Roman Catholic Church vs Eastern Orthodox Church

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Before the split of 1054, the Roman Catholic Church or Western church and the Eastern Orthodox Church or Byzantine church were almost one with each other. The two churches held the same ideals and got along with one another the majority of the time. They had previous splits in the past but they were never a permanent situation because they usually found a solution to their issues and differences. The split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 seemed to have no resolution when their theological, political, and cultural differences became too much for them to harmonize upon.
Although the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church ultimately had more differences which ended up causing their split, they once had quite a few a similarities. The churches shared “many of the same prayers and liturgies” (“Eastern Orthodox”, 2001 para.1). Both the Eastern and Western churches had a difference in opinion in defining and numbering sacraments but they did agree on what the seven major sacraments for their churches should be. They also agreed upon that the male clergy should consist of bishops, priests, and deacons.
“On July 16, of 1054, as afternoon prayers began, Cardinal Humbert, legate of Pope Leolx, strode into the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, right up to the main alter, and placed on it a parchment that declared the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, to be excommunicated” (Dennis, "The East-West schism.", MasterFILE Premier, 1990, para. 1). This act is known as the beginning of the split between the two churches. Even though this act was thought to be the breaking stick, the split of the two churches had been in the works for quite a while. About a year prio...

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Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Schism of 1054," accessed February 09, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/587056/Schism-of-1054.
Dennis, George T. "The East-West schism." Christian History 9, no. 4 (November 1990): 20. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 3, 2014).
Geanakoplos, Deno John. "On the schism of the Greek and Roman churches : a confidential papal directive for the implementation of union (1278)." Greek Orthodox Theological Review 1, no. 1 (January 1, 1954): 16-24. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed February 10, 2014).
Scourtis, C. "Eastern Schism." In New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., 22-27. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Accessed February 24, 2014. go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/i.do?action=interpret&id=GALE%7CCX3407703504&v=2.1&u=vic_liberty&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&authCount=1.

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