The Nature of Ecclesiastic Unity and the Events of 1054

Authors

  • Marian Bendza Katedra Historii Kościoła Powszechnego i Autokefalicznego Kościoła Prawosławnego Chrześcijańska Akademia Teologiczna w Warszawie

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15290/elpis.2016.18.01

Keywords:

the Church History, the Orthodox Church, Ecclesiology, Great East-West Schism

Abstract

This article is supplementary in nature and was not written to give a narrative presentation of the well-known events of the Schism between the East and West, but rather, with the assistance of several remarks and little known details, to enable a new dimension of reflection and discussion on the issues mentioned in this work. In modern historiography, the events of 1054 are treated as an absolute end to the “period of the indivisible unity of the Church.” The objective of this article is to reflect on the quality of this unity and the ascertainment that the events described can be acknowledged as a consequence of tendencies already present.
On the other hand, the author demonstrates that Church unity is not a lack of separatist tendencies, but that they are not able to destroy one of the most important signs of ecclesiastical reality – unity. This unity situates the Church in the Divine plan of salvation, thus making it independent of human decisions, disagreements and pride.
A reflection on unity, based on biblical and patristic analysis, also allows us to relate to the events of 1054 in a different manner. Their “schismatic” character, in the light of texts written at the time, rather appears as a heated discussion, in which both interested sides desire to respond to the challenges of their era in cooperation. It was, after all, the great epoch of the Gregorian reforms in the Roman Catholic Church, the “theological Byzantine golden age” and theology that ensured appropriate development.
Therefore, it might be better to treat the “Schism” simply as a division, and in the harsh declarations made by the hierarchs as an expression of care for an appropriate shape of the Church, particularly in the context of the Normans, who were an emerging power and the increasing tendencies of Caesaropapism.
The author does not hide in the conclusion that in the “golden age of Byzantium” the first and most important crack appeared, however, nothing was able to break the unity of the Church…

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Leonis Noni Papae Adversus Graecorum calumnias (false titulatum Dialogus inter Romanum et Contantinopolitanum), PL 143, 744-769;

Cerularii epistola ad Joannem Tranensem in Apulia sive ad ipsum papam Leonem IX, (latinisatus cardinale Humberto, episcopo Silvae Candidae), PG 120, 755-782;

Cerularius, Ad Petrum de Antiochia, PG 120, 781-796;

Epistola ad Petrum in Antiochia, PG 120, 781-796.

Epistola Petri Theopoleos, totius Orientis patriarchae dissertatio, eo tempore scripta, qua advenit Italus Argyrus et nostra reprehenderet, PG 120, 795-816.

Epistola (secunda) ad Petrum, patriarcham Antiochenum, PG 120, 815-820.

Humbertus de Silva Candida, card., Brevis et succinta commemoratio, PL 143, 1002-1004.

Leo IX, Papa, Epistola XIX, PL 143, 758.

Leo IX, Epistola XX, PL 143, 764.

Leo IX, Epistola centesima od Michaelem Const., PL 143, 744-769.

Leo de Ochrida, Epistola ad Joannem Episcopum Tranesensem, PG 120, 836-838.

Nicetas chartophylax Nicaenus, Quibus temporibus et quarum criminationum causa a Const. Ecclesiam sejunxerit se Romanorum Ecclesia, PG 120, 713-720.

Gay J., L’Italie Meridionale et l’Empire Byzantine (867-1071), Paris 1904.

Haldon J., Warfare, State and Society in the Bizantine World 565-1204, Oxford 1999.

Przekop E., sac., Rzym – Konstantynopol . Na drogach podziału i pojednania, Olsztyn 1987.

Runciman S., Schizma Wschodnia, przekład Jan Gawroński, Warszawa 1963.

Schmemann A., sac., Eucharystia, Białystok 1997.

Tomczak R., sac., Eklezjogeneza w interpretacji współczesnych polskich teologów, Studia Paradyskie, XVI / 2006, s. 179 – 195 [versio electronica].

Published

2016-12-03

How to Cite

Bendza, M. (2016). The Nature of Ecclesiastic Unity and the Events of 1054. Elpis, (18), 9–20. https://doi.org/10.15290/elpis.2016.18.01

Issue

Section

Articles