. According to them, according to the dogmatic teaching consecrated by the first Ecumenical Councils with the participation of the legates of the Bishop of Rome, the Roman Church was assigned primacy “in honor”, which in modern language can mean “the most respected”, which, however, did not abolish the Conciliar structure of the church (then is the adoption of all decisions collectively through the convening of Councils of all churches, primarily the apostolic ones). These authors [ Who?] claim that for the first eight centuries of Christianity, the conciliar structure of the church was not subject to doubt even in Rome, and all bishops considered each other as equals.
However, by the year 800, the political situation around what had previously been a unified Roman Empire began to change: on the one hand, most of the territory of the Eastern Empire, including most of the ancient apostolic churches, fell under Muslim rule, which greatly weakened it and diverted attention from religious problems in favor of foreign policy ones, on the other hand, for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the West had its own emperor (Charlemagne was crowned in Rome in 800), who in the eyes of his contemporaries became “equal” to the Eastern Emperor and the political power of which the Bishop of Rome was able to rely on in his claims. It is attributed to the changed political situation that the Popes began to pursue the idea of their primacy “by divine right,” that is, the idea of their supreme individual power in the entire Church.
The Patriarch's reaction to the defiant act of the cardinals was quite cautious and generally peaceful. Suffice it to say that in order to calm the unrest, it was officially announced that the Greek translators had distorted the meaning of the Latin letter. Further, at the ensuing Council on July 20, all three members of the papal delegation were excommunicated from the Church for misbehavior in the church, but the Roman Church was not specifically mentioned in the council’s decision. Everything was done to reduce the conflict to the initiative of several Roman representatives, which, in fact, took place. The Patriarch excommunicated only legates from the Church and only for disciplinary violations, and not for doctrinal issues. These anathemas did not apply in any way to the Western Church or the Bishop of Rome.
This event began to be assessed as something extremely important only a couple of decades later in the West, when Pope Gregory VII came to power, and Cardinal Humbert became his closest advisor. It was through his efforts that this story acquired extraordinary significance. Then, in modern times, it ricocheted from Western historiography back to the East and began to be considered the date of the division of the Churches.
Perception of the schism in Rus'
Having left Constantinople, the papal legates went to Rome by a roundabout route to notify other eastern hierarchs of the excommunication of Michael Cyrularius. Among other cities, they visited Kyiv, where they were received with due honors by the Grand Duke and the Russian clergy.
In subsequent years, the Russian Church did not take a clear position in support of any of the parties to the conflict. If hierarchs of Greek origin were prone to anti-Latin polemics, then Russian priests and rulers themselves did not participate in it. Thus, Rus' maintained communication with both Rome and Constantinople, making certain decisions depending on political necessity.
Twenty years after the “division of the Churches” there was a significant case of the appeal of the Grand Duke of Kyiv (Izyaslav-Dimitri Yaroslavich) to the authority of Pope St. Gregory VII. In his feud with his younger brothers for the Kiev throne, Izyaslav, the legitimate prince, was forced to flee abroad (to Poland and then to Germany), from where he appealed in defense of his rights to both heads of the medieval “Christian republic” - to the emperor (Henry IV) and to dad. The princely embassy to Rome was headed by his son Yaropolk-Peter, who had instructions “to give the entire Russian land under the protection of St. Petra." The Pope really intervened in the situation in Rus'. In the end, Izyaslav returned to Kyiv (). Izyaslav himself and his son Yaropolk were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
In Kyiv there were Latin monasteries (including the Dominican - s), on lands subject to the Russian princes, Latin missionaries acted with their permission (for example, the princes of Polotsk allowed Augustinian monks from Bremen to baptize the Latvians and Livs subject to them on the Western Dvina). The upper class included (to the displeasure of the Greeks) numerous mixed
Orthodoxy is one of the main directions of Christianity. Orthodoxy is believed to have emerged in 33 AD. among the Greeks living in Jerusalem. Its founder was Jesus Christ. Of all Christian movements, Orthodoxy has preserved to the greatest extent the features and traditions of early Christianity. Orthodox believe in one God, appearing in three hypostases - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
According to Orthodox teaching, Jesus Christ has a dual nature: Divine and Human. He was born (not created) by God the Father before the creation of the world. In his earthly life, He was born as a result of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary from the Holy Spirit. Orthodox believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. For the sake of saving people, He came to Earth and suffered martyrdom on the cross. They believe in His resurrection and ascension into heaven and await His second coming and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. The Holy Spirit comes only from God the Father. Communion into the Church, one, holy, catholic and apostolic, occurs through baptism. These main provisions of Orthodox dogma are contained in the Creed, adopted at the 1st (in 325 in Nicaea) and 2nd (381 in Constantinople) Ecumenical Councils, and have not changed since then, preserved in their original form, so that do not distort the faith. Orthodox believe in posthumous rewards - hell and heaven. The religious symbol is the cross (four-, six- and eight-pointed).
Orthodoxy recognizes seven sacraments (sacraments) - baptism, confirmation, communion (Eucharist), confession (repentance), marriage, priesthood, unction (unction). Particularly prominent are the Gospel sacraments - baptism and communion, established by Jesus Christ. The Orthodox recognize both the Holy Scripture (Bible) and the Holy Tradition, the living memory of the Church (in the narrow sense - the decisions of recognized church councils and the works of the Church Fathers of the 2nd-8th centuries).
Orthodoxy recognizes only the first seven Ecumenical Councils, which took place before the separation of the Western branch of Christianity (in 1054). Orthodoxy lacks strict ecclesiastical centralization. Large local churches are completely independent (autocephalous). Currently, 15 churches have autocephaly. The biggest holiday in Orthodoxy is Easter (Resurrection of the Lord). Another 12 holidays are considered the main ones, the twelve: Christmas; Baptism of the Lord, or Epiphany; Presentation of the Lord; Transfiguration; Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Introduction to the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Exaltation of the Holy Cross; Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem; Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost, or Trinity Day.
The total number of Orthodox Christians is 182 million people. Their largest number is in Russia - 70-80 million people.
Catholicism
Catholicism is one of the main directions in Christianity. The division of the Christian Church into Catholic and Orthodox occurred in 1054-1204. In the 16th century During the Reformation, Protestantism broke away from Catholicism.
The organization of the Catholic Church is distinguished by its strict centralization and hierarchical nature. The head is the Pope, considered the successor of the Apostle Peter; 1st Vatican Council 1869-70 the dogma of his infallibility was proclaimed. The residence of the pope is the Vatican. The sources of the doctrine are the Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, which includes, in addition to the ancient tradition and decrees of the first seven Ecumenical Councils (IV-VIII centuries), decisions of subsequent church councils, papal messages. In Catholicism, it is believed that the Holy Spirit comes not only from God the Father, but also from the Son (filioque); Only Catholicism has a dogma of purgatory.
Catholics have developed veneration of the Virgin Mary (in 1854 the dogma of her immaculate conception was proclaimed, in 1950 - of her bodily ascension), saints; The cult is characterized by lavish theatrical worship, the clergy is sharply separated from the laity.
Catholics make up the majority of believers in Australia, Belgium, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the western regions of Belarus, Ukraine, and Latin American countries; only about 860 million people.
Encyclopedic Dictionary "World History"
Protestantism
Protestantism (literally “publicly proving”) is one of the main trends in Christianity. Broke away from Catholicism during the Reformation (16th century). Unites many independent movements, churches, sects (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglican Church, Methodists, Baptists, Adventists, etc.).
Protestantism is characterized by: the absence of a fundamental opposition between the clergy and the laity, the rejection of a complex church hierarchy, a simplified cult, the absence of monasticism, etc.; in Protestantism there is no cult of the Mother of God, saints, angels, icons; the number of sacraments is reduced to two (baptism and communion). The main source of doctrine is the Holy Scripture. Protestant churches play a major role in the ecumenical movement (for the unification of all churches). Protestantism is widespread mainly in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, the Scandinavian countries and Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia), etc. The total number of adherents of Protestantism is about 600 million people.
Encyclopedic Dictionary "World History"
Monophysitism
Monophysitism (from the Greek mónos - one, phýsis - nature) is one of the 5 main directions of Christianity. Supporters of this trend are usually called Monophysites, although they do not recognize this term and call themselves either Orthodox or followers of the Apostolic Church.
The movement was formed in 433 in the Middle East, but officially separated from the rest of Christianity in 451, after the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon adopted the Diophysite doctrine (the doctrine of the two natures of Jesus Christ) and condemned Monophysitism as a heresy. The founder of the movement was Archimandrite Eutyches (about 378-454) - abbot of one of the large monasteries in Constantinople.
Eutyches taught that at first the two natures of Christ existed separately - God and man, but after their union at the Incarnation only one began to exist. Subsequently, apologists for Monophysitism either completely denied the presence of any human element in the nature of Christ, or argued that the human nature in Christ was completely absorbed by the divine nature, or believed that the human and divine nature in Christ were united into something different from each of them.
However, there is an opinion that the main contradictions between Monophysitism and Orthodoxy were rather not doctrinal, but cultural, ethnic, and perhaps political in nature: Monophysitism united forces dissatisfied with the strengthening of Byzantine influence.
Of the ecumenical councils of Monophysitism, only the first three are recognized: Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381) and Ephesus (431).
The cult in the Monophysite churches is very close to the cult characteristic of Orthodoxy, differing from it only in certain details. It is difficult to give its general characteristics, since it varies markedly in individual Monophysite denominations, the main ones being: 1) the Coptic Orthodox Church (including the Nubian and Ethiopian churches close to it), 2) the Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) Church (including the Malankara province of the Syrian churches and the Malabar Syrian Church of Mar Thoma), 3) the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The total number of Monophysites reaches 36 million people. Monophysitism predominates in Armenia (it is also professed by the majority of Armenians living outside Armenia), is the most influential denomination in Ethiopia (it is adhered to by the vast majority of the Amhara, most of the Tigrayans), part of the population of some Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, etc.) belongs to it. a large group within the Malayali people in the Indian state of Kerala
P. I. Puchkov
Encyclopedia "Peoples and Religions of the World"
Nestorianism
Nestorianism is one of the 5 main directions of Christianity. Originated at the beginning of the 5th century. n. e. The founder is the monk Nestorius, who became the Patriarch of Constantinople for a short time in 428-431. The doctrine of Nestorianism absorbed some elements of the teaching of Arius, condemned at the First Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church (325), who rejected the divine nature of Jesus Christ.
The main dogmatic difference between Nestorianism and other branches of Christianity is its teaching that Christ was not the son of God, but was a man in whom God lived, and that the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ are separable from each other. In connection with this view, the mother of Christ, the Virgin Mary, is considered by the Nestorians not to be the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ, and is not an object of veneration. At the Third Ecumenical (Ephesus) Council (431), Nestorius’s creed was condemned as heresy, he himself was exiled, and his books were burned.
As in Orthodoxy, Monophysitism and Catholicism, Nestorianism recognizes 7 sacraments, but not all of them are identical to those accepted by the 3 indicated directions of Christianity. The sacraments of the Nestorians are baptism, priesthood, communion, anointing, repentance, as well as the holy leaven (malka) and the sign of the cross, which are unique to them. The sacrament of holy leaven is associated with the Nestorian belief that a piece of bread distributed at the Last Supper by Jesus Christ was brought by the Apostle Thaddeus (Judas) to the East, in Mesopotamia, and some particle of it was constantly used in preparing the elements of the sacrament. The sign of the cross, considered a sacrament in Nestorianism, is performed in a very specific way.
Nestorians use the liturgy of St. Thaddeus (apostle of the 12) and St. Mark (apostles of the 70), which the latter introduced when they arrived in the East from Jerusalem. The liturgy is celebrated in the Old Syriac language (in its Nestorian version). In Nestorian churches, unlike Orthodox, Monophysite and Catholic churches, there are no icons or statues.
The Nestorian is headed by the Patriarch-Catholicos of the Whole East (currently Mar-Dinha IV), who has a residence in Tehran, and this position has been hereditary in the Mar-Shimun family since 1350 (the nephew succeeds his uncle). In 1972, a split occurred in the leadership of the Nestorian Church, and some of the Iraqi and Indian Nestorians recognized Mar-Addai, whose seat was in Baghdad, as their spiritual head. Metropolitans and bishops are subordinate to the Patriarch. The position of priests is also hereditary. Priests are not required to remain celibate and, unlike the white Orthodox clergy, can marry after ordination. Deacons help priests perform divine services and rituals.
The number of followers of the Nestorian Assyrian Church of the East is about 200 thousand people. Nestorians are settled in Iraq (82 thousand), Syria (40 thousand), India (15 thousand), Iran (13 thousand), USA (10 thousand), Russia (10 thousand), Georgia (6 thousand). ), Armenia (6 thousand) and other countries. Nestorians began to move to the Russian Empire, the USA and some other countries in the 90s. last century after the pogroms committed in the Ottoman Empire.
By nationality, the vast majority of Nestorians (except those living in India) are Assyrians, Indian Nestorians are Malayali.
Simon asksAnswered by Igor, 02/03/2013
Hello Simon.
Let's start by defining the meaning of the words "Catholic", "Orthodox", "Protestant". I will try to use so that the text contains a minimum of subjective information.
Catholicism or Catholicism(from the Greek Catholicos - universal; for the first time in relation to the church, the term “Catholic Church” was used around 110 in a letter from St. Ignatius to the inhabitants of Smyrna and enshrined in the Nicene Creed). The motto of Catholicism is: “Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ad omnibus creditum est” (“What is recognized everywhere, always and by everyone”).Orthodoxy (tracing paper from Greek “orthodoxy”, lit. “correct judgment”)
Protestantism (from the Latin protestans, gen. protestantis - publicly proving) is one of the three, along with Catholicism and Orthodoxy, main directions of Christianity, which is a collection of numerous and independent Churches and denominations associated in their origin with the Reformation - a broad anti-Catholic movement XVI century in Europe.
The schism of the Christian Church in 1054 is a church schism, after which the Christian Church was finally divided into the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, centered in Constantinople.
In fact, disagreements between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople began long before 1054, but it was in 1054 that Pope Leo IX sent legates to Constantinople led by Cardinal Humbert to resolve the conflict, which began with the closure of 1053 Latin churches in Constantinople by order of Patriarch Michael Cyrularius , in which his “chancellor” Nikephoros threw out the Holy Gifts, prepared according to Western custom from unleavened bread, from the tabernacles, and trampled them under his feet. However, it was not possible to find a path to reconciliation, and on July 16, 1054, in the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, the papal legates announced the deposition of Kirularius and his excommunication from the Church. In response to this, on July 20, the patriarch anathematized the legates.
The split has not yet been overcome, although in 1965 the mutual curses were lifted.
The schism had many reasons: ritual, dogmatic, ethical differences between the Western and Eastern Churches, property disputes, the struggle between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople for primacy among the Christian patriarchs, different languages of worship (Latin in the Western Church and Greek in the Eastern).
You can also find even more detailed information on the topic of the Great Schism.
Emergence of Protestantism, Reformation(from Latin reformatio - transformation) - a social movement in Western and Central Europe in the 16th century, directed against the traditions of the Christian faith that had developed in the Catholic Church.
The Reformation began with the speech of Martin Luther in Germany in 1517. The ideologists of the Reformation put forward theses that actually denied both the need for the Catholic Church with its hierarchy, and for the clergy in general. The Catholic Sacred Tradition was rejected, the rights of the church to land wealth were denied, etc.
The Reformation marked the beginning of Protestantism (in the narrow sense, reformation is the implementation of religious reforms in its spirit).
The Bible's point of view. However, if you want an answer about the reasons for the splits precisely from the point of view of the Bible, it will be somewhat different: the Bible writes about this in several books (I recommend Jacques Ducan’s study of the book of Daniel!). This is a very extensive separate topic.
Read more on the topic "Religion, rituals and the church":
Religion is a spiritual component of life, according to many. Nowadays there are many different beliefs, but in the center there are always two directions that attract the most attention. The Orthodox and Catholic churches are the largest and most global in the religious world. But once it was one single church, one faith. Why and how the division of churches occurred is quite difficult to judge, because only historical information has survived to this day, but certain conclusions can still be drawn from it.
Split
Officially, the collapse occurred in 1054, it was then that two new religious directions appeared: Western and Eastern, or, as they are commonly called, Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic. Since then, adherents of the Eastern religion have been considered to be orthodox and faithful. But the reason for the division of religions began to emerge long before the ninth century and gradually led to great differences. The division of the Christian Church into Western and Eastern was quite expected on the basis of these conflicts.
Disagreements between churches
The ground for the great schism was being laid on all sides. The conflict concerned almost all areas. The churches could not find agreement either in rituals, or in politics, or in culture. The nature of the problems was ecclesiological and theological, and it was no longer possible to hope for a peaceful solution to the issue.
Disagreements in politics
The main problem of the conflict on political grounds was the antagonism between the Byzantine emperors and the Popes. When the church was just emerging and getting on its feet, all of Rome was a single empire. Everything was one - politics, culture, and there was only one ruler at the head. But from the end of the third century political disagreements began. Still remaining a single empire, Rome was divided into several parts. The history of the division of churches is directly dependent on politics, because it was Emperor Constantine who initiated the schism by founding a new capital on the eastern side of Rome, known in modern times as Constantinople.
Naturally, the bishops began to base themselves on territorial position, and since it was there that the see of the Apostle Peter was founded, they decided that it was time to declare themselves and gain more power, to become the dominant part of the entire Church. And the more time passed, the more ambitious the bishops perceived the situation. The Western church was consumed by pride.
In turn, the Popes defended the rights of the church, did not depend on the state of politics, and sometimes even opposed imperial opinion. But what was the main reason for the division of churches on political grounds was the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo the Third, while the Byzantine successors to the throne completely refused to recognize the rule of Charles and openly considered him a usurper. Thus, the struggle for the throne also affected spiritual matters.
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