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Schism Of 1054 Dbq

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Although it is widely accepted that the Schism of 1054 was caused by religious differences in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, or Latin Christian, cultural differences and political tensions played an equally important role is the separation of the Christian Church in Europe.
The centers of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches were surrounded by very different influences, causing substantial differences in culture, which bred and built up conflict when the two empires interacted. The surrounding cultures of each empire were crucial in the shaping of culture. For instance, in the Eastern Orthodox Empire, had a base for their culture formed by a mixture of Greek, Western Asian, and Egyptian qualities, but …show more content…

Most notably, the difference in leadership sparked a lack of unity between the East and West. The West divided secular and ecclesiastical issues into two roles: the emperor and the Pope. This separation of responsibility allowed each head to focus a great amount of energy into the protection of the Church and state. In particular, the elimination of heretics in the West was a source of pride for the Roman Catholic Church and is mentioned in multiple primary sources, such as Document #63 in The Human Record and “Anna Comnena on the Suppression of Bogomil Heretics.” Unfortunately, the separate leadership positions produced an internal tension while both the Pope and emperor were aiming to be accepted as the more powerful leader. A prime example of this competition would be between Pope Leo III and King Charles when, before King Charles could declare himself emperor of all of the West, Pope Leo III invited him to Rome, where mosaics depicting shared power between the Pope and emperor had been placed, and crowned him emperor, which reinforced the idea that the religious leader held power over the secular leader. In contrast, the East’s leader was both the secular and religious leader, as shown in the Ravenna mosaics of Justinian and Theodora (Document #61, The Human Record). The couple were depicted with symbols of both legal and religious authority including purple robes, for royalty, religious, military, and domestic figures, ornate crowns, and the bread and wine for mass. The choice to keep one person as both secular and religious leader caused a lack of tension between the two aspects, but also caused less changes to be made, such as banning heretics, which the West found appalling. In Document #63 of The Human Record it reads, “all heresies have emanated from [the East] and have flourished among [the East]; among us, that is Westerners, they

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