Coptic Church & Ecumenical Movement - Saint Mina Coptic ...

THE EAST/WEST SCHISM
The climax to the breakdown of the East-West relationship is normally given as the year 1054.
The immediate events that led up to the schism are well known.
From around 1040 the papacy decided to impose the Latin rite on the churches of southern Italy
(which were Greek by custom). The Normans were to provide the military force if necessary,
though the Pope soon became nervous of the growing strength of his would-be allies. In
Constantinople, Patriarch Michael Cerularius responded to the Pope’s actions tit for tat, by
imposing the Eastern rite on Latin Churches in Constantinople and rejecting such western
customs as the use of unleavened bread, the celibacy requirement for clergy and the use of the
filioque clause (the treachery of the West over this latter matter was not forgotten).
In 1052, the Bshop of Trani in Apulia, Italy (whose churches were Greek in discipline and
customs), received a letter from the metropolitan of Bulgaria, defending the Greek use of
leavened bread in the Mass and the practice of fasting on Saturdays. The Bishop of Trani
reported this to the Pope and western Bishops. It caused a huge furore and raised again the
problem of Roman jurisdiction versus Greek autonomy and the desire to protect and preserve
their distinctive customs.
In this electric environment, in 1054 the Pope sent a team of representatives, headed by Cardinal
Humbert, to Constantinople to begin negotiations with the Greeks. Humbert, it should be noted,
was a Frenchman from Lorraine, keen on reform but very inflexible in character. He also had a
limited knowledge of Greek culture. He was unaware, for example, that the Aramaic
‘Maranatha’ meant ‘Come, Lord’ (or ‘The Lord is coming’) and was not an anathema! The
Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, on the other hand, was a monk from
Constantinople who proved to be very hostile to the Latins and as stubborn as Humbert.
Humbert and Michael Cerularius never actually met! Far from solving the problem, they only
succeeded in inflaming the situation. Humbert left a bull of excommunication dated 16 th July
1054 on the altar of the church of Sancta Sophia. In it he praised the emperor, clergy and laity
but castigated Cerularius for sowing ‘an abundant crop of heresies each day in the bosom of the
city’. His attack was uncompromising:
Michael, after having received the written admonitions of our master, Pope Leo, has
refused to amend all these errors and many other culpable acts ... Let Michael the
neophyte, who improperly bears the title of Patriarch ... and with him Leo, who calls
himself Bishop of Achridia, and Michael’s chancellor, Constantine ... and all those who
follow them in the above mentioned errors and presumptuous temerities, let all those come
under the anathema, Maranatha, with the Simonians.
The bull, which contained many false accusations, was burned by order of Emperor Constantine
IX after trying in vain to reconcile the parties. In due course, and by way of retaliation, a synod
on Constantinople excommunicated Humbert and his associates.
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