The Christian Church The Byzantine Empire

The Christian Church church leaders in the West and East had different ideas about church practices – difference lead to the division of the Christian church the Pope was the most powerful leader of the Christian church in the West – the Byzantines did not recognize the Pope’s significance in the East the patriarch of Constantinople was the most powerful church leader the Byzantines differed from the Western church on many issues – this also included the practices and beliefs of the two regions the role of icons was an important debate – icons are holy pictures of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, or the saints many Byzantines kept icons in their homes and honored them in churches iconoclasts were people who believed that having icons in church was the same as worshiping idols, and felt it was wrong

The Christian Church Major Disagreements Between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches Roman CatholicEastern Orthodox ClergyNo married priests allowedMarried priests allowed IconsVeneration accepted Veneration initially rejected, later accepted Leadership Roman Pope was supreme church authority Rejected supremacy of Roman Pope over local leaders TrinityAccepted the view that the Holy Spirit combines both Father and Son Maintained supremacy of the Father in the Trinity

The Christian Church – The Iconoclastic Controversy was the debate between the opponents and defenders of icons – Emperor Leo III, an iconoclast, in A.D. 726 ordered that the church leaders condemned the use of icons – Most of the people in the West, however, were illiterate and used icons to teach religion – In A.D. The pope in Rome called bishops together to discuss the Iconoclastic Controversy  It was decided that it was a heresy not to allow the veneration of icons in the church  The iconoclasts were threatened with excommunication

The Christian Church This decision caused friction between the pope of Rome and the patriarch in Constantinople Finally the christian church split into two churches in  The west became the Roman Catholic church, with the pope at its head  The east became the Eastern Orthodox Church, with the patriarch of Constantinople as its leader Ironically the east now accepts the use of icons...