The Meaning of the Schism.

Cultural and historical differences may easily lead to theological divergences; but such divergences need not become contradictions and incompatibilities. There were differences and even violent conflicts between the East and West as early as the fourth century, but in spite of ever-recurring tension, there existed, until the eleventh century, a mutually recognized procedure for solving difficulties: the council. Joint councils, meeting generally in the East, convened by the emperor, and at which Roman legates were given a place of honour, served as the ultimate tribunals to solve the standing issues. Thus, the crisis which set Photius against Pope Nicholas ι was finally ended at the last council (879-880) to follow that procedure and one which still ranks, according to the Orthodox Church, on almost the same level as the earlier ecumenical councils.

The German-oriented reformed papacy of the eleventh century was definitely no longer attuned to this type of conciliarity. The Crusades did much to antagonize the two culturally distinct civilizations of the East and of the West. And when the papacy shaken by the Great Western Schism and Byzantium and threatened by the Turks finally agreed to hold a union council at Florence, it was too late to create the atmosphere of mutual respect and trust, which alone would have permitted an authentic theological dialogue.

Notes

1. Peter of Antioch, Letter to Michael; ed. Cornelius Will, Acta et scripia quae de controversies ecclesiae graecae et latinae extant (Leipzig, 1856), p. 196.

2. Photius, Encyclical, 8; PG 102:725C.

3. Mansi, XVII, 520B.

4. Photius, Mystagogy, 89; PG 102:380-381.

5. Athanasius, To Serapion, III, 1; PG 26:625B.

6. Cyril, Thesaurus; PG 68:148A.

7. Maximus the Confessor, Letter to Marinus; PG 91:136AD.

8. The argument is found in Photius, Mystagogy, 59; PG 102:337.

9. Gregory of Cyprus, Tome of U85\ PG 142:240C.

10. Gregory Palamas, Apodictic Treatise, I, 9; ed. B. Bobrinskoy, in P. Chrestou, Palama Syngrammata (Thessaloniki, 1962), I, 37.

11. Michael Cerularius, Letter to Peter of Antioch; ed. Will, Acta et Scripta, pp. 179-183.

12. Mansi, XXIV, 70A.

13. See the major documents on this discussion published by L. Petit in PatrOr, 15 (Paris, 1903), pp. 1-168.

14. Nicholas Cabasilas, Explanation of the Divine Liturgy, chs. 29-30; ed. Perichon, SC 4 bis (Paris: Cerf, 1967), pp. 179-199; trans. J. M. Hussey and P. A. McNulty (London: SPCK, 1960), pp. 71-79.

15. Photius, Horn., 1; trans. in C. Mango, The Homilies of Photius (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958), p. 50.

16. Origen, Horn, in Matt., XII, 10; ed. Klostermann GCS 40 (Leipzig, 1935), pp. 85-89.

17. Theophanes Kerameus, Horn., 55; PG 142:965A. For a more general view of patristic exegesis on Matthew 16:18, see particularly J. Ludwig, Die Primatworte Mt. 16, 18, 19 in der altkirchlichen Exegese (Munster, 1952); and J. Meyendorff, “St. Peter in Byzantine Theology,” The Primacy of Peter in the Orthodox Church, ed. J. Meyendorff (London: Faith Press, 1963), pp. 7-29.

18. On Cyprian, see, for example, A. d’Ales, La theologie de St. Cyprien (Paris: Beauchesne, 1922); P.-Th. Camelot, “St. Cyprien et la primaute,” Istina 4 (1957), 421-434; cf. also M. Bevenot’s introduction and notes for Cyprian De catholicae ecclesiae imitate in ACW 25. (Westminster: Newman, 1957.).

19. Gregory of Nyssa, De castigatione; PG 46:312C.

20. Pseudo-Dionysius, EccL hier., VII, 7; PG 3:561-564.

21. Nicholas Mesarites, in A. Heisenberg, ed., Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des lateinischen Kaisertums und der Kirchenuniont II. Die Unionverhandlungen von 30. Aug. 1206, in AbhMünchAk, phil. Klasse (1923) II, 34-35.

22. Francis Dvornik, The Idea of Apostolicity in Byzantium (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958), p. 39.

23. J. Meyendorff, Orthodoxy and Catholicity (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1956), p. 74.

24. Symeon of Thessalonica, Dialogus contra haereses, 23; PG 155:120AB.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 566