THE GREAT SCHISM THAT DIVIDED EAST AND WEST
                            by Paul L. Miller

In 1054, Pope Leo IX sent an emissary, Cardinal Humbert, from Rome to
Constantinople. The cardinal's visit with Patriarch Cerularios was meant
to be a mission of conciliation. It became anything but.

The cardinal excommunicated the patriarch who, in turn, excommunicated the
cardinal. The main point of contention was the use of leavened bread
during the celebration of Mass, according to MacMillan Publishing's
<Encyclopedia of Religion.>

While it is commonly accepted that the separation of Rome and
Constantinople into two Christian Churches was the result of centuries of
conflict, the event became known as the Great Schism of 1054.  The schism,
which reflected numerous long-standing tensions between the eastern and
western Roman empire, may have been inevitable. The Church had remained
united for centuries without solving several theological disputes.
Political and cultural differences between east and west further fueled
the separation.

"The problems had been brewing for some time," said Father William
Saunders, president of the Notre Dame Institute in Alexandria. "There were
conflicting power centers with different cultural traditions." The
Mediterranean civil centers became strongholds for the early Christian
Church. Disciples carried their ministries to the population centers of
the time. "Cities such as Antioch, Rome and Alexandria attracted the
apostles and evolved into centers for evangelization," John Faris wrote in
<Eastern Catholic Churches: Constitution and Governance.>

The conversion of Emperor Constantine provided the Church with a political
superstructure in which it could flourish. The history of the Church after
that event in some ways paralleled the history of the Roman Empire for the
remainder of the millennium.

When the sleepy fishing village of Byzantium was transformed into