Papal power. The split of the Christian church


In the fifth and sixth centuries, taking advantage of the lack of strong state power in Italy, the papacy intensified. The popes became not only spiritual, but also secular lords of the Roman Diocese. In 756, Italy even formed a special Papal State, partially preserved until now.

Gregory I the Great made a great deal to strengthen the papacy. He managed to persuade the Lombards not to attack Rome, which earned him enormous prestige in the West. During his pontificate, Rome was finally established as the garden of St. Peter, “the legitimate heir of which proclaimed himself Gregory I.

Papal power especially increased with the Carolingians. The pope awarded the imperial title to Karl the Great, showing to this Christian world that the power of the monarch depends on the popes. The popes wanted to see the monarchs as their vassals, assured that they could not only crown them, but also deprive them of power.

However, the collapse of the empire of Charlemagne and

the feudal wars caused by it seriously hit the papal authorities. Already in the X century. German emperors subordinated the popes and bishops to their influence. They appropriated the Investiture, which gave rise to the shameful and pernicious for the church of Simonia.

Since then, bishops and even popes have often become persons prone to profit and secular entertainment, even to robbery. Therefore, the church discipline fell into decay, and this undermined the authority and influence of the church.

In the middle of the XI century. the worst happened – the Christian church split. This split has been brewing for a long time – since the Roman Empire broke up into the West and East. Each of these empires wanted to have its own church. In addition, the popes tried to manage the patriarchs, which caused strong resistance from not only the patriarchs, but also the Byzantine emperors.

In both churches, divergences in doctrine and rituals were multiplied. The moment was approaching when the existence of the Western and Eastern clergy in a single ecclesiastical organization became impossible. It

came in the middle of the XI century. By that time, the pope and the patriarch of Constantinople had finally quarreled. In 1054, the church and the whole Christian world split. The Western Christian church was called Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox. Any further attempts to conclude between the two churches Unia had no success. Only Beresteyan union of 1596 G., but also it did not unite Catholicism with Orthodoxy on the lands of Ukraine and Belarus, but led to the formation of another independent church – united.

The diocese is a church district, headed by a bishop.

The pontificate – in the Catholic Church – the authority, activity and period of the Pope’s reign.

Simonia is the purchase and sale of church positions or spiritual dignity.

Investment is the right to appoint and approve bishops.

Schism is a church split.

Church union – the union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches under the supremacy of the Pope, while preserving the Orthodox rites.


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Papal power. The split of the Christian church