Expert: Alex Anatole - 4/10/2004

Question
when and why did the split from the Roman Church take place, and what differentiates them today?  

Answer
Lynne,

The way you ask your question makes it sound as thout Orthodoxy split from Roman Catholicism.  This is not the case.

The church of Rome started in the mid 1st century.  The Church of Jerusalen started on the day of Pentecost.  Form there, Christianity spread rapidly to the major cities of the Middle East.  Among the first centers of Christianity, after Jerusalem, were Antioch, Ephesus, Alexandria, and Rome.

For the first 400 years or so, Rome was quite Orthodox - in every sense.

Then, as a result of differences in language, political circumstances, and geography, they began to change.

The Bishops of Rome (Popes) started lusting after more and more political power. Unhappy with being recognized as "first among equals" by their fellow Bishops in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople (and also Ephesus,) the Bishops of Rome began to demand that we recognize them as the "supreme Bishop" of the whole Church.

Toward the end of the 6th century, a council of Western Bishops (under Rome) changed the Nicene Creed to read that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father AND THE SON ("Filioque" in Latin.)

We objected that this destroyed the doctrine of the Trinity by undermining the Personhood of the Holy Spirit. It made the Holy Spirit merely a force generated by the interaction of the Father and the Son.

Rome would not listen.

Their faith in the Holy Spirit began to erode, and it showed in their doctrine.

Unsure of the Holy Spirit's ability to guide the Church, Rome continued to falsely boost the centralized power of the Papacy. In time they came to believe the Pope to be infallible in matters of doctrine.

Unsure of the Holy Spirit's ability to pray with us and for us, they elevated Mary and the Saints to almost be a means of "getting around Jesus."

We objected.

Rome would not listen.

In 1054 the crisis came to a head. A Papal legate, in a fit of anger over our "refusal" to acknowledge the Pope's inflated claims and warped doctrine, excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Patriarch then excommunicated the Pope.

Efforts were made to reconcile. But the Pope would not give up his claims to power, and we would not compromise our doctrine.

Rome went independent.

Unchecked by any kind of "peer review" by the Eastern Patriarchs, Rome's theological innovations proceeded unchecked.

Within 500 years after the Great Schism, they had become so warped that they incited a revolution - the Protestant Reformation.

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What happened to the other centers of Christian activity, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople?

We're still here, and still united in faith and doctrine.

These days we go by the name "Orthodox."

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Rome still retains some external customs which identify them as a former member of the Orthodox community.

But at their core, they departed from us long ago.