When is the date when catholic and orthodox churches split?

Answer 1

The simple answer in 1054, when the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the great majority of the Christian Churches and Bishops in the East and Middle East, refused the demand by Pope Leo IX to recognise the Roman branch of the Church as the 'Mother and Head' of all Christian Churches - ie to recognise the Pope in Rome as the head of all Christians. Prior to this, the Pope had been given the respect of being the first Bishopric of Christianity, but no special position or authority had been given. In terms of numbers of believers, wealth, number of Bishops, amount of land and importance of the Churches involved, the great majority sided with the Patriarch, only the comparatively weak and small Chuurches in Rome, France, Spain and parts of Germany siding with the Pope. Therefore, it is fairest to call this the birth of the Roman Catholic Church, rather than the Orthodox Church splitting from Rome, especially as the Orthodox Churches did not, in fact, change anything; they simply refused to accept political changes being demanded by the Pope to increase his wealth and influence over other Churches.

In 1054 the Pope excommunicated the Patriarch and his followers, and the Patriarch excommunicated the Pope and his.

The simple division between East and West is a bit of a mis-nomer, as some in the East followed the Pope, some in the West did not. Probably the best example is in England, where Papal reforms of the Church were refused, and where Latin was not widely used in Church services, English being the main language - both being acts that were consistant with the Eastern Church, now called the Orthodox Church, but not with the Roman Church. Many have argued that 1066 and The Battle of Hastings was, in fact, the First Crusade of the Papacy - it certainly forced papal reform on an unwilling English nation, and King Harald's daughter married the orthodox King of the Ukraine, their son being the founder of Moscow and, indirectly, the Russian Orthodox Church. A great many Saxon nobles and fighting men sought refuge in Constantinople, and followed the Patriarch willingly.

However, 1054 is too simple a date. There had been a growing rift between the 'Western' (mainly Latin) and 'Eastern' (mainly Greek) Churches for about 400 years prior to this, as the form of worship, liturgy and language all diverged. There had been at least six prior schisms, although all were quickly healed.

Also, pilgrims from the Orthodox Churches continued to visit Rome, and Constantinople, Greece and the Orthodox Middle East were all places of pilgrimage for Western Christians and, later, the crusades were a joint exercise between the two.

1054 is the official date for the birth of the Roman Catholic Church and its split away from the main body of Christendom; in fact, there is no one date that can really be given, as it took place over a period of centuries and, in many respects, is still going on today.