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The '''East-West Schism''', or the '''Great Schism''', is the historic sundering of eucharistic relations between the [[Church of Rome|See of Rome]] (now the [[Roman Catholic Church]]) and the sees of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem (now the Orthodox Church). It divided medieval Mediterranean Christendom into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and the [[Roman Catholic Church]], respectively. Relations between East and West had long been embittered by political and ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes.<ref name="Cross">Cross, F. L., ed. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, s.v. "Great Schism"</ref> Pope [[Leo IX]] and [[Patriarch of Constantinople]] [[Michael I Cerularius of Constantinople|Michael Cerularius]] heightened the conflict by suppressing Greek and Latin in their respective domains. In 1054, Roman legates traveled to Cerularius to deny him the title [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] and to insist that he recognize the Church of Rome's claim to be the head and mother of the churches.<ref name="Cross"/> Cerularius refused. The leader of the Latin contingent [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] Cerularius, while Cerularius in return excommunicated the legates.<ref name="Cross"/>
The Western legate's acts are of doubtful validity because Leo had died, while Cerularius's excommunication applied only to the legates personally.<ref name="Cross"/> Still, the Church split along doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political, and geographical lines, and the fundamental breach has never been healed. Western cruelty during the [[Crusades]], the capture and sack of Constantinople in 1204, and the imposition of Latin Patriarchs made reconciliation more difficult.<ref name="Cross"/>This included the taking of many precious religious artifacts and the destruction of the Library of Constantinople. On paper, the two churches actually reunited in 1274 (by the [[Second Council of Lyon]]) and in 1439 (by the [[Council of Florence]]), but in each case the councils were repudiated by the Orthodox as a whole, on the grounds that the hierarchs had overstepped their authority in consenting to reunification. In 1484, 31 years after the [[Fall of Constantinople]] to the [[Ottoman empire|Ottoman Turks]], a Synod of Constantinople repudiated the [[Eastern_Catholic_Churches#Historical_background|Union of Florence]], making the breach between the Patriarchate of the West and the Patriarchate of Constantinople final.<ref name="Cross"/> In 1965, the Pope of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople nullified the anathemas of 1054.<ref name="Cross"/> Further attempts to reconcile the two bodies are ongoing.
A [[schism]] is a break in the Church's authority structure and communion and is different from a [[heresy]], which means false doctrine. Church authorities have long recognized that even if their minister is in schism, the sacraments, except the power to ordain, are valid. There have been many other schisms, from the second century until today, but none as significant as the one between East and West.
